From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The talking point today is the commencement of activities leading to the much-awaited Congresses/National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the debate over the legality of the position of Governor Mai Mala Buni as the national chairman, APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee.
The controversy over the legality of Buni’s position came to the fore recently when the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo raised the alarm after the recent Supreme Court judgement on the Ondo governorship election.
The situation seems to have put a question mark on any decision taken by the Mai Buni led caretaker committee so far.
The chain of events climaxed with the Supreme Court judgement and the commencement of the ward congresses.
Perhaps, the party would have continued with business as usual in spite of the Supreme Court ruling and the congresses, but the ‘letter bomb’ from Keyamo, urging the party to discontinue all activities to the congress until the resolution of the legality of Governor Buni’s position in the party escalated the situation.
Shortly after the Supreme Court judgement on Ondo governorship election concerning the Yobe State governor doubling as the party’s chairman, unsolicited advice had come from Keyamo, legal activist, Kayode Ajulo, presidential aide, Babafemi Ojudu, APC Progressive Youth Movement, opposition party, PDP and former presidential aspirant, Peter Ameh, warning against continuing with congress schedules with Buni still in charge.
The argument by them was that had Buni been joined in the suit, the story may have been different today as the APC would have lost Ondo State to the PDP, cautioning that any other person affected by the actions of the Buni-led Committee will henceforth not fail to join him in any subsequent case in court.
Keyamo and others had while enumerating measures to be adopted to redirect the party’s crisis of legality, specifically urged it to halt the congresses to avoid an impending doom, warning that continuing with the exercise will be tantamount to ‘weaponising’ aggrieved members to wreck the party.
Further warnings had come from the party’s youth group, demanding immediate dissolution of the APC Caretaker Committee. “We cannot keep playing this game with our party, with our future, with our lives. Enough is enough. We believe that within the APC, we have capable hands, former leaders regardless of generational differences who can manage the affairs of our party. Why must it be one individual?
“It is selfish for us to expect a sitting governor who has several issues to manage in his state, considering the insecurity in the country, to also man a party like the APC. Governor Buni is doing his best but as a party we are unfair. We should not rush into Congresses or convention. Let us follow the law because our party is not one that will muscle or bribe the judiciary”, leader of the Progressive Youth Movement, Princess Zahra Mustapha Audu, had warned.
Since the controversy started, the APC and its leadership had known no peace. It has been from one controversy to another, hence discrediting the successes by Governor Buni-led Caretaker Committee about one year ago.
Aware of the heightened tension created by the proposed congress and ruling of the Supreme Court, the Caretaker Committee had deployed every available consultation and threat instrument, ranging from the application of severe sanctions against any member(s) who go against the party’s resolution especially in litigation and conducting parallel congress in any state.
To mitigate the tension and rancour, the party’s chief scribe, Sen John James Akpanudoedehe, in a statement on the eve of the congress, warned that: “all activities or processes leading up to the congresses and thereafter, which do not have the approval of the CECPC are exercises in futility. This is to say that any purported parallel congress, parallel party organ and or parallel party office, is to say the least a nullity.”
He added: “For the avoidance of doubt, the party shall deploy the full weight of the law as stipulated in section 21 (D) of our party’s Constitution on any one who perpetrates such unlawful Act (s) and also on their sponsors.
“All persons who are affected by Article 31 of our Constitution should apply for waivers as stipulated under sub. Section 3 of the said Article 31, this is also clearly spelt out in the “Special provisions” of our guidelines,” the statement read.
In what appeared like beating a child and stopping it from crying, the party equally reminded members of the implications of instituting legal action against the party, stressing: “All pending litigations instituted by members against the party should be withdrawn forthwith, and going forward, no member should institute matters against the party, without exhausting the Internal mechanism for conflict resolution, as enshrined in the party’s constitution.”
The party did not stop at that as it equally defended Governor Buni’s position in the party and why the proposed ward congresses must go on as planned. Dismissing the speculated implications the Supreme Court judgement may have on Governor Buni’s position, both the party’s lawyer, Michael Niyi Akintola (SAN) had advised that the ward congresses must go ahead.
