The leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State yesterday dismissed reports that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party had approved the extension of tenure of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party. Also yesterday, Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, said as much as there were peculiarities in the APC controlled states across Nigeria, there was a need for synergy for peer review to replicate success stories of the party across the country.
The state’s Chairman of the party, Anselm Ojezua, who stated this at a press conference in Benin City said no decision was reached by NEC of the party to extend the tenure of the Odigie- Oyegun. Ojezua said only a motion was moved to extend the tenure of the national chairman and others, adding that the NEC of the party was reminded of provisions of the party’s constitution.
He stated that no decision was reached at the NEC meeting for tenure elongation and explained that state chairmen of the party supported it because they were beneficiaries. Ojezua warned that the party needed to act fast because the tenure of the party executives would soon expire. He said: “There must be a misconception as to what decision the NEC of the APC made.
There was a motion put before NEC proposing the extension of tenure for a number of reasons but our attention was also drawn to the constitution of the party that it does not contain any provision for extension of tenure and that should it be that there was extension, something has to be done to satisfy the constitutional provision.
“There was no decision to extend tenure. A motion was passed indicating a preference that tenure be extended but there was the realisation that the constitution does not permit it and therefore there needed to be a further action taken on it. No decision was taken to extend the tenure of the executives. “Time is still ticking. Very soon the tenure of the executive will soon expire.
The party will have to do something quickly to address the issue because as it is currently constituted when the tenure expires then it is dead. NEC did not extend tenure. It only passed a motion in favour of tenure extension subject to the constitution which at the moment did not permit it. “The party chairmen supported it because they are also beneficiaries of the constitution. The party is subject to its own rules.
There was no argument at all at the meeting. There is a need for us to work on the constitution prior to taking the decision of tenure extension.” On whether he would support the amendment of the party’s constitution for tenure elongation, Ojezua said: “When we presented ourselves for office, we knew if it was for four years.
I also have an opportunity to present myself for another tenure should it be the wish of delegates at the congress and that is the position I will take.” Meanwhile, Obaseki, who spoke during the fifth Progressive Governors’ Forum Quarterly meeting holding, which ended in Benin City yesterday, said there was a need for states under the control of the APC to harmonise policy implementation strategies to make the impact of social welfare programmes felt across the states. Obaseki, who was represented by his deputy, Philip Shaibu, said: “We have just concluded the local government elections where we recorded a 100 percent victory.
We are indeed pleased that our people accepted our policy reforms with their popular votes at the polls. “However, the need to carry out internal appraisal as a party cannot be overemphasised and that is why this meeting is important.” He added that though there may be peculiarities, the need to engender uniform policy reforms across states controlled by the APC is necessary to equally distribute the governance imprints of the state on everyone who voted for the party.
