Convener of the Coalition of Progressives Women in Nigeria, Cecilia Ikechukwu, has urged the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to postpone the forthcoming national convention of the party slated for February.

The coalition said the convention should be rescheduled until a later date when the party would have made further progress in unifying its members.

Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, the convener of the group expressed a firm belief that the postponement would allow for party members to further air their grievances while exploring the path of reconciliation.

The women said they thought that the convention planning committee would continue to expand its peace building and reconciliation efforts but was rudely shocked when the elective national convention was announced to hold on February 26, 2022.

Ikechukwu said the development is disconcerting for the very reason that it has further frayed already strained intra-party relations within the party.

“The logical thing would have been to as much as was possible try to further reconcile the various state factions of the APC. That way, whoever emerges as a candidate for any position will enjoy widespread support going into the 2023 general elections.

“But pressing ahead with the National Convention without first putting the house in order is calling for disaster. We have seen it happen in other political parties in the past whereby those who would be dissatisfied with the outcome of a major incident like the National Convention will end up defecting to other political parties.

“No right-thinking politician will assert that it is a desirable thing to lose members, strategic and high worth members, in an election year, which is the bleak prospect that our party now faces unless something drastic is done to correct the error of fixing a date for the national convention without first addressing underlying issues that threaten the wellbeing of the party.

“Consequently, the Coalition of Progressive Women in Nigeria, as concerned mothers, hereby appeals to the National Executive Council (NEC) for the postponement of the APC’s February 26th National Convention until a later date when the party would have made further progress in unifying its members. We firmly believe that the postponement would allow for party members to further air their grievances while exploring the path of reconciliation.

“It is our fervent prayer that this appeal does not fall on deaf ears because the consequences could be grievous. We would not like for the appeal to take on the tone of an unheeded warning in the future when irreparable damage would have been done to the party with attendant electoral losses.

“In addition to rescheduling the National Convention to a more practical date, we implore the APC NEC to prevail on some of the party’s governors to curtail their excessive intrusion in the running of the affairs of the party,” the group said.

(Daily Independent)