APC Polls: How Amaechi Rallied Concensus

As the All Progressives Congress(APC) continues to celebrate its successful national convention at the weekend, facts have emerged that Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi played strong role for the emergence of a consensus candidate from the South-South to clinch the party’s national chairmanship.
Former Edo State governor, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun was declared the chairman after the likes of Amaechi and other top party bigwigs prevailed on Dr Sam Sam Jaja and former Bayelsa State governor, Timipre Sylva to step down.
Just few minutes to voting, Amaechi rose and urged party men and women to lay down their personal interests and ambitions in the ultimate interest of the country. It was a long speech that lasted for about six and half minutes.
He said :     …My   leaders,  Nigerians   are out there looking up to us to help salvage  the country. We can not achieve that with everybody holding unto his interests. We must make sacrifices if we must change our country for better, and whether we will achieve that depends on our actions and inactions this night. Nigerians are outside waiting. For us in Rivers State, give us five minutes to confer with our brother, Sam Sam-Jaja”.
It was learnt that the emergence of Odigie-Oyegun as the consensus candidate for the post was an arrangement perfected by the leadership and executed by the Alhaji Kawu Baraje-led election sub-committee of the first National Convention Planning Committee at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
One of the contestants, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja, told reporters at the convention venue that contestants and leaders of the party from the South-South geo-political zone “agreed to zone the position to Edo State.”
This, he said, reduced the number of strong contenders to two instead of the initial four, which included him and the former Bayelsa State governor, Timipre Sylva.
He, however, declined further comments on what else transpired after that.
A few hours to the convention, a former chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tom Ikimi, was the only remaining contestant who could not be prevailed upon to step down for Oyegun.
In line with an agreement brokered by the party leaders who met at the Sokoto State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro for several hours, the candidate of the APC Governors Forum, who is also a former governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Timipre Sylva, Chief Sam Jaja announced their decision to step down for Oyegun.
This decision sealed the fate of Ikimi as Oyegun was announced as the sole candidates for the position.
A former governor of Ekiti State, who recently defected from the PDP, Mr. Segun Oni, emerged as deputy national chairman (South), while a former national secretary of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, Alhaji Lawal Shuaibu, was also returned unopposed as deputy national chairman (North).
The delegates also elected the interim National Secretary, Alhaji Ibrahim Bala Gubi, as the substantive national secretary following the withdrawal of Alhaji Kashim Imam from the race, while the Interim Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was returned unopposed to retain his  position.
Addressing party members earlier, the   newly elected  chairman  of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Oyegun had said that Nigerians will finally have a chance to kick out the ruling Peoples Democratic Party during the 2015 elections.
He said “If we failed in our task due to disunity and acrimony, it is not only ourselves we would have let down. We would have betrayed the hopes and aspirations of long-suffering Nigerians. And we must never lose sight of the fact that the collective destiny of Nigerians is far more important than our individual or group interests, ambitions or grievances.
“Because the road ahead of us is long and hard, we must heed the wise advice of our esteemed Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, that we must set forth at dawn. And so, whereas tonight we party to celebrate the successful conclusion of the National Convention of our party, early tomorrow morning, we must rise with the dawn and set forth on our patriotic mission to set Nigerians free, and usher in the New Nigeria of our dreams.
“Your prayers have not been in vain. Help is on the way. The APC is here! In 2015 Nigerians will finally have the opportunity to kick out the ruling party.
“In 2015, the All Progressives Congress will provide Nigerians with a visionary, dedicated and people-oriented leadership that will liberate the nation from PDP’s rule of poverty and oppression. Under the stewardship of the APC, Nigeria will progress and Nigerians will thrive. This is our sacred pledge to Nigerians tonight,” he promised.
“We must learn to let go of past grudges and previous grievances and move forward together as members of the same family. And so tonight, I call for the healing of rifts and the smoothening of cracks. I call for forgiveness of offences and injuries,” the new party chairman said.
On his election as the chairman, he said: “With extreme humility, I accept this responsibility that you have entrusted to me, to lead our party to the next phase of its evolution and onwards to the fulfilment of its destined mission as the liberator of the Nigerian people.
“This is a heavy responsibility, but I assure you it is a responsibility I will not take lightly.”
Meanwhile, former Chairman of Eleme Local Government Area and Chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Hon Oji Ngofa has been elected as the national assistant secretary of the party
The position is one of the slots zoned to the South by the party.
Convention: APC Thanks Nigerians For Congratulatory Messages
The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday thanked Nigerians for their congratulatory messages and words of encouragement, following its successful inaugural national convention.
The convention, which held in Abuja from Friday to Saturday, resulted in the election of the party’s National Executive Committee led by Chief John Oyegun.
‘’We are encouraged and gratified by the goodwill messages from a cross section of Nigerians, many of them from outside our party, especially on the openness and transparency of our convention.
‘’This massive support from Nigerians has strengthened our resolve to continue with our efforts to move our country forward,’’ the party said in a statement issued in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
The party said that in the days ahead, it would provide more details of its Road Map that would help change the face of the country for the benefit of all her people.
It said that the agenda it had made public to showcase its determination to change the face of the country included job creation, war against corruption, free, relevant quality education and security among others.
The party said that based on the nationwide scientific poll it conducted across the 36 states and the federal capital, it had identified job creation, war against corruption and security as sectors that needed special attention.
It repeated its call on the Federal Government to do everything humanly possible to secure the release of the over 200 school girls who were abducted by Boko Haram on April 14.
‘’We hereby reiterate our support and cooperation for all the efforts that could reunite these girls with their families,’’ it said.

A cross section of non-indigenes in All Progressive Congress (APC), during their inauguration in Port Harcourt, last Wednesday. Photo: Prince Dele Obinna