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Romanus Ugwu and Fred Itua, Abuja
Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa has issued a marching order to the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Governor Mai Mala Buni to organise the national convention of the party in line with the mandate given to the committee or quit.
The Buni’s committee was inaugurated in June to administer the party’s affairs and organise a national convention within six months following the dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC).
Since his appointment, many chieftains of the party have been mounting pressure on Buni to restrict the activities of his committee to the convocation of a national convention.
Lending his voice, Marafa said the decision of the committee to conduct membership registration was clearly outside its mandate.
He said membership registration was not part of the mandate of the committee, saying it was diversionary and an attempt by Buni to perpetuate himself in office.
Marafa who is leading a faction of the APC in Zamfara State told Buni: “Don’t overstretch your luck, we are not afraid of you. Many of us are aware that your appointment is unconstitutional, (section 17(iv) of our party’s constitution is very clear). We only kept quiet because of the respect we have for Mr. President, and the believe that the party needs to open a new page.
“Be informed that any action you take outside your primary mandate of organising a convention that will usher in a new set of executives will be null, void and of no effect what so ever. You have up to December to do the needful or we chase you out.
“Your state Yobe is in deeper crisis than APC; the state needs you more than the party, emulate your elder brother and colleague in Borno. Go and administer your state, you can’t be governor and Chairman of APC at the same time; it is unconstitutional. You equally can’t accuse Oshiomhole of any wrong doing because you were part and parcel of all the decisions he took. If there is any mess in APC today, you are part and parcel of it.
“You have failed woefully, your fake claim of succeeding in reconciling members of the party in nine states when in actual sense you only aggravated their problems by taking sides unjustly, clearly shows the kind of leader you are. Looking at the composition of the committee, we all thought you will lead the party out of the mess you contributed in putting it in. However, events in recent times have shown that you are not concerned about fixing the party, you are only interested in the politics of 2023. It is unfortunate that things have became even more messier than before.”
But in a reaction, the party said the Committee was focused on conducting a national convention to usher in a new National Working Committee (NWC) for it.
The party’s spokesman, Yekini Nabena, in a statement said the committee was focused on reconciling aggrieved party members as mandated.
Nabena maintained that the committee was poised to achieving and sustaining true and lasting unity among party members and reconciliation across party ranks ahead of its planned national convention.
He expressed optimism that the committee’s planned nationwide update and revalidation of the party’s membership register would undoubtedly cement its political and numerical status as the country’s largest political party.
Nabena said the Buni-led committee had resuscitated the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms and had set up reconciliation committees for Oyo, Edo, Ondo, Imo, Ogun and Ekiti States among its other state chapters with reported disputes.
He said the committees were already meeting with key stakeholders in the various states and had achieved substantial reconciliation in many states.
Nabena said the success stories of the Buni-led caretaker committee’s ongoing reconciliation efforts abound in most of its state chapters, including Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Zamfara, Ondo and Oyo States among others.
