APC Governors Demand Acting Chairman

While speaking on Friday, PGF’s Director-General, Salihu Lukman described the Abuja High court injunction against Oshiomhole as a “big opportunity” to reposition the party ahead of the 2023 general election.

The crises rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its chairman, Adam Oshiomhole, continued to fester as the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), led by Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, threw their weight behind the suspension of the party’s national chairman.

The forum, while acknowledging the existence of the conflicting court orders of the Abuja and Kano federal high courts, called for the appointment of an acting chairman for the APC until the determination of the issue relating to the legality of the suspension of Oshiomhole in court.

“The reality is that our party APC is faced with a big problem whereby none of our organs are meeting as provided by the constitution. In fact, we are even not sure who our members are. There is, therefore, the urgent need to resume the process of party building with confirmation of our members as well as recruiting new members,” Lukman said in a statement.

“We need to invoke provisions of Article 17 (vi) which provides that in the event of a vacancy, “the relevant Party organ shall appoint another person to act in his place pending ratification by the National Convention or Congress.”

However, The forum’s reaction came after President Buhari met with Governor Atiku Bagudu, the Chairman of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF); Governor Kayode Fayemi (Chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum) and Adams Oshiomhole in a separate meeting on Thursday.

But while speaking further on Friday, the forum absolved President Muhammadu Buhari of blame in the crises rocking the party.

The forum also called on the national executive committee (NEC) to convene to resolve pending issues relating to the affairs of the party.

The forum claimed that members of the Oshiomhole-led NWC have constituted themselves into an unaccountable assembly in the affairs of the party.