Progressives Governors Forum, the umbrella body of all governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, on Sunday, blamed the inability of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee to amicably resolve disputes, as well as its love for constitutional breaches for the current crisis rocking the party.
PGF Director-General, Salihu Lukeman, who said this in a statement in Abuja, also identified “intolerance of opposing views and sycophancy” as additional reasons for the current brouhaha in the party.
Lukman noted that while Oshiomhole’s knowledge and competence to administer the party could not be questioned, his departure from the tenets of democracy as outlined in his speech of May 10, 2018, when he took office, remained a growing concern.
PGF DG’ statement read, “It will be useful to recall one aspect of his vision statement, which commits him to promote internal party democracy and ensure that all organs of the party regularly meet, as stipulated by the party’s Constitution. For instance, article 25 of the APC’s Constitution provides that the National Convention of the party shall be held once in two years; National Executive Committee (NEC) every quarter and National Working Committee (NWC) once every month. What did we experience since his emergence as National Chairman in June 2018?
“The party’s NEC, which should have met every three months was unable to meet for about fifteen months between August 2018 and November 2019. In between, the positions of Deputy National Chairman (South) and National Secretary, among others, became vacant. To fill those vacancies, a minimum of zonal consensus was required, which should be ratified by NEC.
“Instead, it was only in March 2020 when the court granted an injunction against Comrade Oshiomhole that the National Working Committee announced “appointments” into these vacant positions. This led to more disagreements based on the question of whether the NWC has powers to make those appointments or not.
“Inability to manage disagreements and resolve conflicts bordering on leadership disputes is at the centre of the crisis in APC.”