• Aspirants to wait for primaries
• Party changes name, logo
SWEEPING changes were on Monday effected by the opposition Action Congress (AC), top of which, was the adoption of Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) as its new name.
The party’s leaders, who gathered in Lagos at a well-attended national convention, also changed the party’s symbol, motto, slogan, disciplinary committee, and ward delegate representations.
ACN said the change, resulting from the amendment of Article 23 of the party’s constitution, was to accommodate emerging trends in the polity and re-position it for electoral challenges.
The motion for the change of the party’s name was moved by ACN’s National Secretary, Dr. Usman Bugaje while Prince Sunday Fagbemi (from Kwara State) seconded it. The motion for the change of the party’s motto was moved by Mr. Festus Effiong from Cross River State, and seconded by Hajia Ramotu Salleh (Sokoto State). Prince Olusegun Adesegun from Ogun State moved for the change of party’s slogan while Alhaji Abubakar Kari from Gombe State seconded.
The party’s officials must have underestimated the strength of its supporters and this became the first challenge it faced at the convention held at the Blue Roof Auditorium of the Lagos Television, Ikeja.
Crowds trying to gain entrance into the venue could not be held back by security agents, who eventually brought down one of the gates in their bid to gain entrance. In the ensuing melee, scores of people were trampled upon and later received treatment at the standby ambulances of the Lagos State government.
Chief Bisi Akande, the ACN national chairman, described the event “as a convention of stocktaking and a glorious one.”
The convention was not a sole ACN affair as leaders of other political parties were on ground to share the glorious moment with the party.
Among other parties’ sympathisers were the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship candidate in the Ogun State 2007 election, Senator Ibikunle Amosun as well as representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
There were also representatives of former Adamawa State governor, Boni Haruna; erstwhile Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbe; Niger Delta Freedom Fighter, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, and Dele Belgore. The trio are now card-carrying members of the ACN
Besides changing the party’s flag from the former green-white-black with a hand holding a broom to green-white-blue-black (with ACN superimposed on the black part), the ACN also changed its motto from “Justice, Peace and Progress” to “Justice, Peace and Prosperity” while the slogan was changed from “Democracy Forever” to “Democracy for Justice.”
Of the seven changes proposed at the convention, six were adopted without opposition while the proposal to change to ward delegate representation drew sharp disagreement from supporters. The intervention of former Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chris Ngige and his Lagos State counterpart, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, calmed frayed nerves.
The party’s officials had proposed a change requiring two ward representatives to state congresses, of which one of the two must be a female. No sooner had the Director of Research and Strategy, Dr. Garba Abari (from Yobe State) introduced the proposal than a section of the crowd roared in opposition. Mr. Tunji Abayomi (from Ondo State) opposed the motion and sponsored a counter motion, requesting for “either a female or a youth” as one of the two delegates.
Ngige thereafter moved that the party should adopt a three-delegate approach instead, with a youth and a female as representatives. Tinubu seconded the motion, which appeared to have ended the debate as the party accepted the change. He explained the decision away as part of an illustration of ACN’s internal democracy and belief in the principle of one-man one-vote.
To end the controversy over who qualifies as a youth, the convention adopted 35 years of age as maximum. This also drew protest from party members, who opted for 45 years.
For several hours, the major entrance to the venue was blocked as nobody could go in. At about 12.30 p.m., security personnel went wild pushing some of the delegates and party supporters to create space for ACN officials to enter the venue. A middle-aged woman fell and slumped in the process. She was initially considered dead as many of the angry delegates wanted to take on the taskforce but for the timely intervention of other security agents and the party’s top shots, who came to pacify the angry delegates.
Akande later told the delegates that there was no casualty. “All those that sustained injuries in the process to enter the hall have been treated and none of them died,” he said.
There were however speculations that the young woman who was trampled upon later died in the hospital.
Several delegates who sustained injuries in the process complained that the venue was too small for the convention.
The entire Awolowo Road, Agidingbi, Kudirat Abiola Way and other access routes within Ikeja were blocked as vehicles that conveyed delegates to the venue struggled to park.
Officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management (LASTMA), Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), and other security agencies of the state were drafted to control the traffic and ensure that hoodlums did not constitute security risk to the delegates. Several Black Maria were parked at strategic locations.
While the convention was going on, supporters of potential candidates danced and sang praises of their candidates. But the party leaders warned that nobody should parade themselves as candidates until the primaries were held.
Tinubu said: “Let me say it clearly that nobody has the right to parade himself or herself as candidate of the party now until the primaries.”
He seems to have carried the day as he received thunderous applause from the crowd as soon as his entrance was introduced.
Chairman of the Arewa Community in Lagos, Ahmed Kabiru Abdullahi, told The Guardian that the North was ready for ACN, claiming that the party had indeed won several votes in the past elections in the zones that made up the region. Abdullahi, who is also the chairman of the Lagos State Planning and Environmental Monitoring Agency (LASPEMA), said the PDP government had failed to render selfless service to the people. “Under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, we were told there was a seven-point agenda, of which we cannot point to the actualisation of any. The present Goodluck Jonathan’s administration does not even pretend to have any other agenda, outside the Jonathan 2011 agenda, which is more of a continuation of the Olusegun Obasanjo government.”
In his goodwill message, Ogbeh urged Nigerians to give ACN the support to wrestle power from the PDP and save the country from destruction.
He noted that the only force that can stop PDP from further ruining of the country was the merger of parties and urged the people to take the issue of the coming election very seriously.
Also, former Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Tom Ikimi, charged Nigerians to be steadfast and be ready to challenge the PDP in the next election.
He cast a swipe at the PDP-dominated National Assembly, saying, “it is a thing to think over if the like of former President Olusegun Obasanjo should come out openly to say the National Assembly is corrupt.”
Present at the convention were former governors of Ogun and Oyo states, Chief Olusegun Osoba, Alhaji Lam Adesina, Osun State governorship candidate in the 2007 polls, Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola and his Ekiti State counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, among others.
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