Atiku sues for peace ahead of APC NEC meeting

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday urged leaders of the All Progressives Congress to shift from extreme positions to a centrist one in the interest of democracy, the party, the new administration and the country at large.

Atiku who is a chieftain of the APC made the appeal against the backdrop of the party’s National Executive Committee meeting scheduled to hold tomorrow, Friday.


This was contained in a statement released by his media office in Abuja.

The former Vice President, who is currently observing the Muslim Lesser Hajj (Umrah) in Saudi Arabia, was quoted as calling for the concentration of positive energies on building unity, cohesion and harmony among party leaders and other stakeholders.

He said, “We can resolve our differences when our leaders individually and collectively shift grounds from extreme positions and move to the centre in the interest of our party and our country.”

According to the statement, Atiku, said he is deeply concerned that, soon after capturing power, the APC is torn apart at a time more energy is needed to attend to the objectives of the change agenda for which it was voted into power.

The former Vice President said it was high time the party overcame its current crisis of confidence arising from the National Assembly election of principal officers.

The statement further explained that the current blame games targeted at individuals was an unnecessary diversion of energies at the expense of the urgency of the mission of the party to make life better for Nigerians.

He was also quoted as saying, the vilification of individual party leaders and members in the face of challenges facing the country was painful to him, adding that the party should learn the lessons and move ahead.

The statement partly read: “While restating his commitment to the party and its change agenda, the former Vice President advise the party leaders not to allow people of bad faith to fuel division and acrimony among the party, adding that all positive energies should be directed towards sustaining the morale of the voters who look forward to the APC to make their lives better.

“He reminded party leaders that any division could be exploited at the expense of the party. He extended his goodwill to the party for successful deliberations and assured the party of continued support and loyalty at all times.”

It may be recalled that the former interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande in a letter made public last week accused some “members of the northern elite” of colluding with fraudulent persons to foment the crisis rocking the party.

He also alleged that the crisis was part of a “northern conspiracy against the Yorubas.”

The NEC meeting is expected to be attended by President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, the party’s national leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, the party’s 22 state governors and several other prominent members of the party.