Evidence seems to suggest that Gov. Mai Mala Buni, the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is doing all within his power to ensure that the party’s national convention doesn’t hold, Punch is reporting.
Per Punch, Buni has secured the support of Attorney-General Malami, Governor Bagudu of Kebbi and Governor Badaru of Jigawa.
It is now believed that the reason for the plot to delay the convention is to ensure Buni doesn’t leave the helm of affairs before the party adopts a presidential candidate.
“Buni’s panel is desperate to prevent the convention from holding because the Yobe governor has vice-presidential ambition. That is why the governor is foot-dragging on the national convention issue. In a matter of days, the caretaker committee will come up with an excuse that the convention cannot hold in February because of the lingering crises in some states. It is part of the delay tactics,” a party leader who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the newspaper.
There are indications that during the governors’ meeting today, the matter will be on the frontburner.
Some now believe that Tinubu’s declaration of his intention to run for president is what rattled the Buni camp.
It is now believed in many quarters that if all else fails, Buni may resort to electing the party’s national officials before the primaries–just to retain control using the consensus method.
Recall that in June 2020, the National Working Committee of the APC was dissolved by President Buhari after Adams Oshiomole’s feud with his successor, Godwin Obaseki came to a head.
The president had then appointed Buni to head a 13-man commission charged with the responsibility of organising a national convention within six months.
One and half years later, the convention hasn’t held.
Here’s how someone who is familiar with the matter explained it to Punch:
“Although we are 14 in the committee, Buni is the one that takes all decisions. He continued to shift the date for reasons best known to him.
“The truth is that Buni got very comfortable and powerful in this position. A governor who is busy in his home state ought not to have time to be sitting down in Abuja.
“For the first six months, the committee achieved nothing apart from trying to convince governors of the Peoples Democratic Party to defect. So, that was how six months was spent when the core mandate of the committee was to organise a convention.
“This same committee organised the frivolous Anambra primary that has now been discredited by the court. They now want to supervise the Ekiti and Osun governorship primaries.”
President Buhari has said that he won’t mention who he would support to succeed him just yet. He has also been quoted telling the party to get its act together before PDP takes over.
There have also been claims that the primaries will have to be a product of survival of the fittest.
With more and more contenders revealing their intentions to run for president in the party, it remains to be seen if the factions will put their differences aside and work towards securing the nation’s most important seat or if their differences will be the beginning of the end.
