THE ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting for July 24.
The party announced this through its Deputy National Secretary, Festus Fuanter, after the party’s National Working Committee met on Monday in Abuja.
The announcement came four days after the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, resigned.
It was also made hours after the warring factions of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) sheathed their swords and reunited in Abuja. With the truce, the party leaders believe the PDP would be strong enough to wrest power from the President Bola Tinubu-led APC government in 2027.
In the statement announcing its planned NEC meeting, the APC said on Tuesday, July 1: “And during the meeting, if they so desire that a new chairman be nominated, we’ll also accept such nomination and then wait for the convention, where the final position of the party will be made as far as the substantive chairman is concerned.”
The ICIR reported that Ganduje announced his resignation in a letter on Friday, June 278, citing health concerns as the reason for his decision.
A former Kano State Governor, Ganduje was elected as the APC national chairman in August 2023, amidst internal party conflicts.
The ICIR reports that his tenure as APC chairman was fraught with controversies, suspensions, and litigations, as sources said that internal rifts within the party might have influenced his decision to step aside.
Shortly after his resignation, the Deputy National Chairman (North) of the APC, Ali Bukar Dalori, was directed to assume the role of the party’s acting national chairman.
Dalori was also asked to urgently convene a meeting of the NEC to formally address the leadership vacuum.
Dalori hails from Borno, the same state as Vice President Kashim Shettima, who has recently been embroiled in controversy over speculation about his potential replacement as running mate in the 2027 election by the president.
Meanwhile, opposition parties like the Labour Party (LP), PDP, and Social Democratic Party (SDP), expected to challenge the ruling APC, are instead mired in internal crises.
Tinubu, while addressing the joint session of the National Assembly in commemoration of June 12 Democracy Day in Abuja on Thursday, June 12, said he took pleasure in seeing opposition parties in crisis.
He also said he was not interested in a one-party state, despite welcoming all opposition figures defecting to the APC.
A reporter with the ICIR
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