August 24, (THEWILL) – The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has unveiled new officers to occupy the positions of the outgoing members of the National Working Committee and other vacant zonal offices in the party.
Speaking with journalists at the National Secretariat of the APC on Wednesday evening, the National Secretary of the party, Senator Ajibola Basiru, said the election of the new officers was in line with the mandate given to them by the National Executive Committee at the last meeting held at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, on August 3.
The outgoing National Deputy Chairman for North, Senator Abubakar Kyari, was replaced by Borno State Party Chairman, Ali Dalori, while the founder of Sister-To-Sister Empowerment Worldwide, Dr. Mary Alile Idele, from Edo State occupied the office of the National Women Leader previously held by Dr. Betta Edu.
Both Kyari and Edu were among the 45 Ministers of President Bola Tinubu, who were officially sworn in at the Presidential Villa on Monday.
Other elected officers included Garba Datti Muhammad, who replaced Mallam Salihu Lukman from the same Kaduna State as National Vice Chairman for North West; National Legal Adviser, Prof. AbdulKarim Abubakar Kana from Nasarawa State; National Welfare Secretary, Donatus Nwankpa from Abia State; Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Duro Meseko from Kogi State; and Zonal Organising Secretary, Ikani Shuaibu Okolo also from Kogi State.
Bashiru, while speaking, said: “Today, we are here to brief you on behalf of our party. We have had our NWC meeting and deliberated on issues, particularly as they relate to our off-season elections in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi States. Work is at an advanced stage on the composition of the campaign council of the party. Hopefully, by next week, the list of the campaign councils for those three governorship elections will be unveiled.
“We also discussed matters having to do with expanding membership of our party and putting our party in a lot of activities. More importantly, during the last NEC meeting, the NEC of the party empowered the NWC in consultation with the leadership of the party to fill the existing vacancies in the membership of the NWC occasioned by resignations and, unfortunately, the death of the national welfare officer of the party.”
When asked to clarify if the unveiling of new officers was ratified by the NEC, Basiru claimed they were products of an election that was conducted in line with the NEC directive.
He also disclosed that the date and venue for their inauguration have not yet been finalised.
“This is not a case of ratification. Don’t make an assumption. It is an election already done. You see, this is the constitution of our party. Article 13 gave the NEC the power to act in between and the convention. The same NEC, at the meeting of August 3, empowered the NWC to act and exercise its power to fill the vacancies.
“What we have done is in accordance with the delegation of power from the NEC to act as a convention to elect these people. Of course, if we are thinking of having a mid-term convention, it is not for the purpose of the election of officials because this has been done in a way stipulated by our constitution.”
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
