Plateau state governor Simon Lalong said the party would hold its convention next month and expressed optimism that the exercise would be successful.
President Muhammadu Buhari and the governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will on Sunday meet to finalise decisions on the party’s drawn out national convention.
Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau, who doubles as the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, disclosed this after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday in Abuja.
“I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but the visit to the President has already assured us and you know that there is already a notice that all the governors are meeting on Sunday. By Sunday we will tell you when we’re doing the convention,” Mr Lalong said.
This comes amidst calls for the postponement of the convention earlier slated for February 2022. Some party chieftains had also feared that postponing the convention puts the party at risk of losing power to its major opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
However, Mr Lalong announced that the party would hold its convention next month and expressed optimism that the exercise would be successful.
“You know, when a convention is coming there are fears here and there, some people will tell you it will work, it will not work,” the governor said.
“We’ve taken a date already. I think our first date before Christmas we said we’re going to do a convention in February and we are still working for the convention, as far as I’m concerned, except things change from another angle. But as far as I’m concerned, we’re working for our convention in February,” he asserted.
“These are things that the President was raising his fears about, but we’ve already given him assurances that nothing will stop us from having a very peaceful election.
On the impending litigation that might mar the holding of the proposed convention and the chances of the party, Mr Lalong dismissed such fears.
“There are procedures for holding court processes. Many of the court processes were there when we set up the caretaker committee, but up to this moment, if you go to take a census of some of the court proceedings, you will realise that a lot of them have been resolved out of court.
“But we must not wait to resolve all court processes before you go to the convention. I don’t think so, because there are also machineries for resolving court processes, even after the convention,” the governor said.
(NAN)
