Some members and stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have warned against allowing a situation whereby the Court will dictate the affairs of the party if the necessary actions are not taken.
The stakeholders who demanded that the process leading to the national convention of the party be made known urgently, added that competent hands should however be elected to avoid collapse of the APC.
Speaking Tuesday in Abuja at the APC stakeholders summit organised by the APC Rebirth Group with the theme: “Rebuilding the APC of our dreams”, Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) Salihu Moh Lukman, who was the keynote speaker, blamed the challenges confronting APC on lack of implementation of some of the decisions taken by its stakeholders.
Lukman identified five positions which are Chairman, Secretary, National Organising Secretary, Legal Adviser and National Publicity Secretary as key positions that must not be left in the hands of misfit ahead of the general elections.
“If we don’t take time and do the proper things at the right time courts would be running the affairs of the party,” Lukman warned.
Lukman while speaking on the APC forthcoming National Convention slated for February, said the party needed leaders that would really be sincere and uphold the trust invested in them.
He said the party does not want leaders who would claim to know better than those who took decisions at meetings, this, he said was the problem the party was currently having.
According to him, it amounts to disrespect when a leader who is suppose to implement a decision jointly taken refused to do so.
“If there is a decision, leaders should implement such decisions very faithfully; we don’t want leaders that will claim to know better than people who took a decision.
“That is the problem we are having in the party now, when decisions are taken that does not suit leaders, they try to manipulate such decisions and ensure that such decisions were not implemented.
“That is why we are where we are, a decision is clearly taken that Feb. 5th will be the date for the party`s National Convention and somebody will sit down and he is manipulating.
“We cannot have a political party that disrespects decisions. We must appeal to ourselves and to our leaders; I don’t think it is difficult for our leaders to get back to the mode of 2012 and 2013 when they made all the sacrifices that produced the APC,’’ he said.
Speaking with newsmen at the event, of the national chairmanship aspirants, Mustapha Salihu, urged the organisers of the summit to always “exploit all possible means within the party to advice and guide so that we don’t wash our dirty linens in the public.
“As an aspirant, my prayer is if given the opportunity, most of these things you are yearning for we have taken note of it, we will try and see that will implement them 100% and that is why we have this slogan of doing things differently. Politics is about inclusiveness, carrying people along, giving them a sense of belonging. We will try and see that we achieve that.”
Mallam Mustapha assured that the forthcoming national convention will hold.
“Definitely the convention will hold but you must allow those who have been saddled with the responsibility to come up with the most appropriate time which I believe they hinted before that it will be in February, which I believe they are putting final and finishing touches to the mode and conduct and the date that will choosen. So, for me, it is still work in progress and we must give them that necessary support and give them that benefit of doubt to help us to have a very successful convention.”
One of the converner of the summit, Alhaji Aliyu Audu, said though it had not been easy being a member of the APC, they would remain in the APC and keep working and believing in the party.
“Truth be told, we have more than enough reasons to lose hope in the party, but when this happens, one or two of us have reasons to ginger us back,” he said.
He said their desire was to ensure that the APC was not just a vehicle to attain political power, but a truly political institution for the realisation of our political and individual collective aspirations.
He said haven being in the APC since its inception, they had committed so much to the party, including resources and were not ready to defect to other political parties.
He added that they while there had been disagreements over the years, they would remain in the APC to fight for its soul, the good of the county, the continent and the good of the black race.
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