Apprehension and uncertainty could be the mildest and most modest words to describe the tension currently pervading the hitherto bubbling national headquarters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, ahead of the ruling party’s elective National Convention, scheduled for 27 and 28 of this month.

The fever-pitch anxiety is not due to any physical or legal security threat against the convention, but mainly to scepticism and uncertainty about the future of the members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).

In reconfirming that the worrisome nature of the situation is far from any security or legal encumbrances, the chairman of the convention security subcommittee, and Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (retd), had recently assured of the readiness to detect and mitigate any potential security threat to the event.

“Our task is to develop and coordinate a comprehensive security framework that will guarantee the safety of delegates, party leaders, invited dignitaries, media representatives, and all other participants throughout the duration of the Convention.

“The expectations placed on this committee are very clear. We are required to conduct a thorough assessment of potential risks and vulnerabilities, design an integrated security plan, and ensure that all operational arrangements are effectively synchronized among the relevant agencies and stakeholders,” he assured.

However, despite the assurances, the delicate uncertainty over the future of the hitherto confident national officers, currently running from pillar to post to secure the endorsements that will guarantee their continued stay in office, has apparently dampened their spirit in build-up to the crucial event.

Daily Sun gathered that many of the national officers, out of certain exigencies and unmitigated forces from their home states, may not obviously retain their positions after the convention.

And to show that they will not get an automatic ticket or given offer of first refusal in the resolve to decide their fate, an adjusted 2026 schedule of nationwide congresses and convention activities has been published to confirm the inevitability of an imminent change of guard in the national leadership.

The less than one-week window given for the purchase and submission of completed expressions of interest and nomination forms, fixed to last between last Thursday and Monday, this week, which many considered a drastic measure to disenfranchise and shut the doors against certain aspirants, is another indicator that there is no guarantee that certain NWC members will retain their offices.

The notice, signed by the National Organising Secretary, Alhaji Sulaiman Muhammad Argungu, revealed that aspirants for all positions will pay a uniform fee of N100,000 to purchase the expression of interest form, while the aspirants for the office of the National Chairman will have to cough out N10 million for the nomination forms.

It further explained that those seeking the positions of Deputy National Chairmen and National Secretary will pay N7.5 million each for the nomination forms, while the remaining 21 NWC positions will attract N5 million each.

It equally emphasised that female aspirants, youths, and Persons Living with Disabilities are expectedly required to pay the expression of interest fee and 50 per cent of the stipulated nomination form fee for the positions they want to seek.

While fixing March 23 as the date for the inauguration of screening committees for zonal congresses and the national convention, including their respective appeal panels, the party’s organising department disclosed that screening of the aspirants for zonal congresses and the national convention will take place on March 24 and 25 across the six geopolitical zones.

Already, the build-up to the national convention has not only taken toll on the major players ahead of the event but has also drastically reduced the hitherto beehive of activities usually witnessed at the party’s national secretariat.

For the first time in the last four years, precisely since 2022, when they came in, the national officers are facing the real heat of what it takes for candidates to stand for elections they have always subjected fellow politicians to, especially at the state levels.

They are feeling the tension of what it takes to go through the burning furnace of purchasing expression of interest and nomination forms to stand an election that will make people decide their fate as well.

Directly and indirectly, the national officers, currently facing a precarious situation, are really fighting many seen and unseen forces to retain their positions.

Unfortunately, the more they fight the battle the more uncertainty stares them in the face, due to a number of factors.

If they are not hunted by the intense clamour for the rezoning of their positions, they are facing the bigger hurdle and challenge of the wildcard endorsing authority given to their home state governors to ultimately decide who returns and or who replaces those that will fall by the wayside.

Daily Sun gathered that the signal about the governor’s onslaught clearly manifested in the form of brutal sacrifice of the hitherto state chairmen in their desperate attempt to ensure that members of their loyal political families totally took charge of the running of the party structures in the states and beyond.

And having succeeded in their planned hijack of the ruling party at the wards, local governments and the states levels, the governors, in their determination to also extend their dominance, may have decided to plant their loyalists as members of the national leadership of the party.

For many of the current NWC members, therefore, securing the endorsements and backing of their governors, observers say, has clearly become the daunting challenge and teething hurdles they had to contend with and surmount to retain their positions.

Daily Sun can report that the national officers from the states whose governors have newly defected to the APC are the ones mostly affected by doubts about retaining their positions. In that category include those from Enugu, which has resulted in the Deputy National Chairman (South), Emma Eneukwu, currently contending and struggling to come to the reality on his possible replacement, Chief Ben Nwoye, allegedly anointed by their governor, Peter Mbah.

Despite holding party positions for more than a decade, starting from the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Eneukwu is fighting the battle of his life against Nwoye, who had served as the chairman of Enugu APC Caretaker Committee.

Bragging about the governor and stakeholders endorsing him for the position recently, Nwoye boasted: “By God’s Grace I will emerge as APC Deputy National Chairman (South) in the forthcoming National Convention.

“It is not about the office. It is about getting our President Tinubu re-elected. For me, if I emerge, I will rally the entire south behind the president, and I will take the party back to the grassroots because the door of my office will be opened to all,” he said.

