Mr. Odigie-Oyegun, addressing the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party including President Muhammadu Buhari, narrated how the tenure extension proposal came about.
He explained that the NEC had initially approved the one-year tenure extension for federal and state officials of the party before a request by Mr. Buhari for a reversal.

Read the full text of Mr. Odigie-Oyegun’s speech below...
Mr. President, Your Excellencies, it is my pleasure to welcome you and all members of the National Executive Committee of our party to this important meeting.
Members will recall that at the meeting of February 27, we requested the NEC to approve a timetable for congresses and the convention ahead of the expiration of tenure of the current executive. However, rather than approve the timetable, members expressed concern that if we embarked on the congresses as planned, the process could precipitate a series of rancour, which might be difficult for the party to manage ahead of the coming general elections. It was therefore resolved with a near unanimous votes of 104 to 4 that the current executives of the party at all levels be allowed to continue in acting capacity for a period not exceeding twelve months starting from June 2018.