On Friday, the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress inaugurated the caretaker committee for the Rivers State chapter of the party.
The ceremony, held at the APC’s national headquarters in Abuja around 12:30 pm, saw the presence of the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, Vice Chairman for South-South, Victor Giadom, and other NWC members.
This inauguration followed the dissolution, two days prior, of the former state executives by the APC NWC. The dissolution aimed to facilitate the appointment of an ad hoc committee responsible for overseeing the congress that would elect new state executive members.
Announced at the party secretariat on Wednesday by National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka, the appointment saw Chief Tony Okocha selected as chairman and Eric Nwibani as the Secretary of the seven-person caretaker committee. Other members include Chibuike Ikenga, Stephen Abolo, Silvester Vidin, Senibo Karibi Dan-Jumbo, and Miss Darling Amadi.
In his address to the newly inaugurated officers following their oath-taking, Ganduje urged them to prepare for the challenging task of reconciling factions within the party and welcoming back members who had previously left. He also tasked them with utilizing the six-month period to establish an inclusive environment for the forthcoming congress, ensuring the emergence of leaders at all levels.
He said, “I want to congratulate the newly sworn-in members of the caretaker committee. I am sure you are fully aware that since 2015, the APC has been suffering some setbacks in the areas of conflicts, litigations, and counter-litigations that finally resulted in the loss of our great party in Rivers State.
“So, this new NWC has taken a look at the issues pertaining to the party both at national and individual state levels and decided to reform the party. There is no doubt we have members who have been with APC since inception. Some left the party. Some prominent chieftains who left the party even contested against us in another political party. They now wish to come back. Those who left to form factions are also ready to come back.
“You can see that there is no better time to rejig the party than now especially under a new state party leadership and we have confidence in you. Part of the reform system we have introduced includes electronic registration of our members and we request that you pay attention to the electronic registration of our members and do some work to spearhead the exercise.
“We expect you to constitute various committees to get more members into the party. That is the work you should do and we expect you to create an enabling environment so congresses could be conducted for the emergence of leadership at local government, state, and even senatorial levels. There should be no discrimination because you are a product of unity.”
