Stakeholders of the Plateau State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Thursday, held a reconciliatory meeting in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
This was stated in a statement by Dr Makut Simon Macham, the Special Adviser (Media) to Senator Simon Bako Lalong, Plateau South Senatorial District.
According to the statement, the meeting was a reconciliation engagement in a bid to reposition the party for greater successes.
In his opening speech, Leader of the party, Senator Along said the meeting was important in order to address various issues. These, he said, included grievances of some members which needed to be addressed.
Lalong, a former governor of the state, said the need to iron out the issues led to the setting up of the reconciliation committee. The committee is headed by the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Idris Wase.
Lalong said the committee went round to hold engagements with various party stakeholders who felt aggrieved over one issue or the other.
He said the Idris Wase-led reconciliation Committee did a great job by reaching critical stakeholders and aggregating their concerns, leading to the meeting.
He said, as the party leader, he was willing to take responsibility for any mistakes he made and ready to apologise. This, he said, was to create the path to genuine reconciliation to strengthen the party to recover from its losses during the last elections.
Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule, represented by his deputy, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, said he accepted to host the reconciliation meeting because of the brotherhood that exists between the two states. He added it was part of the contribution of the APC in Nasarawa State to strengthening its Plateau counterpart.
He said Governor Sule and Nasarawa APC were not happy with the loss of Plateau State to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He assured that every support will be given to ensure that APC reclaims the state in 2027.
The Nasarawa State deputy governor appealed to the stakeholders to sheath their swords and work towards the unity of the party.
Chairman of the Reconciliation Committee, Rt. Hon. Idris Wase, welcome all the stakeholders to the meeting. He thanked all the party members for their support by opening up and speaking about issues bothering them.
He said the committee created a free atmosphere for all party members and groups to freely and frankly talk about the issues.
Wase said the full report will be presented to the stakeholders at the closed door session for further deliberation and consideration.
In their separate goodwill messages, former Governor Joshua Dariye, his deputy, Professor Sonni Tyoden and Dame Pauline Tallen, among others, called for true reconciliation. They urged the stakeholders to be open and true about things causing discord among party members.
Plateau APC chairman, Hon. Rufus Bature, appealed to members of the party to put aside their differences for a more cohesive party. He assured that the APC will take over power in the state in a short time.
The meeting later went into a closed session for a technical session. A communique is expected to be issued on the decisions reached at the reconciliation meeting.