Asked whether he has the support of stakeholders from Enugu State to confirm that the governor anointed him, Nwoye replied: “Of course, I won’t be here if I don’t have the support of our party leaders. Before now, I have served Governor Peter Mbah, the smart and best-performing governor in the entire country.”

Nwoye, who has always been in the administrative corridor of the APC leadership for years, did not stop there, his giant poster, was conspicuously displayed inside the lobby of the APC national secretariat last week, which deeply infuriated Eneukwu to the point of allegedly lampooning the receptionists for permitting the perpetration of such impunity while he is still in charge.

The situation, according to many keen observers, would have been more threatening for the National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka in Delta State if he had not tactically realigned, allegedly with the camp of the governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Francis Orowhedor Oborevwori, who has clearly taken over the state structure of the party ahead of founding members like Ovie Omo-Agege, among others. Omo-Agege is already issuing legal threats over the outcome of congresses in the state.

If it is true that political sin is never forgiven, many concerned persons have already started expressing disquiet and fears over the possibility of Morka easily strolling back into the office as one of the successful returnees.

However, if Morka, who may have navigated and manoeuvred his way out of the intricate and complex Delta politics, is inching to retain his position in the NWC alongside perhaps the national chairman, Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, and National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, the fate of their counterparts like the National Youth Leader, Dayo Israel and National Leader for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), Aare Tolu Bankole, among others seem to be hanging in the balance.

More troubling against the return of some other national officers is the fascinating power play in the South – South chapter zoning arrangement over which state should produce the representatives for that geopolitical zone in the NWC. Daily Sun gathered that the duo of Dr. Mary Alile Idele, the National Woman Leader, and Victor Giadom, the National Vice Chairman, are facing an uncertain future, ahead of the convention.

Giadom may obviously be a political ally to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, in their rainbow coalition, but the clamour to swap the Woman leadership and National Vice chairmanship positions in the zone may result in a clash of forces between Senator Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Wike’s loyalists clamouring for a better and acceptable zoning arrangement, it was further learnt.

The dispositions and uncertainties facing the national officers have naturally affected the mood of both staff and visitors at the party’s secretariat, because the sale of the forms for the vacant positions is supposed to ignite an intrinsic convivial atmosphere at the secretariat and signal that a major political activity is in the offing.

But the claim that all manners of antics have been deployed by the forms issuing authority, resulting in the complaints of allegations of hording the forms to frustrate many other Nigerians aspiring for the vacant positions, may have also complicated the situation.

However, for the party’s Publicity Secretary, Morka, who spoke to the Daily Sun on the build-up to the convention, the claim of an apprehensive situation may have been exaggerated by many concerned persons.

Dismissing claims of anxiety over the possibility of the national officers returning, Morka asked: “Did you see any form of apprehension on my face? I think people are misreading the signs. I have read a couple of media reports that clearly misrepresent the situation. I have been around my colleagues, and we have been talking, and I can tell you that nobody is apprehensive, as you put it.

“You know we have an event coming up, and people naturally want to make sure that they tidy up their affairs, but that is normal. I mean, it is an elective activity of the party to decide who will serve again.

“Just as we did at the ward, local government, and state levels, we are going to replicate at the zonal and national levels. They are just the same activity. When you go into any kind of contests, even if it is a friendly match, you are bound to prepare and get yourself ready, and make sure you have what you need.

“So, I think that is how I will put it. I don’t think that any national officer is threatened or is in any way not calm. We are very calm, I am very calm, and I am hoping that I am going to be fine,” he said.

Asked if he is sure that when the NWC members are counted, none of them will be declared missing, Morka said: “All I have said is that those members who are interested in running again are just putting themselves together to do so. But that is not to say that anybody is apprehensive. I don’t think that is an accurate characterisation of the mood of members this time.”

On the allegation that the governors were handed over the party structure to decide who gets what, he said: “Again, you are making an allegation. I don’t know what you mean by handing over the party. Did anybody attend the handover ceremony? When was the handover ceremony performed?

“However, are the governors not legitimate members of our party? Are governors, by virtue of their office, not important stakeholders in our party, or is there any political party, anywhere in the world, where governors and presidents are not the leaders of the party?

“We have the governors who are also leaders. So if you are talking about a country with 36 states, and 36 governors, I don’t know how you minimise their place, and the role they play, and even minimise the influence that they have as governors

“In the states they govern, they are the first citizens of their states. They bear enormous constitutional responsibility to govern the state. So, as members of our party, where we have state chapters that don’t exist in their domain, I don’t know how you penalise them. Governors are very important stakeholders; like other stakeholders, they are important, very important, and deserve to be recognised for their position in the political society.

“Our congresses have come and gone at those levels. As I said, they went very well, and the governors played their role and were very supportive of the process.

“They are also the chief security officers of the state, so to ensure hitch-free, smooth, peaceful process, they also played their role in helping to ensure that we have the kind of atmosphere that supports peaceful and proper conduct of our electoral activities,” he added.

Regardless of his defence and dismissal of the anxiety towards the build-up to the convention, what may be certain is that there will be joy, happiness, sadness and gnashing of teeth by the national officers, by the time the national convention of the party is concluded. (The Sun, but headline reworked)