By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Ahead of the National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) slated for March 26, the South East zone has been enmeshed into crisis of micro zoning the positions of the National Working Committee (NWC) zoned to them.
Four positions of NWC – Deputy National Chairman (South), National Vice Chairman South East, National Treasurer and National Welfare Secretary – were zoned to the South East geopolitical Zone.
According to a party source, the former President of the Senate and a member of the APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Senator Ken Nnamani is trying to appropriate the position of the Deputy National Chairman (South) to himself.
The source, who stated that Ken Nnamani is from Enugu State, a state which had produced a member of the NWC for six years and a Caretaker Committee for 2 years said it would be wrong for the State to produce another NWC member without allowing other states that have not tested the position.
The source gave a breakdown of other South East states that had occupied the NWC positions as follows: Anambra State (National Auditor) six years and Imo State (National Organizing Secretary) six years.
According to the party source from South East, Anambra, Imo and Enugu States have occupied the positions of APC NWC, therefore it is logical and moral to allow Abia and Ebonyi States to have the choice of first refusal.
He argued that other Geo-political zones are applying such methods of allowing those states that were not in the last NWC to choose first.
He gave an example of South South where in the last NWC, Edo, Rivers and Cross River States were in the NWC. According to him, the zone is considering first, Bayelsa and Delta despite they occupied the positions in the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).
Also, in the North East, Adamawa, Yobe and Gombe States were on the NWC, now the zone is considering Borno, Bauchi and Taraba States for the NWC positions zoned to them. They have the Deputy National Chairman (North) and National Auditor, plus the statutory National Vice Chairman North East.
The situation is not also different in the South West, where states that were not in the previous NWC are considered first. Such states are Oyo, Osun and Ogun.
The South East source said it would be wrong for the former Senate President, Ken Nnamani from Enugu State to appropriate Deputy National Chairman (South) to himself as being alleged.
He posited also that the zone should look at those that would make impact in the NWC and the party at the zone for consideration.
According to him, NWC positions should not be giving to people who cannot impact positively on the party and their zones.
Speaking, he said, South East APC should consider the founding members of APC from the zone and not joiners for the NWC positions.
There are people who believed in the party from formative stage and they would be in the position to beat the burdens of the party at the NWC and the zones.
It would morally and logically wrong for a tenant to occupy the better part of a building than the landlord.
