The lingering political crisis in the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kogi State, between Governor Yahaya Bello and Senator Dino Melaye may soon come to an end following the inauguration of a reconciliation committee by the national body of the party.
Already, the chairman of the committee, Gen Idris Garba, has pledged that the members would do everything humanly possible to resolve the issue.
“There is no doubt that it is an onerous task, but we are committed people and believe in bringing our experiences to bear on the issue; we will be able to resolve the issue as directed by our great party,” said Garba.
In a concrete step towards resolving the crisis rocking the party in the state, the national chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on Monday inaugurated the reconciliation committee in Abuja.
According to a statement issued by Malam Bolaji Abudullahi, the APC National Publicity Secretary, the committee is chaired by Gen. Idris Garba, while the party’s Deputy National Secretary, Mr Victor Giadom would be its Secretary.
Other members of the committee are Chief Don Etiebet; Rt. Hon. Patricia Etteh; Group. Capt. Rufai Garba; Alhaji Umar Lawan Kareto and Group. Capt. Joe Orji.
In his speech Odigie-Oyegun described the situation in Kogi as unique.
Pointing out that the situation responsible for the crisis was tragic, he said the leadership of the party was bending backwards because it understood the feelings of the people and what they had been through.
His words: “We understand the work that you have put in to get the APC elected; we understand also that God who disposes of power, brought somebody at the last minute to be the beneficiary of all the work and labour that everybody obviously had put in.
“Fortunately, we had a fact-finding committee that has done a lot of the basic work and submitted a report which will be made available to the reconciliation committee.
“We know the principal parties in the various groups in Kogi; we know what their grievances are.
“So the issue now is really to call just the principal groups and say look, this has to stop. How do we go about it?
“The governor of course will be there to say his piece and give you all the assistance necessary to make your task successful.
“We want peace in Kogi State. Events there have been very very unusual. But like I said, given the emotive nature of the event that led to it, we have decided to stretch the opportunities for reaching peace.”
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