Ahead of the national convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) slated for February 2022, all the national chairmanship aspirants will on Thursday this week gather in Abuja to speak on their ideas of moving the party forward in preparation for the 2023 general elections.

The eleven prominent chairmanship aspirants include; former Deputy National Chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Saliu Mustapha, former governor of Nasarawa state Senator Tanko Almakura, former governor of Borno state Senator Alimodu Sheriff, current Senator representing Niger East, Mohammed Sani Musa, former governor of Zamfara state Abdulaziz Yari and former governor of Bauchi state Isa Yuguda.

Others include; Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs Senator George Akume, Mr. Sunny Moniedafe, former Borno governor, Senator Kashim Shettima, former Gombe State governor, Senator Danjuma Goje and Mohammed Saidu Etsu.

A statement released Sunday in Abuja by the APC Press Corps, signed by the chairman of the Annual Public Lecture Summit, Babatunde Ayeni, said a prominent chieftain of the party and Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) Osita Okechukwu, will deliver a keynote paper titled: “APC Beyond 2023: The tasks ahead – The Role of Stakeholders.”

The event slated for 16th of December, 2021, will be chaired by the Chairman, Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), and Governor of Yobe State, Hon. Mai Mala Buni.

The maiden edition of the summit was held in December 2020 with the Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) Salihu Moh. Lukman as the guest speaker.

Ayeni said the annual public lecture summit, with the theme “….Towards Ensuring Enduring Democracy”, is a platform designed by the APC Press Corps to contribute to the intellectual development of the nation’s democracy.

Ayeni said: “The summit aims at providing workable templates for good governance and serves as a medium for deepening democratic norms and institutions by engaging key players in politics, public administration, academia, and economy.

“Reports and suggestions on the lecture will be made available to the party and interested members of the public.

“The National Chairman, Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), and Governor of Yobe State, Hon. Mai Mala Buni will be the Chairman of the occasion.”

The organiser added that this year’s edition of the summit is designed to avail all the national chairmanship aspirants opportunity to share their views, present their plans and programmes on how to move the party forward even as contenders in the forthcoming National Convention slated for February 2022.