The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, on Wednesday said that no individual, including President Bola Tinubu, owns the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Kalu said this in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, when he addressed stakeholders during the APC ward congress in the State.
He urged them to embrace unity and cohesion towards the party’s success in the 2027 elections, saying that the party belongs to all its members.
Kalu, who is the APC leader in Abia State, said that the party’s focus was to eliminate internal divisions and “build a united front, anchored on discipline, inclusion, and purpose”.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the party had rescheduled its Ward and Local Government congresses for February 25 and 26 after resolving its internal conflicts.
The party had affirmed its commitment to unity, expansion, and preparation for the 2027 General Election.
Kalu explained that the earlier congress was cancelled because there were multiple forms in the state against the directive of the national leadership of the party.
He said that the leadership decided that there was no need to do any other congress than that which it believed would strengthen the party’s cohesion.
He said: “It is nothing else but a congress of harmonisation.
“And harmonisation is where stakeholders are given a sense of belonging in deciding who will lead from their ward to their local government, as well as the state.
“It is where everybody is given a sense of importance, of relevance, where it will be made obvious that no one man will own the party, not Benjamin Kalu, not anybody.
“That is the vision of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“When I met with him, he said: ‘I can’t even say my party, I like saying our party.’”
In a remark, the Chairman of the Congress Committee, Emmanuel Goar, promised a peaceful and transparent congress, while urging the stakeholders to cooperate with the committee.
He said that the committee, as constituted by the national leadership of the party, would conduct a “congress of harmonisation” as agreed by the people.
Goar, a former Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly and former member of the House of Representatives, said the national committee would work with the state committee to ensure a successful congress.
NAN further reports that forms were later distributed for the conduct of the congress across the 184 wards in the state.
The party will also hold its local government congress on Thursday (today).
