APC, Mai Buni and Matters Arising

The current impasse in the All Progressives Congress (APC) deserves  compromise to surmount, writesZaharaddeen Maigari

For many observers, the current crisis in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC ) which has muddled the waters ahead of its long-awaited National Convention is an ill-wind that will blow no one any good. 
It is an adventure that would have been averted with greater circumspection.
President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly sanctioned the removal of  the Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Mai Mala Buni.
Since the purported removal on March 7, 
the back and forth over whether or not Buni is still in charge beggars belief. 
For a party that dons the ‘progressive’ garb, the March 7 coup de grace which ‘ousted’ Buni should not have been contemplated at all if the rule of law and attention to procedure meant anything to the APC, irrespective of any real or imagined sin counting against him.
At its last meeting, the National Executive Committee (NEC) had last year conferred on the CECPC the power of the National Convention which is in line with powers provided in Article 13.3 of the party’s constitution.
The National Chairman also had the President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval to review the timeline available to the CECPC.
No doubt, the party has been embroiled in crisis in various states of the federation and at different levels, threatening its very existence.
While the Buni-led CECPC shifted the dates of holding the party’s national convention due to a number of reasons, including the pockets of crisis in various states, it sought to reconcile warring factions. 
With reconciliation efforts greatly achieved, the CECPC earlier slated the party’s national convention for February 23, 2022 and later shifted it by about a month (March 26, 2022).
However, the reported March 7  sack of the Buni-led CECPC appears to have caused some setback.
Buni was reported to be away in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to attend to his health when his celebrated ‘ouster’ was announced.
Reacting to the purported sack, many governors and party stalwarts had riled at him for promoting personal interest above that of the ruling APC, in a move that would have allegedly driven the party into turmoil and perhaps sound its death knell.
They may have enough grounds for wanting Buni out, but the manner he was ‘axed’ is flawed as unfolding events have portrayed.
Listing the heroes and villains or who is right or wrong in the current APC debacle serves no useful purpose,  but truth be told, the March 7 incident was a product of impunity, the common foe which has eaten deep into the nation’s fabrics in all spheres and at all levels of socio-political life.
If Buni emerged through a laid down process as the Chairman of the CECPC, why wouldn’t a similar process be deployed in his ouster rather than dismissing him with a wave of the hand?
There are claims that his current travails started from some ‘disgruntled’ elements among his colleague governors who felt their interests were being circumvented and were not allowed to hijack the party machinery in their states. 
This is believed to clearly present a potent danger to actualize their dreams of going to the Senate and anointing their successors in their various states.
The recent amendment of the Electoral Act passed by the National Assembly and signed into law recently by President Buhari is said to have further tightened the noose and eroded the larger-than-life powers of the governors and their lackeys in Buhari’s cabinet.
There are also insinuations that some former leaders who do not wish to see the continuity of the APC as the ruling party beyond 2023, are probably behind the recent take over of the party secretariat by the Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello.

Buni’s Supporters

Some of the Yobe State governor’s supporters who are mainly first term governors have pleaded with Buhari to allow the CECPC chairman to finish his assignment, hand over to a new executive that would be constituted at the national convention and go away. They are of the view that it is more beneficial allowing him to conduct the convention less than two weeks away rather than create unnecessary problems and all sorts of legal complications. 
His supporters believe this option is far less convoluted than resorting to a legal challenge of his removal.

INEC’s Reaction 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may have given  succour to the CECPC Chairman after the electoral umpire declared that it would not honour the party’s proposed National Executive Committee (NEC) slated for March 17 because such a meeting was neither authorised by Buni nor his secretary, Sen. John Akpanudoedehe did not endorse it.
INEC had in a letter dated March 9, 2022, explained that the decision was because the notification for the NEC meeting did not comply with the Electoral Amendment Act 2022.
In the correspondence addressed to the CECPC and signed by its Secretary, Rose Oriaran-Anthony, INEC observed that it was absurd that the letter inviting it to monitor the exercise did not contain the signatures of Buni and Akpanudoedehe.

Buni’s Emergence

As a ranking member of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), he was instrumental to the merger of legacy parties that  formed  the APC which  eventually brought the 16-year run of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to an end in 2015.
He was the pioneer secretay of the  APC before contesting and  emerging as Executive Governor of his native Yobe State. 
 As secretary of the party, there were no records of friction. He served as secretary under three successive APC chairmen, including Chiefs Bisi Akande, John Odigie Oyegun and Adams Oshiomhole.
Those erstwhile party chairmen were also all former governors in their respective states.
Following the crisis that consumed the election victory of the ruling party in Zamfara State in 2019 where the crisis-ridden APC-led government lost all elective positions in that state to the opposition PDP, Buni who was the then newly elected governor of Yobe State was asked to steer  the party’s ship as  CECPC Chairman.
The CECPC is therefore a child of circumstance to stabilise the party from internal wranglings following the ouster of a former chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole after the 2019 polls.
He has been able to lead the party with little or no rancor for almost three years until the winds of 2023 elections and electioneering campaigns berthed in the party.

Fence-mending Moves

Apparently worried by some of the developments in the ruling APC, some governors and other stakeholders of the party, who are concerned about the state of the party, had reportedly jetted out to meet with Buhari in London to clarify issues and put closure to the lingering leadership drama.
In order to avert a repeat of the Zamfara episode of 2019, there appears to be a shifting of grounds on the part of Buni-must-go apostles.
To stem the ugly tide of the party losing out of the 2023 general elections should Buni be forced out, the dramatis personae appear ready to toe the path of allowing him and his team to conduct the forthcoming national convention and bow out honourably. 
This appears to be the most reasonable step in the face of a looming catastrophe.  

*Maigari is of Arewa Youths Support Group, Dutse, Jigawa State