Chief John Odigie-Oyegun in red cap with other party men

The National Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress will meet in Abuja today at the Presidential Villa, as efforts were revved up to forge some peace among members, over the upheaval in the two chambers of the National Assembly.

The party’s NEC is made up of President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo; the Senate President, Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; the party’s national leader, Ahmed Tinubu; the party’s 22 state governors and other leaders of the party.

President Buhari reportedly met with some of the warring members of the National Assembly on Wednesday, in continuation of his attempts to settle the crisis over the sharing of offices in the National Assembly.

It is not clear yet how far the efforts have borne fruits.

Meanwhile, some leaders of the party have called on members to seek the interest of the party by burying their differences.

Former Vice President and chieftain of APC, Atiku Abubakar has urged leaders of the APC to shift from extreme positions to a centrist one for the interest of democracy and the party, the new administration and the country at large.

A statement released by his media office in Abuja on Thursday, 2 July quoted the former Vice President as calling for the concentration of positive energies on building unity, cohesion and harmony among party leaders and other stakeholders.

“We can resolve our differences when our leaders individually and collectively shift ground from extreme positions and move to the centre in the interest of our party and our country.”

Atiku, who is unavoidably outside the country to perform Lesser Hajj (Umrah) in Saudi Arabia, said that he is deeply concerned that, soon after capturing power, the APC is torn apart at a time more energy are needed to attend to the objectives of the change agenda for which it was voted into power.

The former Vice President said it was high time the party overcame its current crisis of confidence arising from the National Assembly election of principal officers.

He explained that the current blame games targeted at individuals was an unnecessary diversion of energies at the expense of the urgency of the mission of the party to make life better for Nigerians.

According to the former Vice President, the vilification of individual party leaders and members in the face of challenges facing the country was painful to him, adding that the party should learn the lessons and move ahead.

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has also called on all aggrieved groups in the National Assembly debacle to embrace compromise.

Odigie-Oyegun spoke to newsmen at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja on Thursday on efforts made by the party to reconcile aggrieved parties.

He further urged the parties to sheathe their swords in the interest of the party in particular and Nigeria in general.

“For me, I think that there is no other way to resolve the conflict other than for all of us to accept compromise.

“It is only when we lose face that we can move forward,’’ he said.

The APC has been rent with schisms over the election of National Assembly officers.

The party members, who believed in the supremacy of APC in the choice of the leadership of the National Assembly, rejected the leaders chosen by lawmakers who thought otherwise.

Therefore, all has not been well in the party since the swearing-in of Sen. Bukola Saraki and Rep. Yakubu Dogara, as the Senate President and Speaker, respectively.

Saraki and Dogara had on June 9, defied APC’s directives by contesting their current positions as the party favoured Sen. Ahmed Lawan as Senate President and Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker, respectively.

Also, letters sent to both chambers by the party as regards its choice for other principal officers were rebuffed as all the party’s candidates were not chosen.