In just a few days to the planned convention of the Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari has instructed Governor Mai Bala Buni to take over the affairs of the Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the APC.
There have been some controversies over the status of Governor Buni in the party after Governor Abubakar Sanni Bello of Niger State stated that he is acting as the party’s National Chairman while Governor Buni travelled out of the country.
Speculations were that Governor Bello has taken over the affairs of the party from Governor Buni, a development which has now warranted the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari.
President Buhari cautioned the Governors elected on the APC platform to shun actions and utterances capable of causing disunity within the party.
In a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President met with Governor Buni in the United Kingdom and instructed him to takeover the affairs of the party’s convention planning c committee.
According to Adesina, the directive comes as part of the President’s intervention in the ‘uncertainties’ currently rocking the ruling party.
President Buhari, he stated, also wrote to Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State who is also the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum.
In the letter, the President decried the multiplicity of cases within the APC which he said has the prospect of invalidating the activities and actions of the party by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He said the party could not change the leadership of the CECPC without infringing on the time limit set by INEC, and the current uncertainties and controversies “pose a real threat to the party.”
As a result, President Buhari believes it has become necessary to issue the following directives:
• “The issue of the leadership of the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Committee (CECC) should immediately return to status quo ante;
• “All members of the Governors Forum and their followers should desist from any behaviour or utterance that will likely lead to disunity in the ranks of the party, and ultimately jeorpadise the transition to the convention;
• “The Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Committee should accordingly be allowed to proceed with all necessary preparations to hold the convention as planned- unfailingly on 26th March, 2022.”
Those copied in the letter by the President included Governor Buni and the acting Chairman of the CECPC, Governor Sani Bello of Niger State, as well as the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Inspector General of Police.
Adesina also shared a photo of President Buhari posing with Governor Buni and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, in the UK.
