President Muhammadu Buhari on
Tuesday addressed the National Executive Committee of the All Progressives
Congress (APC).
He called on party members to
close ranks, noting that disunity would not help them.
The president also spoke on the
tenure on the APC officials and what must be done.
Full text of his speech:
“I am delighted to once again
welcome you to this National Executive Committee Meeting of our great party. As
we usually do, I hope we will take the opportunity of this gathering to resolve
outstanding issues and consolidate our plans towards making APC the strongest
defender of the interests of our people.
2.In particular, I think it is
important for me to speak quickly on the contentious issue of the tenure of our
National and State Executive Officers. As we all know, a motion was moved at
the last National Executive Committee meeting of February 27, 2018, to the
effect that when the tenure of the current executives expire in June this year,
they should be allowed to continue for one year.
3.This motion was duly carried
by a majority of members present at the last NEC Meeting, even though some of
our party members have since spoken up very vehemently against it. Others have
even taken the matter to court.
4.On my own part, I have taken
some time to review and seek advise on the resolution. And what I found is that
it contravenes both our party Constitution and the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
5.While the APC Constitution, in
Article 17(1) and 13.2(B), limits the tenure of elected officers to four years,
renewable once by another election, the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as
amended), in section 223, also prescribes periodic elections for party
executives at regular intervals, which must not exceed four years.
6.Furthermore, Article 31 of our
Party Constitution provides that any principal officer wishing to re-contest or
contest for another post, must resign from his current post at least one month
before the election
7.In this circumstance, what is
expected of us is to conduct fresh elections, once the tenure of the current
executives approaches its end. A Caretaker Committee cannot remedy this
situation, and cannot validly act in place of elected officers.
8.Furthermore, I think if we
deviate from the constitutional provisions, we might be endangering the
fortunes of our party. If the tenure of our party executives can be legally
faulted, then it means that any nominations and primary elections that they may
conduct, can also be faulted.
9.This is not to talk of
divisions that would arise, and is already arising within the party, when some
of our members feel that they are being denied the right to aspire to executive
positions, or that internal democracy is not at play within the party.
10.I am therefore of the firm
view that it is better to follow strictly the dictates of our party and
national constitutions, rather than put APC and its activities at grave risk.
11.Fortunately, we have already
approved a timetable for the holding of congresses and elections. I think these
should be allowed to go forward and all efforts should now be geared towards
making them a great success.
12.Once again, I welcome you all
to this meeting with the hope that we will promote, always, the highest interest
of the party and of our people.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com