The Intrigues That Ousted Buni

Mai Mala Buni, the Yobe State Governor and the Chairman of APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), has been reportedly removed from office and his replaced with Abubakar Bello, the Niger State governor also a member of the Committee.

Many Nigerians especially the politically conscious ones woke up on Monday to be greeted with the news that the Prince of APC serving as a Governor and Chairman of the ruling pushed away from the administration of the party.

Buni’s ordeal got the nod of President Muhammadu Buhari under whose leadership APC National Executive Committee (NEC) appointed him to head the CECPC.

The former APC’s National Secretary’s capital offence that deserves no sanction less than removal according to a faction of governors in the party was not being inclined to holding the March 26 National Convention because there were no preparations on the ground to indicate so.

Buhari too, not wanting his party to be in flames as a consequence of what some APC Chieftains viewed as the inordinate ambition of Buni, was said to have immediately directed that Buni be removed and replaced with Bello.

All efforts by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha and another top brass of the APC to save the Buni who is on medical trip in Dubai proved abortive.

According to inside sources in the Villa, Buhari was reminded that only the NEC of the party that could remove Buni and he must have been given seven days notice of removal to avoid legal fireworks.

In retrospect, Buni and his team took charge of APC in June 2020 when the then Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) was removed by NEC and the Caretaker was given six months to conduct a National Convention to elect new National Officers for the party.

However, at the expiration of the six months, the CECPC had its timelines extended and that happened up to the end of the up 2021 and reaching 2022.

Within the period, there were agitations in the party over the continued delay in the Convention with many groups and party chieftains asking Buni to organise the exercise or resign.

It took the intervention of Governors of the party under the auspices of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) of which Buni is a member to meet with Buhari in November 2021 and fixed the Convention for February 2022.

For the Buni Committee to announce the actual date in February which the Convention would hold became another war as it was given one excuse or the other until some party chieftains said enough was enough.

One such promptings came from Salihu Lukman, the then PGF Director General who told the CECPC to stop lying to Nigerians and APC members that it was carrying out consultations to organise the February Convention.

Lukman said the February had said all consultations about organising the Convention ended with the meeting of APC Governors with President Muhammadu Buhari on November 22, 2021.

He said the CECPC should also stop claiming that it is waiting for the meeting of Progressive Governors before it takes all the necessary decisions to commence the process of organising the Convention.

He said: “Progressive Governors, like all party members will not associate themselves with any act of disrespect to decisions validly taken in consultations with President Buhari. They will not take the responsibility of actions or inactions of the CECPC. Every responsibility of organising the Convention is vested with the CECPC.”

The Buni CECPC bowed to pressure and slated the Convention for February 26 but when the time came closer for reasons best known to them rescheduled the exercise for March 26.

Then there came speculations that the Caretaker Committee, especially Buni who is allegedly nursing Vice Presidential ambition was planning to postpone the exercise again and combined with the presidential primary election which is to hold between early April and June.

To confirm is the allegation that Buni has hidden a court injunction that restrained APC from holding the March 26 National Convention.

Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State while speaking on Channels TV’s Politics Today last Wednesday accused Buni of hiding a court document temporarily restraining the APC from holding its convention on March 26 until a substantive suit has been heard and determined by party leaders.

He said: “Buni has been removed. He will not return to the party as national chairman again. He can be back to his post as governor.

“The governors and President Buhari directed Buni to swear in state executives elected months ago but he never followed the order. The Governors’ Forum asked him to brief us, he didn’t. We didn’t know anything about the party. We agreed on zoning, he came out with rumour that the President had endorsed four people. We went back to the President but he said he had not done that.

“Mai Bala Buni hides vital information from us. An interim order restraining the party from conducting APC convention and nobody knew about it. It was like hiding a nuclear weapon from the party. So we had to move fast and remove Buni.

“Currently, 19 governors are with us out of 22. About 2 to 3 governors who were not with us were planting fake news here and there. They want to make sure we never had a convention so that APC will not have candidates like they did in Zamfara.

“We wouldn’t allow (it), all the governors had moved to Abuja to correct things. Sani Bello is our acting chairman and he had reduced the convention committee to a manageable size.”

Governor Bello of Niger State who had said he was only acting in the absence of Buni but denying later that no letter was given to him has been running affairs of the party since last Monday.

“I have been acting for a while since the Chairman traveled,” Bello said only to deny three days later that the later transmitting power to him, “is on social media, I haven’t seen it.”

A letter from the Yobe State Governor dated, February 28, 2022, was purportedly addressed to his Niger State counterpart to rune affairs of the APC as he (Buni) embarked on medical trip to United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The letter read in part: “This is to please inform you that I will be embarking on a medical trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from today, 28th February, 2022. I will resume office upon my discharge from the hospital.

“In my absence, I hereby transmit the functions of my office as the National Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) to you.

“This is to enable the Committee to conclude all arrangements leading to the National Convention slated for March 26th, 2022 and other duties that may be required of the office.

“I invite all members to cooperate with Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, by extending to him all the support that I have enjoyed from you. Please do accept the assurances of my best regards.”

This was confirmed by Ismaeel Ahmed, spokesperson and Youth Leader of the CECPC while addressing journalists last Friday that: “The Chairman left, transmitted a letter, Governor Bello has been acting appropriately. What is the problem? Why is it? Why is it difficult for people to simply understand that?”

Ismaeel further reeled out the activities of the Bello stewardship in the last one week to include convening of a meeting where strategies were adopted to fast-track the process towards conducting a National Convention;

“35 State chairmen of the APC and that of the FCT were sworn-in and mandated to work towards ensuring unity and harmony in their states. They were also charged to mobilise the members and the people to enable the party win future elections.

“Received and deliberated on the report of the Committee on zoning. After exhaustively deliberating on the report, it was approved and the zoning formula was made public. The zoning formula was well-received by members of the party and all Nigerians.

“Assigned schedules of specific responsibilities to each members of the Caretaker Committee aligned to the existing Directorates at the Party’s headquarters. The purpose is to ensure speedy execution of the various activities leading to the National Convention on March 26, 2022. The exercise has the additional benefit of ensuring synergy between the leadership of the party and the Directorates.

“Deliberated on and disagreed with the Federal High Court in its judgment on the status of the Governor of Ebonyi State over his sound decision to leave the PDP and join the APC along with the majority of members of the State House Assembly; CECPC regards the judgment as a travesty of justice and stand with the Governor and Ebonyi State legislators on appealing to a higher court

“Streamlined and expanded the leadership of the various sub committees for the conduct of National Convention by bringing in more Governors and Ministers of the Federal Republic to spearhead the process. This has obviously fostered and deepened sense of belonging, inclusiveness and reflects the mosaic nature of the membership of the party.

“Reviewed and strengthened the membership of the National Convention Subcommittees by making them compact and lighter. The subcommittees earlier composed were unnecessarily unwieldy and comprised excessive number of members, a situation that can reduce their efficiency.

“The CECPC committee chaired by His Excellency the Governor of Niger State has issued a notice for a meeting of the National Executive Committee of the party on March 17, 2022. As usual, a number of important issues will be discussed at the meeting,” he stated.