The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, has explained the reason behind the meeting by the National Working Committee of the party on Monday.
The APC NWC held an executive session at the private residence of the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, in Abuja, on Monday.
The meeting, which began at about 2 pm, away from the prying eyes of reporters, lasted till about 7 .38 pm.
Abdullahi said the meeting was basically to fine-tune preparations for the party’s National Executive Council meeting scheduled to hold on February 27.
While confirming that President Muhammadu Buhari did not consult the APC NWC before appointing a national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bolaji Tinubu as the Chairman, Reconciliation Committee of the party, he insisted that the matter was not treated in the meeting.
He said, “Our meeting was basically to prepare the ground for our NEC meeting; we looked at the (proposals for) constitution amendments, the Restructuring Committee report and other activities ahead of our national convention in June, that’s all.
“We had to go through the constitutional amendment and all that in preparation for the NEC meeting.”
On Tinubu’s appointment, he said, “The issue of Asiwaju ’s appointment was not on the agenda. Yes, the party was not consulted but we don’t feel the need to be consulted . We are happy and it is a positive development, it is neither strange nor new.
“When the leader of the party feels there is a need to reconcile party members across the country, he sets up an extraordinary panel or committee to deal with the problem.
“That’s why I feel he may have wanted to supervise the process himself but because of other commitments – he is the President of the whole country now not just the leader of the APC.
“It is quite appropriate for him to bring someone to do it on his behalf. We don ’t feel the need for the President to ask for our clearance before he does that. We are happy that he has done that and we are willing to work with Asiwaju to find solutions to some of these problems as we prepare for the next elections.”
Asked whether Asiwaju had contacted the party leadership since his appointment, Abdullahi said, “He just got the assignment, he has to do his own background preparations, he will contact us when he is ready.”
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