By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Governors elected on the platform of All Progressive Congress (APC) have vowed that the party’s National Convention cannot exceed February, even as they passed a vote of confidence on the party’s Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) led by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.
Briefing journàlists after its closed door meeting which lasted for about three hours in the Kebbi Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro area of Abuja, the PGF Chairman, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, who is also the Governor of Kebbi, said the APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee reserves the authority to workout the date and modalities for the National Convention, but added that it must not go beyond February.
“The Progressive Governors Forum met this evening, Sunday, the 16th of January, 2022 to discuss numerous issues affecting the Forum and member States and we acknowledged some of the achievements the different member States made. The President visited Ogun where he commended the Governor and inaugurated projects, he visited Borno State.
“We have had challenges in some states and we commiserate with them. We spoke about our unanimous appreciation of Mr. President and especially the confidence he has in the Forum and we also passed a vote of confidence on the National Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the party chaired by Governor Mai-Mala Buni and including two other Governors, Abubakar Bello of Niger State and Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State who have done an incredible job of running our party successfully, mobilising people into the party and we are very happy with their conduct.
“We discussed our upcoming convention which you may recall I had cause to address the press after we visited the President in November, 2021 where we expressed that both Mr. President and the party have agreed that the convention will take place in February.
“So, we took inputs about the reviews and we noted that all the misrepresentations in the press that we seek to correct; that the Progressive Governors Forum is a one united body as you can see evidently in attendance and our decision is unanimous. We are united behind Mr. President and we thank him and we are united behind the Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee”, he said.
