Barring any last minute change, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed its national convention for April 26, to be ushered in by the ward, local government and state congresses in the preceding month.
Also, as part of the need to perfect its standing and put its house in order, preparatory to the next round of elections in June and August respectively, the party has slated the commencement of the registration of members for February 5 to end temporarily on February 10.
Interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, who addressed the media yesterday in Lagos, said the two major exercises had become imperative in the light of the elections billed to hold in Ekiti and Osun in June and August respectively.
He said the process would start with the registration of members which is to commence on February 5 and end on the February 10, temporarily to pave the way for preparations for the national convention of the party.
Muhammed, while asking members to come out en masse and register, said each prospective member is expected to come to the registration centre with two passport photographs each; fill the form and go home with the counterfoil of the registration form as a proof of his registration.
He explained that the February 10 closing date would be temporary because of the need to start the preparation for the national convention where the party’s national executives would be elected, adding that the process of registration would be continuous as a result.
On the April 26 national convention, he said the process of the exercise would start with the ward congress on March 15, local government congress on March 22 and the state congress on March 29 before berthing at the national convention in April.
The APC spokesperson, who though had a clue that the convention venue might be in Abuja, the nation’s capital, was however not authoritative because venue has not been discussed by those saddled with the responsibility of planning the event.
“But that puts us in good stead for all the elections in 2014 and 2015,” he said, reiterating that the venue of the convention might likely be Abuja but no specific venue has yet been fixed.
Since its registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in July of last year, the APC has maintained its executives at all levels on the interim basis.
But with the membership registration and national convention coming up in a few weeks, the party said it was positioning for the challenges ahead, especially as they related to the elections.
