News Obiaks News

Party stalwarts positioning themselves for roles in the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may have to wait for a little longer until appreciable progress is made in the resolution of the crisis of confidence generated by the conflict in the National Assembly.

Also, the party wants to put on hold the inauguration of the BoT till President Muhammed Buhari finishes with the appointment of his ministers. Although the National Executive Council (NEC) had approved the categories of those that would  be members of the party’s BoT, there are indications that the already listed composition might be tinkered with to accommodated certain interests.

It was gathered that with the  unsettled issues at the National Assembly, the ruling party is still a divided house and cannot risk further escalation of the crisis by trying to inaugurate its BoT. There has been brewing controversy over who among the political gladiators in the ruling APC would clinch the BoT chairmanship seat with several groups canvassing competing interests.

Among the likely contestants for the position are the former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar,  protem national chairman, Chief Bisi Akande and former National  Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abubakar Baraje. Also, the party is trying to use the gap in time to fill the vacancies created by appointments being into the Buhari cabinet as well as those who might have contested and won other elective offices.

Regarding the continued delay in the inauguration of the APC BoT,  it was gathered that both the party and the presidency had decided to put it on hold pending the full roll-out of the administration. According to a top APC  source who made the reveation at the weekend, the idea is to stem further plots for positions of influence or tussle for leadership which may serve as serious distraction to government.

The source also said the decision to keep the BoT on hold was informed by the need to prevent it from being used as a platform by lobbyist for ministerial position to further put pressure on Buhari over the issue of appointment of ministers.

It was learnt that President Buhari who is putting finishing touches to the ministerial list at the weekend has enlisted the support of the APC leadership under Chief John Oyegun to assist in vetting the proposed ministerial nominees.

Oyegun and members of the NWC were also to reach out to stakeholders in the states especially those who may have lost out in the final push to secure a place in the ministerial list in order to calm nerves.

“The party leadership has been contacted on the list to make suggestions but the final say on the appointments still resides with the president. We are only being consulted and being leaders of the party it is believed that our advice will help the president in making an informed choice at the end of the day,” the source said.

However, the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, could neither confirm when the party will convene the meeting of the BoT members nor whether the delay is tied to composition of the federal cabinet. The Spokesman said: “I am not aware of the date for the inauguration of the BoT, neither would I be able to explain the cause of the delay. All I know is that at the appropriate time the BoT will meet to commence their function.”