The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday alerted the nation to the plan to use security men to stop some of its delegates from entering Abuja for today’s convention of the party.
About 6,855 delegates from across the country are expected to participate in the party’s maiden convention to elect the national executives.
The Chairman of the convention committee and Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Wamakko spoke on Thursday of the plot to scuttle the convention, but he vowed that it would be successfully conducted.
“We are not unaware of this sinister plot by the unscrupulous persons, working for entrenched interests, to scuttle this convention,” Wamakko said.
He urged the security agencies to be vigilant in nipping in the bud any breach of the peace. “We urge all our members to remain steadfast while calling on the security agencies to be vigilant in nipping any disturbance of peace.
“They will try their best to ensure that this convention doesn’t hold by using security operatives to induce stop and search of our delegates into Abuja,” Wamakko alleged, assuring the party members that the committee would overcome the hurdle.
Wamakko said although the 2015 elections were eight months away, but APC will continue to work assiduously to ensure that Nigerians get the change they clamour for.
“We want alternatives to vagabonds. We want transparency in government. We want a government that can take full responsibility for the security of lives and property in Nigeria.”
According to him, the APC is cautiously taking steps to put all and sundry on board by going to the grassroots to reach out to everyone in the party, irrespective of their places of origin.
Wamakko promised that “by the grace of Almighty Allah, we hope to have a free, fair and transparent convention”.
The chairman said it was expected that the delegates’ convention shall ratify the party’s amended constitution and elect national officers to guide its affairs in the next four years.
He said that the committee had planned for the accreditation of delegates at six venues, according to the six geo-political zones.
Wamakko said the APC would depart from past experience of rowdiness, saying: “We have equally concluded arrangement for this convention live on television to demonstrate the transparency of our electoral process.”
According to him, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had been in power for 15 years, had not offered effective and commendable governance capable of bringing succour to the teeming population of Nigerians.
He added that there was rising corruption, nepotism and ineptitude in the nation’s political leadership.
The governor said the peril of Nigerians had been worsened by the absence of viable alternative by way of strong opposition political parties.
Continuing, Wamakko said: “Since the advent of APC in July, 2013, the leaders of the ruling PDP have become awakened to the cold fact of the presence of a viable alternative in respect of delivering of inspiring democratic governance within the Nigeria nation space.
“Like a child that refused to be aborted, the APC survived all the devious intrigues specially put together to truncate its birth. The party’s registration exercise, conducted earlier in the year, reveals that tens of million of Nigerians opted to join APC as members.
“Without any doubt, this development, which poignantly showed PDP’s rejection by Nigerians, has already sent jitters to its leadership.”
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