Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has announced that President Bola Tinubu, former President Muhammadu Buhari, and all APC governors are expected to attend the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for September 12, 2024.
Ganduje, speaking to members of the Kano State correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), emphasized the importance of their attendance in demonstrating party unity and commitment.
The APC NEC meeting, a critical event in the party’s calendar, is set to gather top party leaders to discuss important issues and make strategic decisions. Ganduje highlighted that the presence of high-profile figures like President Tinubu and former President Buhari underscores the significance of the meeting.
“In a nutshell, we have so many things that are coming up. We have the NEC meeting for which every quarter we are supposed to meet,” Ganduje said. “So very soon, specifically on the 12th of September, we will hold the NEC meeting which Mr. President and governors and former President will also be there. We will also be approaching so many things that our National Working Committee has undertaken to be confirmed by the NEC meeting.”
The NEC meeting will address several key issues, including the approval of decisions made by the National Working Committee (NWC) and discussions on the party’s future strategies.
In addition to discussing internal party matters, the NEC meeting will also focus on the upcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States. Ganduje expressed confidence that the APC is well-prepared to perform strongly in these elections.
The governorship election in Edo State is scheduled for September 21, 2024. Ganduje expressed optimism about the APC’s prospects in Edo, which he described as a state previously governed by the party before being taken over by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) due to internal issues within the APC.
“We are getting ready for that election,” Ganduje said. “We believe we will be able to recover our state because it was an APC state but because of internal bubbles we lost it to PDP but we are sure we will recover that state.”
For Ondo State, Ganduje noted that the APC currently controls the state and is preparing for the November 2024 governorship election. He highlighted the party’s efforts to resolve issues following the death of the former governor and the successful conduct of primaries to select a candidate.
“For Ondo State, it’s already an APC state and the former governor when he died with a number of problems, we were able to resolve those issues,” Ganduje said. “We conducted primaries, we succeeded in getting the person that they want. We are also getting ready for that election which is coming up in November.”
Ganduje also mentioned the party’s plans for the Anambra governorship election in 2025. Anambra State has been governed by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for many years, but the APC is introducing new strategies to make a competitive bid.
“Next year there will be Anambra, which has been a state governed by APGA and for many years but we have introduced a new scheme,” Ganduje stated.
