Again, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is at a crossroads over alleged plot by the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) to impose a national chairman on the party at its forthcoming national convention.
LEADERSHIP gathered that after the rumble in the governing party over the refusal to convene a national convention, prominent stakeholders of the party are protesting the bid by some progressive governors to impose one of the aspirants, Senator Sani Musa, on members as national chairman.
A reliable source within the party told our correspondent that while the plot to pick Musa is ruffling feathers among party bigwigs, the national caretaker committee of the party is helpless about the idea of imposition.
The source who is a notable party chieftain said it would require the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the general wish and interest of the party prevail.
“What you are hearing about imposition is true, but the good thing is that eminent party members are one in their resolve to ensure that whoever emerges is the consensus candidate of party members and not a few individuals who are out to do their wish” the source who did not want his name in print said.
Corroborating this, the APC Youth Development and Solidarity Forum, a youth group within the party alleged that a few governors of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) are on selfish mission to impose a chairman at the party’s national convention.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja yesterday, secretary of the forum, Chief Tobias Ogbeh, alleged that Governors Mohammed Badaru of Jigawa State, Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, and Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, and others, including minister’s have concluded plans to impose Senator Sani Musa and others as national chairman and party executives “to satisfy the selfish interest of projecting Badaru/Fayemi ticket for 2023 Presidency”.
The forum stated: “We are constrained to invite you for this press briefing following our discovery of a plot to sabotage the APC by some desperate individuals that are working internally to implode the party.
“Ordinarily, affairs of the APC should be left as its internal matters except that the people we are raising this alarm about today are not really after the APC. What they are after is the soul of Nigeria, which they want to own for their evil intent.
“All the evil that this cabal has perpetrated in the past months are geared towards illegally winning public offices at the highest level so that they can continue to pillage the country and make a mockery of the progress that an APC government at the center has brought to Nigeria by reversing all the gains made in the past six years.
“It is for this reason that we are raising the alarm now so that Nigerians will know that people with less than sincere interest are on the verge of hijacking the APC and consequently impose a presidential candidate on Nigerians, use the popularity of the APC to win election and then capture power to the detriment of Nigerians. Therefore, the matter is no longer an internal issue of the APC”.
The forum alleged that the governors and those they described as their minions have hijacked the process of selecting party leaders.
This, the youth group said, was demonstrated in the manner in which the governors quicky fixed February 26, 2022, date for the convention “in flagrant disregard for the preferences expressed by stakeholders.
“Sadly, things are now clearer. The governors in question never bothered about what stakeholders thought, wanted, or demanded, because for them the National Convention is a fait accompli.
“Rather than being a forum at which delegates would elect party officials in the hope of righting the wrongs done at the state chapters, the convention envisaged by these political vampires is one at which they will merely browbeat and coerce delegates to rubber stamp the criminal decisions that have taken, one that would undermine the 2023 General Elections because the party’s internal democracy in the APC would have been bastardised.
“Nigerians would be deprived of having an APC presidential candidate that passed the rigors of primary election. Governor Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi state and their other desperate allies that include serving Ministers have perfected plans to ensure that Senator Sani Musa is imposed as APC National Chairman alongside other lackeys that would be named to other positions at the convention,” the forum alleged.
The group further noted that Senator Musa is being tipped for national chairman so that he would “in turn deliver Bagudu as APC presidential flagbearer and Kayode Fayemi as his running mate”, adding that “they have cooked up what they called “unity list” to package their evil plot as something positive and desirable for the party and the country when the contrary is the case.
“We want APC stakeholders and Nigerians to know that these state governors are working against the interest interest of the country. As things stand we are collectively staring a full-blown state capture in the face as these band of governors paid a nocturnal visit to the Presidential Villa last Friday night with their purported “unity list” that they are now desperately promoting.
“At this point it is fair to point out that the Attorney general of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami is with them alongside a few unpatriotic ministers that are equally playing the overlords in states that are not controlled by the APC.
“In addition to pressuring President Muhammadu Buhari to allow their criminal intent to materialize, these people have also perfected other plans to make mockery of the convention that has remained a source of controversy,” the forum further claimed.
