The All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed dates for its congresses and national convention. While the ward congress would hold on April 5, the Local Government Congress would hold on April 12, the State Congress would on April 23 and National Convention would hold on May 24.
The announcement was made through a communique issued by the party following the ninth meeting of the Interim National Executive Committee. The party did not give details of the planned congresses and convention.
APC, however, accused President Goodluck Jonathan and his administration of plotting to impose a full state of emergency on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, three states which have witnessed fierce attacks from the Boko Haram insurgents in recent time.
“It has come to our notice that, in pursuant of the Presidency’s stance to label anyone who offers it any advice on how to curtail the terrorists attack and boost the morale of our gallant troops, the imposition of a total state of emergency is being considered for Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, which is a smokescreen to remove the democratically-elected Governors of these APC states.
“We condemn this move unequivocally and urge the president to jettison the idea, if indeed it is being remotely contemplated, because it will not advance the cause of peace in the affected states”, the APC said.
The party said that against the background of the daily orgy of killings, it was compelled to say that Jonathan’s administration has lost total control of events in the country, with the result that Nigerians are now being left to their own devices.
“It is clear that the situation in our country today, whether it is in the area of security, job creation, fight against corruption or even growing of the economy, is far beyond the capacity of those at the helm.
“We also note as a party, the ferocious attacks and blackmail mounted against Lamido Sanusi, the governor of Central Bank. How someone who publicly disclosed the brazen theft of $20 billion dollars from NNPC became a candidate for character assassination and blackmail is questionable and condemnable.
“Sanusi’s suspension is an affront to law and a threat to Nigeria’s institutional stability. This is also a government of double standard. Why is Minister of Petroleum, Deziani Alison-Madueke, still in office when the major agency she super-intends is under investigation over the missing $20 billion?”
The National Executive Committee of the APC commiserated with the families of the people who died last Saturday at several venues of the job test by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). It also extended its sympathy and prayers to those who were injured in the stampede, wishing them quick recovery.
The party said the needless deaths of youths, which resulted from a combination of exploitation, corruption, greed and incompetence of the relevant authorities, represents an avoidable violation of their right to life and dignity.
“Out of sheer greed, N1,000 each was collected from the over 770,000 unemployed applicants shortlisted. The Jonathan-led PDP government therefore fleeced unemployed youth and their parents of N770 million using a consultant as conduit.
“Even then, the available vacancies of about 4,500 have already been filled through the back door by over 3,000 candidates of PDP Apparatchik and government officials.
“The pervasive corruption and incompetence that have become the hallmarks of the Jonathan Administration paved the way for this unprecedented greed in which hapless job seekers were extorted by the same government that has failed to provide jobs for them.
“Yet, this government has no social security or any form of safety net for the vulnerable army of the unemployed. It should be made clear that this government encourages and baby sits corruption stealing not only from the Pension fund of Nigerian citizens, but also from the unemployed and from our collective patrimony, the NNPC.
“That is why we are calling for a criminal investigation to unravel the circumstances that led to the deaths of those innocent Nigerians, to find out who authorized the fleecing of job seekers by a government agency, what happened to the money realized from the heist and why the relevant officials did not ensure a better arrangement that could have saved precious lives.
“The job stampede deaths constitute the latest in a series of events that have turned Nigeria into a massive killing field in recent times. The orgy of killings in the past few weeks have left hundreds dead and many more maimed in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Kaduna, Katsina and Plateau, just to mention a few. Never in the peace time history of our dear country has there been such a high number of needless deaths”, the party said.
It lamented that amid these crises, the PDP-led Federal Government has been carrying on as if all was well.
“After presiding over a wasteful centenary celebration, President Goodluck Jonathan has been gallivanting around the country, addressing political rallies when he should be commiserating with families of the dead in the affected states, especially Yobe where innocent children were massacred by a cowardly band of terrorists, and Katsina which he visited a few hours after hundreds of people were killed”, it said.
“Therefore, the only salvation for Nigeria is a purposeful and focused party like the APC. From the Road-map which we unveiled recently, it is clear that we recognize the enormity of the challenges facing our dear country, hence we made job creation our priority, followed by security and the fight against corruption, among others.
“We urge our compatriots not to despair or give up hope, because salvation is in the horizon. The APC today embodies the hopes and aspirations of our long-suffering people. We have no doubt that this country can and will work again, and we are up to the task of restoring hope to our beleaguered people”.
The meeting was attended by members of the party’s Interim National leadership including Chief Bisi Akande, and Governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.
National leaders of the party such as Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, General Mohammed Buhari, Senator Alli Modu Sheriif, Chief Ogbonnoya Onu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Chief Olusegun Osoba, Senator Saraki, Senator Goje and other members of National Interim Executive of the party were also in attendance.
