Party Chairman: Gov Sule says APC won’t shutout aspirants outside North Central

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, who is the chairman of Information Sub Committee in the forthcoming All Progressive Congress (APC) National Convention, has assured that other chairman aspirants who are not from the North Central, will not be denied the opportunity to contest the position, even though the party wished to leave it in North Central.

Recall that ahead of the Party’s National Convention slated for March 26 at Eagle Square, in Abuja, the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) led by Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, had hinted of zoning the position to North Central.

Briefing journàlists yesterday at the Party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, Governor Sule, flanked by other Committee members, including the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, special Adviser on Media to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, among others, said there are a few people outside the North Central who have already purchased the forms and the party cannot deny or say no to them.

According to him, “It is in the North Central that has been zoned the National Chairman, but there are a few people who are outside the North Central, who have already purchased the forms. That is democracy for you, you cannot deny them, you cannot say no. The leadership of the party is making a request that let it come to the zone. In the spirit of the unity of the party, when Mr President was meeting aspirants, he met aspirants not only from North Central, but all the aspirants.”

He also said the party has been able to resolve most of its outstanding issues ahead of the Convention through consensus, so as to guarantee a successful and peaceful convention and ultimately victory in the 2023 elections.

“You can actually see that we have been able to resolve most of the issues going to a convention in a consensus arrangement. Just last night, the President met with all the chairman aspirants.

“As I mentioned earlier, we have been driven towards a consensus arrangement so that we can have a very peaceful Convention, after which most of the political activities will begin which will lead into the success of the party at most of the elections that we are going to have next year by the grace of God.

“We also want to inform you of the major caucuses of this party. We have been meeting in order to discuss most of the gray areas and resolve them and so far again so good. All the governors have been inspired yesterday. We actually had a meeting with Mr. President where some gray areas were resolved and the governors are now united more than you can ever think.

“We are going as a united front into this convention. We also look forward actually to a convention that is going to signify our unity and our strength as we come together to face the election next year”, Sule said. 

Speaking on the Electoral Act, he said APC will not go contrary to the Constitution and the law, adding “When you come to the Electoral Act, we are a law abiding political party. We will do whatever it is live within the context of the Electoral Act.

“We will not do anything whatsoever as a political party that is going to be in violation of the law because as the ruling party, we will not carry out something that is going to be detrimental to our law in this country so that we do not give bad examples. You can rest assured that whatever we are going to do is going to be in line with the Electoral Act.”

Meanwhile, he said the party will make refunds to aspirants who have purchased forms, especially where consensus has been agreed on by contestants. He also said the total number of delegates will actually be determined by the party.