The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is said to be on the verge of organising its National Working Committee (NWC) in order to restore members confidence and tame the crisis in the party’s leadership.
According to the source, the restructuring of the party would take the form of pulling some NWC members away and injecting new members to restore confidence of members in the leadership of the party.
“Some NWC members would be appointed ministers, while some will get Ambassadorial posting.
“Among those that would be appointed ministers are the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole (Edo); Deputy National Chairman South, Chief Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti) and the National Auditor, Chief George Moghalu (Anambra),” the source said.
It would be recalled that the APC Deputy National Chairman North, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, had last month, asked the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, to resign because of the alleged poor performance of the party in the last general elections.
According to Shuaibu, that APC lost state governorship elections, national and state assembly seats as a result of lack of capacity on the part of the National Chairman.
Also, the former APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, accused the APC NWC of trading the party’s primaries.
Oyegun, reacting to the allegation that he laid the landmine of the crisis in APC through his Public Affairs Adviser, Chief Ray Murphy, said: “It is common knowledge that Oshiomhole ran the most fraudulent primaries in the history of politics in Nigeria. Recall that INEC said so when it adjudged Oshiomhole primaries as the worst so far. The courts are saying the same thing today by upturning many APC primaries for being undemocratic and less than fair. Was it Oyegun who ran the primaries?”
Beyond the problems of the primaries, there is also no love lost among some of the NWC members as the Working Committee is highly factionalised.
It would be recalled that the APC National Legal Adviser, Mr. Babatunde Ogala, had last year, written to the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, accusing him of usurping his position in the NWC.
But the Presidential source said that the APC National Chairman cannot be singled out for blame for the crisis that rocked the party’s primaries as he could not have acted in isolation.
According to the source, the party leadership believes that the NWC should be pruned by at least 50% to restore credibility to the party leadership.
To achieve this, the Presidency and some national leadership members of the APC have agreed that some NWC members will be eased out by being made ministers, ambassadors and head of government agencies.
The APC NWC is made up of 21 members and about 12 of them might be relieved of their positions in the party’s Working Committee.
But when the National Auditor, Chief George Moghalu, was confronted with development in the party, he denied any knowledge of it.
He said: “I am hearing this for the first time and that is the truth. I am not aware of any such arrangements. Fortunately for me, you started saying that you heard from the Presidency and since you said that you heard from the Presidency, it’s like saying you heard from the stadium because you can’t point to anybody now and say he is the presidency.”
Asked if that would be a welcoming idea for the party, Moghalu quipped: “I wouldn’t know because anybody who is thinking like that must have his reasons and it is for that person to justify his reasons for such thoughts.”
Another party member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said engaging them as ministers might also cause another problem in another place. He, however, said it is the only and safest way to rebuild confidence in the party.
The party member said: “That would create other problems if they were made ministers but that is also a good thing for the party as it is the only and safest way to rebuild the party.”
President Muhammadu Buhari is set to announce the composition of his new cabinet soon
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