There will be no vacancy in the Presidency
in 2019, members of the National Caucus of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, declared on Tuesday
night in a seeming lure to President Muhammadu
Buhari to seek a second term.
The national caucus, comprising serving and former
governors, the National Assembly leadership, and
selected members of the national executive of the
party, at the meeting said the endorsement of
President Buhari for a second term would help to
stabilise the polity in the face of what members
described as the 16-year rot inherited from Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP.
Meanwhile, the national chairman of the party, Chief
John Odigie-Oyegun, has dismissed insinuations of a
threat against his position, just as the caucus,
Tuesday night, constituted a committee to resolve all
pending issues in the party.
One of the issues agreed on at the meeting, Vanguard
learned yesterday, was that President Buhari should
be given opportunity to seek a second term. Though
the issue of a second term for the President was
generally agreed, caucus members, however, also
agreed that it would be too early in the day to kick
start a second term campaign for the President.
Vanguard learned that the issue was brought up as a
way of resting restiveness among some party leaders,
who have been divided over their various aspirations
for 2019.
The positioning by different party leaders on 2019 has
been blamed for the problems that led to the crisis in
the National Assembly and also the inability of the
party to inaugurate its Board of Trustees, BoT, till
date.
“With Buhari contesting in 2019, those who have been
squabbling will now have to queue up behind him and
put the interest of the party ahead,” a source privy to
the development revealed yesterday.
Remarkably, leading senators in the party on Tuesday
night met in Abuja where they also pledged to unify
themselves in the face of the prospect of losing their
influence to the more united PDP caucus.
Odigie-Oyegun dismisses threat to his office
Meanwhile, Odigie-Oyegun speaking to reporters at
the end of the caucus meeting on Tuesday night
dismissed reports of pressures on him to resign his
office.
He said: “I am not aware that my office is under
threat. I led the party to the State House. It amazes
me, occasionally it annoys me. That is one of the
things you have to endure when you are in a position
like mine."
Noting the trend of the meeting, Odigie-Oyegun said
that a committee had been constituted to resolve all
the crises in the party.
Speaking on the performance of his party’s
government almost one year after taking over power,
the national chairman pleaded for time on the part of
Nigerians. He said the government would come on full
stream when the 2016 budget is passed.
Vanguard
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