{"id":28105,"date":"2014-06-19T02:57:31","date_gmt":"2014-06-19T01:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=28105"},"modified":"2014-06-19T02:57:31","modified_gmt":"2014-06-19T01:57:31","slug":"apcs-convention-now-we-see-the-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/apcs-convention-now-we-see-the-change\/","title":{"rendered":"APC\u2019s Convention: Now we see the \u201cChange\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\" align=\"center\">By Kayode Ojo<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since its emergence through a merger of a few insignificant to middling political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has struggled with image problems of its own making. \u00a0If the party is not portraying itself through its interim appointments as a party for one religion only in Nigeria\u2019s multi-religious society, it is acting out a foretold script to prove that it is indeed merely a vehicle for two power-seeking individuals to achieve their ambitions. \u00a0And yet this is the party that keeps saying it is all about \u201cchange\u201d.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">June 13-14, 2014 \u2014 the dates of its recent National Convention \u2014 presented the APC a golden opportunity to reinvent itself and prove that it is capable of living up to the \u201cchange\u201d mantra. \u00a0But, in a performance that almost made the much-vilified Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) look like saints, the APC Convention left many Nigerians asking, \u201cWhat manner of change is this?\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Former Governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, was selected through \u201cconsensus\u201d as the first substantive National Chairman of the APC. \u00a0And despite a declaration made during the merger that brought about the APC \u201cto form a political party committed to the principles of internal democracy,\u201d several other national executive officers of the party were selected through \u201cconsensus\u201d. These include the Deputy Chairman (South), Segun Adebayo Oni; Deputy Chairman (North), Lawal Shuaibu; National Secretary, Alhaji Mai Mala Goni and National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. To say that many Nigerians, including some prominent members of the APC itself, are still reeling from the shock of this strange rendition of \u201cchange\u201d is to put the matter mildly.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Interestingly, there are some Nigerians who would certainly not be surprised by the underhanded happenings recorded at the APC Convention. Such Nigerians include people like <i>Vanguard<\/i> Femi Aribisala, who, as far back as April 15, 2014 wrote: \u201cRather than being a progressive party, the APC is regressive. \u00a0Indeed, it is a cruel joke to describe it as progressive. \u00a0A party led by a former military dictator and a civilian dictator cannot be progressive.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Moreover, as the journalist Iyobosa Uwugiaren stated in the <i>Leadership <\/i>of Wednesday, June 18, 2014: \u201cWhat happened at the Eagle Square, Abuja, between last Thursday and Saturday morning, was a sham; it was a selection, not election; it lacked the basic minimum elements of internal democracy in a party that prides itself as a \u201cprogressive party\u201d. Indeed, the conduct of the APC leaders was retrogressive.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In an article titled, \u201cWho Owns APC?\u201d Uwugiaren also said: \u201cMy take on the outcome of the convention is that the leaders fell short of glory before God and the electorate. \u00a0They fell flat on the core principles of democracy: the right of people to decide who leads them; they failed woefully on their widely advertised selling points \u2014 \u201cchange\u201d and \u201cnew ideas\u201d.\u201d \u00a0Uwugiaren went on to add, \u201cI hold this view strongly that APC is not a credible alternative to the PDP.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">For those who may feel Uwugiaren is a bystander whose views on the goings-on in the APC are of little consequence, a chieftain of the party, Chief Tom Ikimi, boycotted the convention even though it was widely reported that he planned to contest the national chairmanship position of the party.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">When contacted by the media to state why he failed to attend the convention, Ikimi, a former foreign affairs minister, said: \u201cThere was no election. \u00a0Odigie-Oyegun was selected and appointed as chairman. That was why I did not fill and submit my nomination form.\u00a0 I boycotted the convention because its outcome was pre-determined.\u201d \u00a0As a very senior member of the APC, Ikimi\u2019s words cannot be dismissed out of hand.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Despite all that, perhaps the most damning fallout of the APC National Convention is the controversy surrounding its new National Youth leader in the person of Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo. \u00a0Jalo\u2019s age was first stated as 52, later reduced to 49 on a television talk show by former Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nasir el-Rufai; and lastly \u2018proved\u2019 to be 43 by virtue of a crisp-looking birth certificate circulated on social media.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Not impressed by the mathematical acrobatics surrounding Jalo\u2019s age, a pressure group, Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth &amp; Advancement (YIAGA), issued a statement saying, \u201cThis election or selection of a 52 year old as a National Youth Leader of the APC contradicts the provision of the party constitution which in itself defines youth as persons between the age of 18 and 40.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Not to be outdone, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, weighed in on the controversy through a statement saying, \u201cIt is public knowledge that Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo contested the Gombe\/Kwame\/Funakaye Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives in 2011 during which he declared his age to be 49 years. \u00a0The records are there and they speak for themselves. \u00a0If Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo was 49 years old in 2011, it naturally follows that he is 53 at present for which he should be grateful to God.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Indeed, all Nigerians should be grateful to God for the APC National Convention since it has shown what manner of \u201cchange\u201d the party would bring if it is voted into power.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>\n<div><b>Kayode Ojo, public affairs analyst, sent this piece from Ketu, Lagos.<\/b><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kayode Ojo Since its emergence through a merger of a few insignificant to middling political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has struggled with image problems of its own&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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