APC NEC meeting: PGF DG urges party leaders to back in Buhari repositioning party

As the All Progressives Congress (APC), has scheduled its National Executive Committee meeting for today Thursday, the Director-General, Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Salihu Lukman, has urged all committed party members and leaders to rally behind President Muhammadu Buhari for the scheduled virtual NEC to reset the party to its 2013 orientation of inclusive and participatory politics.

In a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, titled “APC at crossroad -are there going to be leaders or blacklegs?”, he reiterated his appeals to the leaders not to allow the ruling party sink beyond redemption.

“Some drastic steps are just required to restore some order and sanity in APC. With all the confusion as to who is our presiding officer, coupled with the fact that the most important structure that is saddled with the responsibility of convening meetings of all organs of the party is fractured and entangled in webs of legal cases, it is either the confusion is allowed to continue and eventual end with the demise of the party, or our leaders find a way to save the party.

 “Given such a situation, one would expect our leaders to be united in saving the situation. Will this be the case? Or are we going to have blacklegs acting as so-called leaders working to ensure the demise of the party through creating all manner of divisions just to ensure that the current ugly situation is retained? Would these blacklegs seek to create or entrench all manner of legal confusion?

“These are critical questions now that with the approval of President Buhari, a meeting of NEC has been called. Would these so-called leaders acting as blacklegs seek to undermine the moral authority of the President as the leader of the party? Already, report has dismissed a meeting held by the President with the governors of the party as ‘Anti-Oshiomhole governors submit position to Buhari’.

“Is this headline a reflection of the position of the leader? Is the message underlining this headline going to serve as the basis of opposition against the initiative by the President to ensure that a NEC meeting hold? With the way the President’s name is presented using just his first name, isn’t that already indicative of some measure of rebellion?

“With the NEC meeting scheduled to hold in less than 48 hours, if it is reflective of rebellion, certain element may activate all support bases to attempt to block the NEC meeting, including boycotting the NEC. Be that as it may, how will leaders or blacklegs relate with the NEC and the decisions it will take? Will they seek to take advantage of the NEC to reset the process of party building back to the point whereby it become possible for meetings of party organs to hold and through those meetings seek to resolve all our internal problems, including reconciling all our leaders and repositioning it for undisputed electoral victories?

“The days ahead will confirm whether we have party leaders or blacklegs. All committed party members and leaders should rally behind President Buhari in support of the scheduled NEC to hold so that we are able to reset the APC back to its 2013 orientation of inclusive and participatory politics. To achieve that, the public debate should be about proposals to ensure that the NEC succeeds rather than attempting to throw up legal blockades,” he said in the statement.