... wants convention postponed
until a later date when the party would have made further progress in unifying its members.
Convener of the group, Cecilia Ikechukwu who spoke in Abuja said she she firmly belief that the postponement would allow for party members to further air their grievances while exploring the path of reconciliation.
The women said it thought that the convention planing Committee would continue to expand its peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts but were rudely shocked when the elective national convention was announced February 26, 2022.
Ikechukwu said this development is disconcerting for the very reason that it has further frayed already strained intra-party relations within the party.
She said, "The logical thing would have been to as much as was possible try to further reconcile the various state factions of the APC. That way, whoever emerges as a candidate for any position will enjoy widespread support going into the 2023 General Elections. But pressing ahead with the National Convention without first putting the house in order is calling for disaster. We have seen it happen in other political parties in the past whereby those who would be dissatisfied with the outcome of a major incident like the National Convention will end up defecting to other political party.
"No right-thinking politician will assert that it is a desirable thing to lose members, strategic and high worth members, in an election year, which is the bleak prospect that our party now faces unless something drastic is done to correct the error of fixing a date for the national convention without first addressing underlying issues that threaten the wellbeing of the party.
"Consequently, the Coalition of Progressive Women in Nigeria, as concerned mothers, hereby appeals to the National Executive Council (NEC) for the postponement of the APC’s February 26th National Convention until a later date when the party would have made further progress in unifying its members. We firmly belief that the postponement would allow for party members to further air their grievances while exploring the path of reconciliation.
"It is our fervent prayer that this appeal does not fall on deaf hears because the consequences could be grievous. We would not like for the appeal to take on the tone of an unheeded warning in the future when irreparable damage would have done to the party with attendant electoral losses.
"In addition to rescheduling the National Convention to a more practical date, we implore the APC NEC to prevail on some of the party’s governors to curtail their excessive intrusion in the running of the affairs of the party. We will specifically ask that the NEC calls the trio of Kaduna State’s Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Plateau State’s Governor Simon Lalong and Kebbi State’s Abubakar Atiku Bagudu to order. It is callous for the likes of Nasir El- Rufai, Lalong and Bagudu to think that their words should be law and the interest of the party should no longer matter.
"The overbearing way these people try to foist these personal ambitions and agendas on the party is largely responsible for where the APC has found itself today. Had their excesses been curtailed before they pushed the party into this mess, we would not have been trying to do damage control at a time when we should finalize our victory plan for the elections ahead.
"We are therefore warning that we would hold El- Rufai, Lalong and Bagudu responsible for whatever ills the APC suffers should they go ahead with the conventon and those aggrieved parties whose grievances have not been addressed decide to leave the party. We would then be compelled to prove to these overbearing governors the power of women as mobilizers as we will take steps to prove to them that they can be demystified by party members.
"As women, we are saying that we cannot see danger and keep quiet. We cannot see the party digging its own grave and keep quiet. We cannot know those acting against the interest the party and shield them. President Muhammadu Buhari, other APC state Governors and all leaders of the party should stand up to save APC before itself destructs at the hands of these emperor governors.
"The only way forward is to reschedule the national convention from the February 26, 2022 date" she said
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