By Jide Orintunsin, Abuja
Critical stakeholders in the highest decision making organ of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive Committee (NEC) have endorsed possible extension of the timeline for the Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee of the party.
The decision to support the caretaker committee was reached at a meeting in Abuja on Thursday night attended by Governors Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi); Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa) an Yahaya Bello (Kogi).
Members of the Forum State Chairmen and members of the Forum of Non-National Working Committee were also at the meeting.
The Chairman of the caretaker committe was also represented at the meeting by the Committee member, Professor Tahir Mamman, SAN.
It was gathered the meeting was at the instance of the former National Vice Chairman, North East, Comrade Salihu Mustapha, who is the patron of the Forum of State Chairmen and Forum of Non-NWC.
The meeting, The Nation learnt, was to woo and get the buying in of the two critical organs of NEC into supporting activities of the Caretaker Committee, including tenure elongation for the Committee.
APC emergency NEC meeting on June 25 appointed the Committee with the core mandate of reconciling all aggrieved members of the party and conduct the National Convention for the election of a new National Working Committee after dissolution of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole led NWC within six months.
It was however gathered that the three governors were brought into the meeting to further persuade members of the two strategic organs into supporting the Governor Buni- led Caretaker Committee “bottom top” reorganisation and re-positioning the party.
It was further gathered that the presence of Prof. Mamman was to properly brief the members in attendance on all the steps so far taken by the Committee at re-positioning the party to further buttress the need for tenure extension.
Though members of the Forum of State Chairmen had endorsed tenure elongation at a meeting with the chairman of the caretaker committee, it was learnt the Forum of Non-NWC members was able to extract assurance it will not be dissolved, ahead rumour of their possible dissolution before they endorsed the extension of timeline for the committee.
Mustapha told reporters: “We had a very fruitful deliberation. In attendance you see we have the representative of the Extraordinarily Caretaker Committee in person of Professor Tahir Mamman, SAN who we deliberate intensively with him and he gave us all the legal efforts made to harmonize and streamline the transition processes of the Caretaker Committee.”
When asked for the decision of the meeting on the 2023 general elections, the former NWC member said: “There is nothing about 2023. We are talking about governance now.
“People should understand that there is time for governance, there is time for politics. When you start talking about 2023 now, I don’t think we are fair to Nigerians that gave us this mandate.
“It is proper for us now to talk about how we are going to deliver dividends of democracy, how are going to deliver on the mandate given to us by Nigerians before we begin to talk about 2023.
“From now to 2023 is a life time only God knows how many of us will even reach 2023 but we know that we have mandate of Nigerians to deliver dividends of democracy and that is what we are talking about. We have bigger issues to talk about rather than 2023.”
On tenure elongation for the committee, Mustapha argued that the constitutionally, the Committee is not tenured but have a timeline for the delivery of its core mandate.
