27th July 2021
The Chairman,
The Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee,
All Progressives Congress (APC),
40 Blantyre Street, Wuse 2,
Abuja, FCT.
ATTENTION: Prof. Al-Mustapha Ussiju Medaner (Director Organisation)
Dear Sir,
Purport Consensus Arrangement of All Progressives Party (APC) Congresses in Lagos State: Demand for an Elective Congress to Avoid Constitutional Crises within the Party.
Your Excellency, I bring forth the good tidings of members of our great Party to you sir. I write on behalf of hundreds of thousands of members of the Party from Lagos State to draw your attention to the above instant subject matter.
I further refer you to our several correspondences from May 22, 2018 to the most recent letter of and subsequent correspondences on the subject of refusal of the Party in Lagos State to be law abiding.
Mr. Chairman, the Caretaker Committee in Lagos State is carrying out its assignment in flagrant disregard to the law and extant regulations. The State Caretaker Committee is not in compliance of the law by its continued act of impunity and refusal to recognize the diversity and tendencies in the Party in Lagos State.
Mr. Chairman, majority of our Party members in Lagos State are aggrieved (justifiably so) with the attitude of the National Body in ensuring the enthronement of illegality, unconstitutionality and impunity as regards Lagos State. But we keep faith with the Party, particularly your Committee, the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) hence our support for all your programmes and activities. However, our trust and believe in your impartiality would further be strengthened if you look into this issue and swiftly make corrections before the Party commences the Congress exercise.
There are no truer words than acknowledging that in Lagos State the Party is polarized and there are factions/tendencies and therefore may be sitting on a keg of gunpowder if the right thing is not done urgently. Based on the foregoing and events of the last six weeks regarding the Local Government election and the consensus charade, it has become very clear, that participating in any consensus in Lagos State will further exacerbate the already very tense and charge political environment in Lagos state.
The Timetable, Guidelines for Ward Congresses, Grants Waivers released by Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the Party, which state inter alia that, “in a bid to ensure open, credible and fair congresses that reflect the sanctity of internal democracy in the Party, issues a guiding regulation for the nationwide congresses of the Party. It is binding on all persons coordinating and participating in all Congresses”.
As things are, there cannot be conduct of any consensus process in Lagos for Ward Congresses, hence our resolve to inform you that in Lagos State, without prejudice, overwhelming majority of our Party members have opted for an elective Congress on Saturday 31st July 2021 or any date that Ward Congresses is organized. Our resolve is hinged on article 20 (a)(iv)(a)(d). Below is a culled section of the Party Constitution for ease of reference sir.
ARTICLE 20: ELECTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS
I. Unless otherwise provided for:
a. All Party posts prescribed or implied by this Constitution shall be filled by democratically conducted elections at the respective National Convention or Congress subject, where possible, to consensus, provided that where a Candidate has emerged by consensus for an elective position, a vote of “yes” or “no” by ballot or voice shall be called, to ensure that it was not an imposition which could breed discontent and crisis.
II. Conduct of Primaries for Nomination
(a) Nomination of Candidates for
Councillorship shall be by direct primary election conducted at the Ward level. For the purpose of this primary election, Party members in every Ward shall vote by open-secret ballot for the candidates of their choice where there is no consensus, provided that where a candidate has emerged by consensus for an elective position, a vote of “yes” or “no” should be called to ensure that it was not an imposition which could breed discontent and crisis.
III. Nomination of Candidates for:
(a)Local Government Council/Area Council Chairman
(b)State House of Assembly
(c)House of Representatives
(d)Senate
(e)Governor
(f)President
Shall be through direct or indirect primary election to be conducted at the appropriate level.
iv. Procedure for Nomination of Candidates
a. Further to Article 20 (iii) of this constitution, indirect primaries for the purpose of nominating a candidate shall be done at a designated venue for that purpose, by an Electoral College of delegates democratically elected by members of the Party from the various wards contained in the particular constituency at congresses.
b. The number of Delegates required for each office shall be determined from time to time by the National Executive Committee.
c. All statutory delegates to the National Convention shall be members of Electoral Colleges for all elections of which candidates are to be nominated.
d. Voting at the Ward congress to elect the members of the Electoral college shall be by secret ballot and the contestant with the highest number of votes shall be announced as the winners accordingly
v. Without prejudice to Article 20(u) and (iii) of this Constitution, the National Working Committee shall subject to the approval of the National Executive Committee make Rules and Regulations for the nomination of Candidates through primary elections. All such Rules, Regulations and Guidelines shall take into, consideration and uphold the principle of Federal Character, gender balance, geo-political spread and rotation of offices, to as much as possible ensure balance within the constituency covered.
