About a year and nine months after its National Working Committee (NWC) was dissolved, the stage is set for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to finally hold its national convention.
The convention is taking place at the Eagle Square in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
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10:52 pm: President Muhammadu Buhari now at the podium delivering his speech.
10:35 pm: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo takes to the podium.
10:21 pm: Senate President Ahmed Lawan now delivering his goodwill message.
10:15 pm: Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila delivers his goodwill message.
10:00 pm: Chairman of the Progressives Governor Forum (PGF), Atiku Bagudu and some of his colleagues take to the podium.
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9:00 pm: APC Caretaker Chairman, Mai Mala Buni is now delivering a speech.
8:23 pm: President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived the convention ground.
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7:59 pm: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has arrived at the convention venue. The President is still being expected.
7:06 pm: The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, has arrived the convention venue. The President and Vice President are yet to arrive.
7:03 pm: The convention will start very soon, says Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
It was scheduled to start at 1pm.
“We are starting late, but it is better to get the right,” the Speaker says.
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Dancing in unity, Senator Abdullahi Adamu is seen dancing excitingly with his fellow contestant, Senator Tanko Almakura, shortly after he stepped down in favor of Senator Adamu. #APCNationalConvention pic.twitter.com/4gsU7VNDjj
— APC National Convention 2022 (@APCNatConv22) March 26, 2022
4:50 pm: Six contestants for the APC National Chairman position are said to have stepped down for the party’s consensus pick, Abdullahi Adamu, according to this letter signed by George Akume.
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4:14 pm: Governor Uzodimma: “All the 22 Governors are united and we are loyal to the President and to the leadership of the party. And there is no dissenting voice. This convention is like a family business. And we are going to sit here as a family, leave here as a family, conclude the convention as a family. I have no doubt in my mind we will have a successful convention.”
4:12 pm: Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, who is also the Chairman of the technical committee on monitoring and supervision of the convention, says all the 22 APC Governors are united.
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In the course of today’s exercise, the APC is expected to elect a new NWC which includes a member to succeed former Governor Adams Oshiomhole as the party’s substantive national chairman.
The convention is being organised by the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) led by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, which has since taken over the administration of the party’s affairs pending the election of a new NWC.
Governor Buni led CECPC took over the APC leadership in June 2020 after the APC National Executive Council met and resolved to dissolve the NWC based on the recommendations of the President, in a bid to resolve the crisis that hit the party at the time.
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A year and five months after the dissolution of the NWC, President Muhammadu Buhari approved February 2022 for the APC to conduct its national convention, but the exercise could not take place as it was postponed.
Following the announcement of the March 26 date, the party zoned the positions of its national chairman and national secretary to the north-central and south-west regions respectively.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has moved to stop the ruling party from going ahead with the convention, as scheduled.
In a suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the main opposition party is challenging APC’s governance structure, thereby asking for the convention to be declared unconstitutional.
It also wants the court to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to de-register the APC on the ground that the party, by its entire structure, has run afoul of the constitutional stipulations for running a political party.
By a certified true copy of INEC’s list of current EXCO, according to the PDP, the APC is being run by a 13-member EXCO as against 24 required by the law.
It said that was below the constitutional stipulations in Section 223 of the 1999 Constitution which required the EXCO or governing body of a political party to be drawn from 2/3 of the 36 states of the Federation.
The photos below highlight the activities at the venue of the convention ahead of the exercise.
