Chances of tenure elongation for the current All Progressives Congress, APC, executive led by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun have totally been cancelled.
The governors of the party have joined President Muhammadu Buhari in his position that tenure elongation for the executive was unconstitutional and capable of causing legal chaos in the party.
The meeting between the governors and Buhari on the issue, on Tuesday, ended without a conclusion as they were sharply divided.
But at a meeting with the president on Wednesday, the governors, represented by five governors took a common position: No tenure elongation.
The governors who represented others are Abdulazeez Yari, Zamfara; Simon Lalong, Plateau; Rochas Okorocha, Imo; Abdullahi Ganduje, Kano, and Ibikunle Amosun Ogun.
Addressing State House correspondents on Wednesday, Yari said all the governors had agreed on the issue of tenure elongation.
He said it was agreed that the party’s congress would hold at all levels.
His words: “Gentlemen of the press, you know yesterday we left you in the dark after the meeting and today we have seen so many captions that there is disagreement between the governors over the issue of party chairman or about the party leadership.
“No. We had a meeting with Mr. President yesterday (Tuesday), and we extended the meeting to night and we followed up with the consultations with the President now.
Read also: Buhari, APC governors’ meeting over Odigie-Oyegun tenure elongation ends in deadlock
“We consulted and all the 24 governors of the APC are on the same page with Mr. President that we are going to respect our party constitution, we are going to respect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, we collectively agreed that we will have congresses at all levels – local, state and national.
“And the committee set up by the national secretariat of our party headed by governor of Plateau State, is presenting its report later today. The governors are also meeting with the working committee today so that we come up with convention committee names as well as timetable of the election.
“So, there is no deadlock in our meeting, we have progressed and very soon you will have the names of the convention committee members as well as the timetable.”
The Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okoroch, also spoke on the issue stressing that there was no crisis in the party.
“The issue was one of people who believe that we did not have enough time to organise a party congress and run an election. Some people felt that it was a good idea but the most important thing is that, if we do that we will be contravening both our party constitution and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“To this effect, the convention committee will be set up, it will be announced.
“But let me correct one impression, the issue of congress and convention does not mean that the previous people who have served the party have done badly, and it does not mean that they cannot come back or that they cannot re-contest, that is not it.
“We are simply saying that their tenure has ended and those who wish to re-contest can re-contest and can be elected to our party structure. So, we are all one as a family and we are set to go for 2019 elections in victory.”
