Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja
The Forum of State Chairmen of the All Progressives Congress has tasked the recently constituted National Reconciliation Committee to come up with an action plan to resolve the lingering crisis in the party.
The chairmen urged the committee headed by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to set for work and ignore the camp of the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, which had raised objection to the membership of the committee.
They said Edo as the only one out of the 36 states and Abuja, should not be allowed to frustrate peace efforts in the party since it was not ready for external mediators.
The APC National Working Committee had on December 18 raised a 10-member committee headed by Lawan to resolve the lingering crisis in the party.
The arrangement was in line with the November 22, 2019 resolution of the party’s National Executive Committee.
The NEC had empowered the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to constitute the committee.
The First (Interim) APC National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, was appointed to serve as the Vice-Chairman with the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Wase, and the immediate past Nasarawa governor, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, as members.
Other members are, Senator Kashim Shettima, Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor; Alhaji Nasiru Aliko Koki; Senator Khairat Gwadabe-Abdulrazak; Senator Binta Garba and Senator John Enoh as Secretary.
Obaseki had opposed the committee, saying it contained interested parties in the dispute.
The camp of the governor and loyalists of the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, have been battling for the control of the party in the state with 14 lawmakers of the Edo State House of Assembly yet to be inaugurated.
The governor had earlier rejected the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje-led five-member Fact-finding Committee, raised in November on the crisis rocking the Edo APC.
Speaking with our correspondent on Wednesday, the Secretary of the Forum of APC chairmen, Dr Ben Nwoye, said the committee was in the interest of the party.
Nwoye, who is also the chairman of the Enugu State chapter of the APC, commended the Oshiomhole-led NWC for working towards achieving peace in the party.
He said, “The formation of the National Reconciliation Committee is a welcome development.
“It is consistent with the resolution of the National Executive Committee.
“It is also an indication of clear intention by the NWC to reconcile all aggrieved members of our great party,” he said.
Nwoye said the party had shown sincerity of purpose to resolve lingering crisis by raising the committee.
He said, “The committee members are patriotic Nigerians with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
“They will certainly achieve the desired objectives notwithstanding the dissenting opinion of few aggrieved members.
“As the saying goes, in democracy ‘majority will have their way while minority will have their say.’
“So, we expect the Senator Lawan-led committee to come up with an action plan to resolve most of the internal conflicts bedevilling the party.
“Edo is one state out of 36 states. There is one form of crisis or the other in all the other states of the federation.
“So, I’m sure that Edo State would not expect the other 35 states and Abuja to set aside their desire for peaceful resolution of all crises because Edo is not ready to allow external mediators to assist them in resolving their internal crisis.
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