New Telegraph

Ward congresses: How consensus option saved Kwara APC from implosion

STEPHEN OLUFEMI ONI reports on the factors that ensured hitch-free ward congresses of the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) last weekend

Against expectation by members of the public, including the media,the ward congresses of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State were hitch-free and peaceful. Aside the orderly and peaceful conduct by party faithful in the state before, during and after the congresses, checks by New Telegraph revealed that there was no parallel congress in any part of the state. A few days to the commencement of the exercise, palpable tension had built up, particularly between the Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s backed Abdullahi Samari-led leadership of the party in the state and some aggrieved members of the party led by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. Members of the APC loyal to the Minister had at a news conference, two days before the ward congresses, expressed their preparedness to participate in the exercise.

Barr. Ladi Mustapha who spoke on behalf of the group blamed the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led national leadership of the party for the crisis rocking APC in Kwara State. He said: “Gentlemen of the press, I am delighted to inform you that we have secured nomination forms for all prospective contestants into positions at the wards and local governments in compliance with the set guidelines for the exercise.

“We hereby express our preparedness for the ward congresses of our great party, which commences on Saturday, July 31, provided every other thing remains constant.” However, at another joint press conference by members of APC’s delegation from Abuja and the party’s chairman in the state, Alhaji Abdullahi Samari, the officials from the national secretariat made it clear that no one would be allowed to hold any parallel congress in the state and any other state for that matter.

The Secretary of the Ward Congresses Committee from the APC national secretariat, Yusuf AbdulRahman, clarified that the national leadership recognised the party secretariat, where the Samari-led executive is operating from as the only party secretariat in Kwara State. He maintained that all issues pertaining to the ward congresses would be decided there.

AbdulRahman candidly advised all contestants, including aggrieved members of the party to ensure that they purchase their forms from the recognised party secretariat in the state recognised by national body of the party. “We are well prepared for the assignment; as you know, we have been on it since the last three months.

We only urge our party members in the state to come out en mass and par-ticipate fully in the exercise as we are here for everybody,” the Congress Committee Secretary admonished. While the committee successfully staved off the possibility of a parallel congress in the state, Governor AbdulRazaq capped it up by impressing it on APC stakeholders, the need to adopt consensus arrangement in picking the party’s officials in all the 193 wards of the state in order to avoid rancour and bitterness among party faithful at the end of the exercise they all had been anticipating eagerly.

Heeding the advice of the governor, who is the party’s leader in the state, the APC stakeholders at a meeting on the eve of the ward congresses agreed to adopt consensus in picking their leaders across the 16 local government areas of the state. The consensus approach, it would be recalled, was in line with the directive of the national secretariat of the party. At the end of the stakeholders’ meeting called by the APC National Headquarters’ Congress Planning Committee in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, members of the party unanimously settled for consensus to pick their officers across the 193 wards of the state.

The pre-congress stakeholders’ meeting was attended by the Ward Congress chairman for Kwara State, Prof. Jonathan Ayuba and top party chieftains from the state including Governor AbdulRazaq; Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Yakubu Danladi Salihu; Senators Yahya Oloriegbe (Kwara Central) and Lola Ashiru (Kwara South), House of Representatives members of the state extraction, state House of Assembly members and Kwara APC Caretaker Committee chairman, Alhaji Samari, among many others. Governor AbdulRazaq said the party’s congress is a democratic process designed to ensure smooth running of the party, reiterating the commitment of the APC administration in the state to serve the masses. Consequently, the APC members and stakeholders in the state adopted consensus arrangement in picking the party’s leaders in all the 193 wards across the state.

The exercise which attracted large turnout of party faithful in many centres visited by our correspondent saw APC members participating in the exercise under a peaceful atmosphere. Our correspondent observed that representatives of the APC national caretaker committee and some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) witnessed the exercise in various centres across the state. Contrary to expectations there were no parallel congresses in the state. Speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, an elated Kwara APC chairman, Samari, confirmed that all the executives across the 193 wards emerged through a consensus arrangement in accordance with the wise counsel of Governor AbdulRazaq.

Samari also expressed delight that there were no parallel congresses by the APC members throughout the state. Special Adviser on Strategy to the governor, Alhaji Saadu Salahu, who spoke with newsmen at his Ibagun ward in Okelele area of Ilorin East Local Government Area, attributed the success of the exercise to the outstanding performance of the governor.

“In line with the directive of national caretaker committee and the state governor, we adopted a consensus arrangement for all the candidates in the 193 wards at a stakeholders’ forum meeting on Friday. The large turnout of our party members for this all-important exercise was in appreciation of Governor AbdulRazaq’s exceptional performance in the past two years,” Salahu added.

If this development is anything to go by, the crisis rocking the APC in the state is on the verge of being resolved. The restraint exercised by aggrieved members of the party by not holding parallel congresses is an indication of their preparedness to embrace peace and return to the party’s mainstream. The state APC chairman, Samari, had always insisted that the misunderstanding between some members of the party was a family affair which would be resolved amicably. He said the party is big enough to accommodate all existing members and others willing to join it.

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