President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the national executive committee (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to consider reversing the tenure elongation of the party’s national working committee (NWC) that is led by John Odigie-Oyegun, chairman of the party.
This is a major u-turn as the president, during last month’ meeting of the NWC endorsed the Odigie-Oyegun-led exco for another year.
In a meeting at the party’s headquarters in Abuja Tuesday, President Buhari admitted that the extension decided upon at the party’s NEC meeting on February 28 is against the constitution of the APC.
He said he wanted to avoid a legal battle that could jeopardize the party’s cohesion before the 2019 general election.
Buhari’s unexpected pronouncement will be a welcome development to Bola Tinubu, national leader of the APC, and some party leaders who had opposed the extension of the tenure of the NWC and state executives by one year.
A former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, described it as illegal, saying: “If there is no convention in APC before the general election, the party may become a spectator instead of a participant.”
More to come…