His words: “the position of the National Chairman of our party and the secretary are sacrosanct and our members should not be scared. The Ondo governorship Election Tribunal had after considering the preliminary objection and the case on its merit held emphatically that Governor Buni has not contravened the provision of Section 183 of the constitution. That holding party position has not violated the constitution.”
Further validating Governor Buni’s position having any effect on the party, a party chieftain, Osita Okechukwu, had equally argued that since the position is ad-hoc, in addition to the fact that the Yobe State governor is not earning salary occupying the position of party’s chairmanship, he is not violating any law.
“Governor Buni is not violating any law as chairman of the ruling party. So, he is legally qualified to endorse any document or activities of the party. The party is on the upward trend with what happened last weekend during the just concluded ward congresses across the country. We don’t want to be pulled back,” the Director General, Voice of Nigeria told Daily Sun.
Banking on the assurances from the Attorney General and Minister of Justice as revealed by the member, Representing North East in the APC Caretaker Committee, Prof. Mamman Tahir (SAN), the party stood on firm decision to continue with Governor Buni as the party’s chairman and conduct the congresses.
According Tahir; “The business of the law is not about speculating what a court will decide in a particular dispute. We deal with what the court have presently decided on. That is the way the law operates. People can have fear on anything. And whatever decision anybody takes, it will always be subject to litigations.”
Armed with the support and assurances, the ward congresses finally got underway last weekend amidst endless controversies. Expectedly, it had turned out to be a mix grill and celebration of beauty and the ugly.
In fact, in almost all the six geo-political zones, the exercise was replete with crisis, threats of boycott, litigation, use of brute force, intimidation, deaths, hijack of electoral materials and lamentably conducts of parallel congresses.
While the situation was mild and relatively peaceful in some states, there were heightened tension in others like Rivers, Kwara, Enugu, Ekiti, Osun, Ogun, Abia, Imo, Benue, Kano, Katsina, Gombe and many others. In reality, it was a display of survival of the fittest.
In Kwara for instance, it was a battle royale between the Minister of Communications and Culture, Lai Mohammed and the State governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq over who controls the party structure at the grassroots, which caused tension in the state.
It was a fierce supremacy battle between the governor, Kayode Fayemi and presidential aide, Babafemi Ojudu and his allies, Senator Dayo Adeyeye and Anthony Adeniyi, among other stakeholders in Ekiti that allegedly resulted in casualties as they battled to control the leadership of the party at ward levels.
Elsewhere in Benue State, the exercise apparently widend the crack in the state chapter of the party as Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Senator George Akume and Emmanuel Jime fought the battle of their lives over who takes charge of the party’s structure in the state.
The situation was fiercer in Osun State where death was recorded and confirming fears that there may be no end in sight to the crisis rocking the state chapter following to the protracted rift between the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola and his estranged godson, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
It was entirely a disturbing development in Rivers where protests over the alleged hijack of congress material by the faction loyal to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi forced the Senator Magnus Abe loyalists to secure an interlocutory injunction stopping the congress with the threat to drag the party through the same route it passed during the 2019 general elections which denied it the opportunity to field any candidate for the poll.
In Ogun, there was confusion equally, as Governor Dapo Abiodun and his predecessor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun allegedly conducted parallel ward congresses in renewal of their rivalry over who is the bonafide leader of the party in the state.
Katsina, President Buhari’s home state and Kano were not also spared. And even when they claimed the exercise was largely peaceful, some party chieftains had kicked against the consensus option and alleged compiling of names of the ward excos inside the Government House.
It was a different kettle of fish in Imo, where the loyalists to the immediate past governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha dragged the party to court in an attempt to stop the exercise. In the neighbouring states in the South East like Enugu and understandably Abia, the situation deteriorated to the extent of conducting parallel congresses.
However, the ward congresses were not all lamentations as it went seamlessly peaceful in some states like Oyo, Edo, Kogi, Ondo, Borno, Bauchi among others where consensus option was adopted and implemented.
Yes, the party may be currently in dilemma over whether to celebrate the laudable achievements or be haunted by the legal challenge hanging on its neck like the sword of Damocles, but dwelling on the positives and avoiding the possibility of throwing the baby with the bathwater, the situation ought not to vitiate the turnarounds recorded by the Buni-led Caretaker Committee.
However, many believe that the November 6 Anambra State governorship election will provide the litmus test to determine the legality of the national leadership.