No Plan To Exclude Senators, Reps From National Convention, Says APC

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has not excluded members of the National Assembly from its National Convention in the proposed amendment to the party’s constitution, The Nation has learnt.

Federal lawmakers had, on Monday, kicked against their exclusion from the published proposed amendments to the APC Constitution (2014).

They described their exclusion as statutory delegates to the national convention as undemocratic, unjust and illogical.

But in a paid advertorial, the Secretary of the party’s Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, explained that the proposed amendments contained in Article 12.1 were inadvertently omitted.

He said: “By Article 30 of the APC Constitution 2014, a notice of proposed amendments to the party’s constitution was published in national newspapers on Friday, February 11, 2022. However, proposed amendments contained in Article 12 were inadvertently omitted.”

According to the amendment, as contained in Sub-Section 12.1 (vi.) of the proposed amendment, “serving and past members of the National Assembly and all serving members of State Houses of Assembly who are members of the party” shall be delegated to the party’s national convention.

Other delegates to the party’s national convention will have the National Chairman; members of the National Advisory Council; members of the National Executive Committee; serving and past Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who are members of the party; serving and past governors and deputy governors of states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who are members of the party.

Also on the list of delegates to the national convention are: serving non-career ambassadors who are members of the party, past Speakers, Deputy Speakers and other principal officers of State Houses of Assembly who are members of the party; past members of the National Working Committee and any organ created by the party to exercise the powers and functions of the National Working Committee; members of the States’ Working Committee, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja; all party chairmen and secretaries of the local government areas/area councils in the country who are members of the party.

Other delegates are: all elected local government council/area council chairmen who are members of the party three elected delegates (at least one of whom shall be a woman) from each local government area/area council; the National Secretary and National Organising Secretary of each wing of the party, and the Chairman and Secretary of the Committee of Diaspora Chairmen.