President Bola Tinubu will on Thursday lead top members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the national executive committee (NEC) meeting of the ruling party.
Among those expected at the meeting are Vice-President Kashim Shettima, former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, governors, former governors, and members of the party’s national working committee (NWC).
The NEC is expected to observe a short tribute session in honour of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The meeting would be the first major gathering of the APC following Buhari’s death.
A key agenda of the meeting is the consideration of a substantive national chairman for the party after the resignation of Abdullahi Ganduje.
Party sources said the NEC session will be expanded to accommodate members of the national caucus, as the traditional caucus meeting—usually held a day before NEC—has been shelved due to logistical challenges.
According to the APC constitution, members of the NEC include the national chairman, deputy national chairmen (north and south), national secretary, deputy national secretary, six national vice-chairmen (zonal chairmen), and national legal adviser.
Other members are the deputy legal adviser, national treasurer, deputy treasurer, national financial secretary, deputy financial secretary, national organising secretary, deputy organising secretary, national publicity secretary, deputy publicity secretary, national welfare secretary, deputy welfare secretary, national auditor, deputy auditor, national women leader, deputy women leader, national youth leader, deputy youth leader, special (physically challenged) leader, zonal secretaries, youth leaders, women leaders, and state chairmen of the party.
Also included are the president and vice-president of the country, senate president and deputy, the speaker and deputy speaker of the house of representatives, governors who are members of the party, and the party’s principal officers in both chambers of the national assembly.
Each geo-political zone will be represented by two nominated senators and three nominated members of the house of representatives.
Six ex-officio members elected from each geo-political zone, as well as the chairman, deputy chairman, and secretary of the Board of Trustees (BoT), also form part of the NEC.
The APC constitution also provides for a national caucus made up of past and present presidents and vice-presidents, serving and former national officers, national assembly leaders, governors, presidential and vice-presidential candidates, the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), and board of trustees (BoT) leaders.
Meanwhile, the party has announced a change in venue and time for the meeting.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Felix Morka, the APC national publicity secretary, said the meeting will now be held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, by 2pm.
