•We’re restructuring party, says Oyegun

By Adetutu Folasade- Koyi, Iheanacho Nwosu and Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

CRACKS in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) further widened at the weekend as some forces in the party are split over the replacement of the Board of Trustees (BoT) with the Council of Elders (CoE) by the na­tional caucus of the party.
The split is along the lines of its composition and who should chair the CoE. The decision to replace the BoT with CoE was taken at the party’s national cau­cus meeting last Tuesday at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The plan was later rati­fied by the APC National Executive Committee (NEC), which met on Tuesday.
The two meetings were chaired by President Mu­hammadu Buhari, with his deputy, Prof Yemi Osin­bajo, Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representa­tives, Yakubu Dogara, Na­tional Chairman, John Od­igie-Oyegun, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, APC National Leader Asi­waju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, among others in atten­dance.
The party’s BoT Chair­man, deputy and Secre­tary were earlier billed to be elected this week. But, with the coming of the CoE, the attention has been shifted to who emerges chairman of the council of elders.
Daily Sun gathered that the decision to do away with the BoT was because “some camps within the APC no longer feel com­fortable with the existence of the BoT. Besides, they believe it would be a dis­traction for the party…”
Another top official of the party disclosed to Dai­ly Sun on Sunday evening that the South West and North East power blocs are the only contenders for the new position.
“What we have now is CoE. We have done away with BoT. The decision was taken at the national caucus meeting but, the challenge we have now is that the North East and the South West caucuses in the party are in an in­tense struggle to clinch the chairmanship of the council,” he said.
He also stated that the South East is equally making a strong represen­tation to party leaders that the CoE chairmanship slot should be ceded to it. He disclosed how a chieftain of the party, Dr Ezekiel Izuogu has started reach­ing out to leaders of the party, to garner support so as to emerge chairman of the CoE.
“We know that Izuogu is interested in the office. He showed interest in the BoT chairmanship, he is also reaching out to every­body in the party now.”
The only cog in the wheel, it was gathered, is the body language of the president which is said not to be in favour of some leaders of the party from either the North East and South West for the cov­eted position.
The reason for the President’s disapproval, a presidential source said, is that the main contenders are strong, political char­acters who may not be easily controlled.
According to him, they may cause huge distrac­tion to the president if they are allowed to head the CoE even though the body plays only an advi­sory role in the affairs of the party.
He admitted that the president’s men are fight­ing to fence off anybody who might use the of­fice to achieve a po­litical agenda in 2019. The source said “when you have have a powerful person holding the posi­tion, he may clash with Mr. President; he may dis­tract him…”
On why APC was un­able to set up its BoT, a year after it won the Presi­dency, the Villa source blamed the development on the silent clashes among top leaders of the party for the BoT chair­manship slot.
He said “the bigwigs of the party fought one another for the BoT chair­manship.
They had their interests and were not ready to shift ground. The president didn’t feel that such thing should be allowed to dis­tract him and didn’t give his blessing to any of the contestants.”
Meanwhile the source disclosed that some party leaders are still kicking against the replacement of BoT with CoE.
In his reaction, APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun confirmed scrapping of the BoT and its replace­ment with the CoE, even as he was quick to note that the decision is still in principle, pending the final backing with con­stitutional amendment.
He spoke with Daily Sun on telephone yes­terday evening. Oyegun also disclosed that the oft postponed inaugura­tion of the board may not hold this week in order to ensure that the constitu­tion drafting committee concludes amendment of the constitution for such decision to take effect.
“I can confirm to you that we have only scrapped the BoT in principle, until the con­stitution is formally amended. The decision has been taken in prin­ciple to reshape the BoT and the name changed to Council of Elders but the formal constitutional amendment is yet to be done.”
Speaking further, the APC chairman equally confirmed the down­sizing of the numerical strength of the board to a sizeable number and the postponement of the in­auguration.
“We don’t know the number until the draft­ing committee concludes work on them.
“I doubt strongly if the inauguration will still hold this week because the committee must fi­nalise work on the con­stitution before the date for the inauguration will be determined,” he add­ed.