By David Lawani, Abuja
Following mounting pressure, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday officially announced February 26 as its long-due national convention day.

The disclosure came after so much unhealthy controversy that trailed its wards, local government, and state executives’ congresses.

Chairman, APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), and the governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, confirmed that the national convention of the party will be held on February 26.

Buni made this known yesterday in Abuja while delivering a speech at the Progressives Women Congress (PWC) held in Abuja.

He said the party is counting on the support of women to hold a successful convention.

But at another venue, the National Secretary of the CECPC, James Akpanudoedehe, was short of words to convey the message.

Aware that he would soon be giving up his office, his mood expressed utter disappointment with the announcement.

Asked about the venue of the convention, the CECPC Secretary did utter a word to journalists who were anxiously waiting to hear from him.

As of the time of filing this report, the outcome of a crucial meeting which was expected to make known the modalities for conducting the convention, including the venue, among others, was still being awaited.

Meanwhile, there are anxieties in some quarters as to how the convention would go on given the multifaceted challenges and seething anger, aggression, and animosity prevailing in some states.

Aside from litigation seeking to stop the convention and the Buni-led CECPC from parading itself as the authentic executive of the party, there is also the belief that the Buni committee has outstayed its welcome in the party’s leadership.

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Some pundits have predicted doom for the party as it moves to resolve its internal crises. Others believe the disagreements are ‘deliberately induced’ to stifle the chances of the party.

A former National Vice Chairman, South-South, Hilliard Etta, said it will be sheer illegality for the outgoing CEPCC to fix its national convention.
He said he remains the authentic national chairman of the party in the interim “until the Supreme Court says otherwise”.

Etta, who was reacting on the phone when ThisNigeria called to confirm the announcement by Mai Mala Buni-led CECPC’s feasibility of holding the convention amid crisis in the states, said he has not completed his term, adding that no amount of illegal act can stop him.

The party chieftain said in due course, the party would conduct elections from ward to the national executive levels, to install their successors as well as join others “to perpetuate obvious illegality which will further damage the chances of the party”.

He said, “I couldn’t be bothered about illegality. My term and that of my colleagues are still alive until the Supreme Court of the land tells me otherwise. In good time, we shall conduct congresses to install our successors from the wards to the national executive.”

Meanwhile, a group known as APC Rebirth Group, in a reaction, condemned the sudden axe placed on the Director-General of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), Salihu Lukman, noting that there was nothing democratic about the governors who out of greed forced the scholarly chieftain out of his position.

The group’s coordinator, Aliyu Audu, said, “The APC Rebirth has received with sadness the news of the resignation of Salihu Lukman as the Director-General of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), the body of governors in the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

He added, “While we hail Lukman for his decision to tender his resignation as the honourable thing to do in the present circumstance, we are not unaware of the fact that the governors of the APC at their meeting on Sunday orchestrated the resignation over his position on the state of affairs of the APC, and particularly his calls for the conduct of the national convention, which is long overdue.

“Our disappointment is in the fact that a party that prides itself as a progressive party, more so governors elected under its platform, would be so intolerant of opinions that are not in agreement with their desires.

“We are, however, not in the least surprised. When we started our campaign for the rebirth of the party as a way to address the obvious nosedive occasioned by the way past and current handlers were managing affairs, we were not only barred from using the party secretariat for any of our activities.

“Members of the group were barred from entering the secretariat. Only recently, attempts were made to dissuade guests from attending the APC Stakeholders Summit we held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.

“Where that failed, they sent no less than 20 hoodlums to the venue to disrupt the event. In any case, they failed again.

“Just like the APC Rebirth Group, Salihu Lukman shares a deep concern about the state of affairs of the party. Not only has he courageously and consistently identified the problems, he has made far-reaching recommendations on how best to navigate the booby-traps set before the party, but rather than heed his calls, the governors of the APC mounted pressure on him to throw in the towel.

“It is illogical that the attempt to stifle freedom of expression is being promoted by elected executives in a democracy, more so, in a party that is said to be progressive.

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“This is not only a sad reminder of our anti-democratic experiences, but it also points to the need to elect individuals with requisite intellect and maturity who can embrace opposing views and extract the substance therein without recourse to any manner of a witch-hunt.”

In the group’s view, “Without gainsaying, there is nothing progressive about the actions of our present leaders in the APC who are behind all the plots to silence constructive opposing views.

“Having now resigned his appointment, Salihu Lukman has freed himself from the shackles the position of the Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum placed on him. He is now at liberty, more than ever before, to continue his constructive engagement on behalf of millions of APC members who count on the bravery and fair-mindedness of people like him.

“The governors and leaders of the party on the other hand have exposed their lack of principle as progressives, their inability to embrace opposing views, or even the capacity to make substance from them.

“While we wish Salihu Lukman continued success in the service of our party and country, it is our prayer that he continues on his chosen path of truth and conscience,” the statement reads.