With just hours to the much-anticipated National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC), tension continues to mount within the party amid swirling rumours of a possible overhaul of its leadership structure.
Although the NEC meeting is scheduled to be held on Thursday in Abuja, a closed-door session of the National Working Committee (NWC) took place on Monday. The two-hour meeting ended without a media briefing, and its agenda remains undisclosed.
Party sources confirmed to Daily Trust that the NWC has transmitted a draft agenda of the NEC meeting to President Bola Tinubu for approval.
The source said, “The meeting will hold as scheduled, but we don’t know the kind of politics the president and other stakeholders might play.
“However, at the NWC level, the draft agenda covers the leadership transition in the party, elective convention, congresses, and e-registration of members, among other items.”
Weighing in on the legal framework, Barrister Bashir Maidugu, a member of the APC Constitution Review Committee (2022), stated that the NEC is empowered by the party’s constitution to appoint a substantive national chairman.
“It was in this same spirit that Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was nominated immediately after Senator Abdullahi Adamu’s resignation. However, any nomination must still be ratified at the next national convention,” he explained.
Citing Article 13:3(ii) of the APC Constitution, Maidugu noted that the NEC is permitted to “discharge all functions of the national convention in between national conventions.”
He further referred to Section 13.3(c), which stipulates that acting national officers, including the national chairman, cannot hold such roles for more than 12 calendar months.
As the NEC prepares to meet, speculations are rife that the current NWC could be dissolved and replaced with a 13-member caretaker committee.
A party insider disclosed, “There are still NWC members loyal to Ganduje, who is no longer in office and thus cannot be trusted.
“Others are allegedly hobnobbing with the opposition coalition. So, the thinking in some quarters is to get rid of them before 2027.”
This would not be the first time such action is taken by the APC.
In 2020, the NEC dissolved the Adams Oshiomhole-led NWC and appointed then Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, as chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee. The committee later organised the convention that brought in Senator Abdullahi Adamu as national chairman.
In a telephone interview with Daily Trust, APC’s National Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, dismissed the reports of NWC dissolution as speculative.
On whether the NEC meeting will be held, he said, “Yes, affirmed.” But on the agenda, he stated, “No, I don’t have it. I’m not privy to that.”
Asked about the rumoured plan to dissolve the NWC, Ibrahim said, “I can’t confirm that. But I’ve heard people say such things. For now, all those reports are rumours and speculations. I don’t know where they are getting their information. I wouldn’t know until I’m officially informed.”
On the likelihood of Dalori’s role being ratified, he added, “It’s my hope. But it’s not something I can confirm. NEC can decide anything.”