APC Leaders Agree On Office Sharing Formula

The merger committee of the opposition political parties has adopted
equality as the basis for sharing of offices of the All Progressive
Congress (APC).
The issue of the formula was said to have become a contentious issue,
but a source in the committee told LEADERSHIP last night that the
matter had been resolved underneath, adding that "the merger is as
good as fully consummated".
The clarification was against the backdrop of reports that some of the
four political parties that are merging into the APC had differed
sharply on the initial modalities for sharing positions in the planned
party, which was hinged on the strength of each party in the last
general election, particularly in the National Assembly.
An online outfit, Premium Times, had posted that the protesting
parties in the merger were the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC),
All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and a faction of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Some of the parties, it posted on its site, expressed discomfort at
the recommendations of a sub-committee of the Joint Inter-Party Merger
Committee (JIMC), which states that positions in the association
should be based either on the strength of each of the four parties in
the National Assembly or the result of the 2011 general elections,
both at the federal and state levels.
But the two modalities, some party leaders who spoke off the record
said, might favour the ACN against the others.
The ACN has the highest number of legislators in the National
Assembly. The party has 26 members in the Senate and 71 members in the
House of Representatives, bringing the total to 97.
ANPP has 7 senators and 27 members in the House of Representatives,
bringing the total to 34. The CPC has 47 members in the National
Assembly with 7 in the Senate and 40 in the lower legislative chamber.
APGA has only one senator and seven representatives.
The national leaderships of ANPP and CPC are allegedly not comfortable
with the proposals, which it believes will short-change the party, if
eventually adopted.
It was learnt that the two parties were putting together the position
they would present before the meeting.
However, LEADERSHIP learnt from an insider who would not want his name
in print that the issue had been tackled "underneath" to pave way for
the final consummation of the merger. "There is nothing like sharing
of positions in APC based on party strength and, again, that was just
a recommendation, which was scoffed at. So the push now is that
everything must be based on equality of parties. I believe that is the
position that has been agreed to and which of course would guide
further actions of the merger committee. But I can tell you that the
merger is as good as consummated," he said.
The association postponed its meeting earlier slated for Thursday,
April 4, to yesterday.
The CPC spokesman, Rotimi Fashakin, confirmed the disagreement but
expressed optimism that the matter would be resolved.
"We disagree to agree," Mr Fashakin told our reporters. "Even the
issue of logo, we disagreed on it but finally agreed. This one, too,
we will agree at a point."

Culled from Naij