Impressed by the effort of the leadership of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) at the national level, in setting in motion, a process for review of the party Constitution, governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state describes the move as putting the party on a more modern pedestal for better performance.
He made this statement during the APC Constitution Review Meeting for the North West, held at Coronation Hall, Government House, Kano, Monday, the 8-man Review Committee sent from the national headquarters of the party, is under the chairmanship of Professor Tahir Mamman.
Describing the culture of democratic practice in the country, as abandoning all party structures after every election, he further mentioned that, “In our culture in democratic practice in Nigeria is that, after elections parties are abandoned.
Until when another election is around the corner. But our great party, the APC, now said ‘No to this.’ Even during elections, you will see that, it is only candidates who control parties, not party leaders. We also said ‘No to this.”
Commending the effort, he said “By this constitution review meeting, we are reassessing the process and the situation. At the end of it all, we will produce a document that will control the conduct of our party people, our government at all levels and all who are involved.”
Reiterating the commitment of Kano, as a strong political entity, to the review process, governor Ganduje reveals that, “We in Kano, we take all party issues very seriously. We have strong party caucuses at Ward, local government and state levels. And they all meet monthly.”
Adding that, “We also meet with principal officers of the party from all the 44 local governments. We are sure that this process will further strengthen our internal democracy.”
Explaining why it is necessary for the party constitutional review, the governor reminded that, APC, as a party, started “…like a mixture, ANC, ANPP, CPC, APGA, nPDP, among others. Up to now the party is still a mixture, not graduated to become a compound. With this review, we will look into that. While redirecting all those appendages, we will now come to have a single and indivisible party as an entity.”
While commending, the composition of the Review exercise, with learned people of repute, seasoned and experienced politicians, with other professionals that are relevant for the assignment, he assured that the exercise would be fruitful.
In his brief remarks, the Chairman of the Review Committee for the North West Zone, Prof. Mamman after commending the support they get from the state government, he described Gov Ganduje as “…one of the pillars in our party. He has been part of many achievements the party recorded at the national level.”
Corroborating with what the governor observed, the Committee Chairman said “APC being a product of merger, we should know that some gaps are there and will surely be manifested after some times. This process will look into all the organs and how they can be run.”
Elaborating further that, there was a need to further move the party forward. “We need to make our party and this document, Constitution, modern. We are also, making the exercise people-oriented.”
Many dignitaries made their encouraging remarks at the meeting. Such as the House Leader, House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Speaker Kano State House of Assembly, Right Hon. Hamisu Ibrahim Chidari, Senator Abba Aji, Secretary to Kano State Government, among others.
Earlier the State Party Chairman, Abdullahi Abbas, commended the effort of the national office, assuring the total support of the state chapter of the party at all levels.
The Committee paid a courtesy visit to the governor earlier, before the meeting.
Submissions were collected from all those who represented their state chapters of the party, during the meeting.
