The National Executive of the Alumni Association of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, AANI, has rescheduled its 43rd Annual General Meeting due to security concerns.
The Annual Meeting and General Elections which was initially scheduled to hold in Jos on Saturday, 29th April, 2023, has now been postponed to May 13th, 2023 in Abuja, after considering the security situation in Jos and that of its members that will be traveling by road.
In a statement by the Publicity Secretary of the AANI, Brigadier General SK. USMAN (rtd), he said rescheduling the Annual General Meeting and Elections have become necessary after assessing objectively and dispassionately the safety and security of the majority of AANI members that will be traveling by road.
In recent times, observers and security experts have been extremely worried about the prevailing insecurity in Nigeria and most especially in the Northern part of the country as it negates the promise of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s promise to Nigerians that it will be tackled.
It is however shocking that an highly important Association that consists of elites and policy makers like AANI will have to postpone its meeting due to insecurity.
The statement said further, “Phone calls were made to various security agencies but they were not definite about the security situation and could not guarantee the safety of those traveling to Jos by road and after due deliberation and consultation, the President was emphatic that AANI 43rd AGM should hold in NIPSS Kuru as scheduled but however considering the position of majority of the state chapters and NEC present at the meeting as well as the security which is unpredictable as confirmed by various security agencies, the meeting decided to postpone for two weeks”.
“Consequently, the President called for an emergency meeting of the Executive Committee and in view of the importance of the issues at hand, the meeting was attended by members of the NEC and following decisions were reached after exhaustive deliberations and consultations with chapters from Lagos, Borno, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Plateau, Sokoto and Zamfara.
“Out of all the states consulted, 9 of them wanted a postponement and the meeting should be held in Abuja while three chapters namely; FCT, Lagos and Plateau wanted the meeting to go on as scheduled while two others namely Borno and Kaduna said they were ready to go by the NEC’s decision.
“The meeting takes into consideration the need to avoid disenfranchising many members who will not be able to make it to Jos for the AGM because of the prevailing security situation and consequently agreed to reschedule the 43rd AANI AGM to now hold on the 13th of May, 2023 in Abuja.
“It’s however sad that an association that was headed by a past Inspector General of Police could not hold their meeting due to insecurity, the statement reads.
