The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday in
Abuja, constituted a 10- man committee to review its constitution ahead
of its midterm, non selective National Convention slated for April.
Chief John Odigie-Oyegun,
the party`s National Chairman while inaugurating the committee, said
the decision to review the party`s constitution was taken at its last
National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
He
said the decision was particularly taken to review aspects of the
party`s existing constitution which did not really address issues of
disciplinary measures to be taken against erring members as well as
membership requirement.
According to him,
the kind of Board of Trustee (BoT) the party should have by way of
nomenclature also came up at its last NEC meeting.
Oyegun said with the party`s present
constitution, it was difficult to institute disciplinary proceedings
against erring members.
He expressed optimism that at the end of the exercise, the party would have a more focused constitution in terms of objectives.
The
APC national chairman urged members of the committee to use the
opportunity to look at other aspects of the constitution that should be
reviewed.
This, he said, should be done
with a view to cementing the processes and provisions of the
constitution to permanently institutionalise internal democracy as a
focus for the party.
He also called on
APC members across the country to use the opportunity to make submission
to the committee aspects of the party`s constitution they wanted
reviewed.
“All members who have any
idea as to changes they want to see in the party`s constitution should
please avail the opportunity and let us have their proposal’’.
This, Oyegun said, was critical to enable the party`s leadership prepare such proposals for presentation to the convention.
He
called the committee members to discharge their responsibilities with
diligence and posterity and come up with a constitution that would stand
the test of time, given the party`s experience and the country`s
economy.
The APC national chairman
further said that the committee was unique because of its composition
which include Governors, Ministers, legislators and some members of the
party`s National Working Committee (NWC).
“It is a committee that embraces all facets, both from the APC and APC in government.
“We
hope that at the end of your task, we will have a constitution for the
party that addresses our issues today and looks into the future’’.
He
further said that the committee was expected to complete the task by
the end of February, to enable the party`s leadership circulate the
constitution to members before the convention.
This, he said, was to enable party members study the constitution ahead of the midterm, non national convention.
He prayed God to grant the committee members the wisdom to discharge their responsibilities dutifully.
Mr Muis Banire,
Chairman of the committee, in his response, assured that members would
discharge their responsibilities ‘’speedily and diligently’’ devoid of
personal considerations.
“We will be objective in whatever recommendation we are putting forward, regardless of our personnel interest,’’ he said.
This,
he said, was to ensure that the committee comes up with a constitution
that would endure and be a functional document to address the party`s
past and present challenges.
He also expressed optimism that the committee would look into the future of the party with a view to anticipating eventualities.
“We
want to come up with a constitution that will strengthen our
institutions and organs of the party, rather than strengthening an
individual,’’ Banire said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Alhaji Inuwa Abdul-kadir is the secretary of the committee.
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