Please accept, Your Excellency, with our thanks in advance for your attention to this matter, the assurances of our highest consideration.
Yours faithfully,
Fouad Oki
Cc:
1. The Secretary,
The Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee,
All Progressives Congress,
40 Blantyre Street, Wuse 2,
Abuja, FCT.
2. The Director of Organisation,
All Progressives Congress,
40 Blantyre Street, Wuse 2,
Abuja, FCT.
3. Barr. Dare Oketade
Head,
Legal Unit,
All Progressives Congress,
40 Blantyre Street, Wuse 2,
Abuja, FCT.
27th July 2021
The Chairman,
The Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee,
All Progressives Congress (APC),
40 Blantyre Street, Wuse 2,
Abuja, FCT.
ATTENTION: Prof. Al-Mustapha Ussiju Medaner (Director Organisation)
Dear Sir,
COMPOSITION OF LOCAL WARD CONGRESS COMMITTEE (LWCC) IN LAGOS STATE: LOOMING DANGERS OF THE CONTINUING REFUSAL TO DO THE RIGHT THING
Pursuant to our various efforts at getting the National Secretariat of our great Party to investigate the travesty of justice being perpetuated against our members in Lagos State since 2018, we hereby again draw your attention to another possible travesty that may occur during the forth-coming Ward Congresses.
It recently came to our attention that, the State Caretaker Committee led by Alhaji Tunde Balogun has started with compilation of list of members of the Party that will be appointed as Ward Congress Committee members for the various Wards Congresses in the State on Saturday 31st July 2021.
This letter seeks to bring it to your attention that should the National Secretariat acquiesce to this charade by the Alhaji Tunde Balogun Caretaker Committee, the conduct of Congresses in Lagos State will be another exercise in futility, I find it quite pertinent to bring to the attention of the National Secretariat Committee the fruitlessness of any Congress that the Party may organise in Lagos State with the proposed skewed and lopsidedness list of members of the Local Ward Congress Committee (LWCC) which will end in a pre-determined destination as was recently done with the Local Government Primary Election on 29th May 2021.
This would therefore, render any purported Congress a nullity and an exercise in futility. The implication of this is that, delegates will be selected from the 57 Local Government Areas (used for the Ward and Local Government Area Congresses) to constitute the State Congress.
Beyond doubt, this clearly negates the provisions of the Party Guidelines, Article 20(i)(a) of the Constitution of All Progressives Congress, section 85(3) of the Electoral Act and section 223 of the 1999 Constitution. This means that no democratically elected person will be part of the State Congress.
This, again, will render the whole exercise a nullity. The purport of this is that the members of the Executive would be elected from a fraction of the legal territory of each Local government Area and Ward in Lagos State.
Based on the foregoing, the National secretariat is invited to consider and approve the following:
1) Ward Congress Committee (WCC) to operate out of the privately owned property currently used as the State Secretariat on Acme Road, Agidingbi Ikeja and use a neutral location as majority of our members have been barred from going into the location since 2018.
2) Ward Congress Committee (WCC) to acknowledge that there are tendencies/factions in Lagos State chapter of our Great Party and therefore provide a level playing ground by requesting from the various tendencies to nominate at least One (1) person into the 245 Local Ward Congress Committee (LWCC);
3) Collection and submission of Nomination forms should be done outside of the current State Secretariat on Acme Road, Agidingbi Ikeja in order not to disenfranchised majority of the members.
It is equally important to mention that as of today 27th July 2021 at 5:32 pm, no collection or submission of forms has taken place in a bid to frustrate and shut the door at our members. The people deployed from the National Secretariat are nowhere to be found 96 hours to the day of Congress.
We fervently pray that, the CECPC will urgently do the needful and correct this anomaly in order to save the Party from unnecessary and very avoidable aftermath. It is only then, that justice would have been served and rule of law upheld as lesson for people to understand that our Party indeed is a Party established on the path of truth, justice, fairness and equity.
Thank you
Fouad A. Oki
Cc:
1. The Secretary,
The Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee,
All Progressives Congress,
40 Blantyre Street, Wuse 2,
Abuja, FCT.
2. The Director of Organisation,
All Progressives Congress,
40 Blantyre Street, Wuse 2,
Abuja, FCT.
3. Barr. Dare Oketade
Head,
Legal Unit,
All Progressives Congress,
40 Blantyre Street, Wuse 2,
Abuja, FCT.
