Fearing Legal Challenge, APC Clears All Aspirants for National Convention

•Legacy parties’ members block PDP elements from holding positions 

•Ruling party generates over N700m from sales of forms

•Yari: Buhari won’t repeat past mistakes anointing candidate 

•Buni’s CECPC briefs party’s senators

Deji Elumoye, Adedayo Akinwale and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Worried about likely legal backlash from disqualifying any aspirant, three days to the national convention, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has instructed its screening committee to clear all party office seekers ahead of the exercise this weekend.

A reputable party source, who pleaded anonymity, said the directive from the party leadership, was conceived to avoid legal consequences for disqualifying any of the aspirants.

In another development, it appears the leadership crisis plaguing the APC may not be over yet as members of the legacy parties that fused into the APC merger in 2013, have kicked against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elements vying for any party position.

This is as the party has generated over N700 million from the sales of forms to aspirants ahead of the March 26 national convention.

But a former governor of Zamfara State and national chairmanship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdul-aziz Yari, has vowed that President Muhammadu Buhari, would not endorse or anoint any candidate for the position, because he would not want to make the mistakes of the past.

Yari, who alluded to the president’s mistake, when he allegedly singlehandedly handpicked former governor Adams Oshiomhole as the APC national chairman, however, said the zoning done by the party was to the north and not to any particular zone.

At the same time, the Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Committee (CECPC) of the APC, yesterday, briefed Senators of the ruling party on the situation report.

Also, ahead of the national convention of APC this weekend, some critical stakeholders of the party in Bauchi State, had written to President Buhari, Buni and the Chairman, Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and Kebbi State Governor, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, over alleged exclusion from power sharing arrangement in the party.

However, speaking on the directive to clear all aspirants for the convention, the party source hinted that, “The directive is to ensure that this national convention holds without any last minute hiccups that may arise from legal proceedings.”

Another source, which subtly confirmed the instruction, also told THISDAY that the screening committee, was indeed instructed not to disqualify any aspirant.

“I doubt if anyone will be disqualified. All the aspirants will be cleared. They won’t disqualify anybody. Why would they be disqualified? An aspirant can only be disqualified if the aspirants is an ex-convict,” he said.

Nonetheless, the leadership tussle has continued unabated as members of the legacy parties have refused for the PDP elements stand for any party position.

The legacy parties that formed the APC were Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), a faction of  All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party and New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP).

But the source said, “The members of the legacy parties are kicking against PDP elements vying for various positions. They are knocking off those PDP elements. Even in the North East, they are against former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.

“Borno will now produce the Deputy chairman (North). Senator Abu Kyari will be the one to replace Dogara. The PDP elements have been knocked off. Even, Ken Nnamani is facing stiff opposition.”

However, on how the APC made money from the sales of forms, a document sighted by THISDAY showed that as of yesterday evening, the North Central, where the office of the national chairman is zoned, generated about N165 million for the party, with six chairmanship aspirants alone turning out N120 million.

A former governor of Zamfaa State, Abdulaziz Yari, also obtained the chairmanship form, although from North West, meaning the party generated N140 million alone from the sales of chairmanship forms.

From the North-west, the party generated about N116 million and some N98.5 million from sale of forms to South-east aspirants.

The party also generated N69.5 million from South-south and over N120 million was generated from the Southwest.

Also, North East, which has the Deputy National Chairman (North), generated about N143 million.

Yari Vows Buhari Won’t Repeat Past Mistakes Anointing Candidate for APC Chair

A former governor of Zamfara State and national chairmanship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdul-aziz Yari, has vowed that President Muhammadu Buhari, would not endorse or anoint any candidate for the position, because he would not want to make the mistakes of the past.

Yari, who alluded to the president’s mistake, when he allegedly singlehandedly handpicked former governor Adams Oshiomhole as the APC national chairman, however, said the zoning done by the party was to the north and not to any particular zone.

The former governor, who spoke on Tuesday when he paid a visit to the National Assembly to confer with the APC caucuses in both chambers of the federal Parliament, said there had been rumours in the media that President Buhari had endorsed Senator Abdullahi Adamu as his preferred choice.

Yari told journalists after meeting with the Senate APC caucus that he also heard of the rumours on the social media, but that the President had through his media office, denied stories about his anointed candidate.

Yari said, “You have also been reading in the newspapers that President Muhammadu Buhari did not anoint anybody. The special adviser on media, Garba Shehu, has since clarified that. We are trying to break those jinx; we must come through the ballot box so that we can respect the votes of the people, not by picking.

“Let me remind them those that think they can just be pushed forth – come and do it – that it will not be business as usual. The President made mistake in the past by anointing Adam’s Oshiomhole singlehandedly. Nobody voted for him. He was anointed as the national chairman and you can see the result today. Do you want to remain like that?”

On the party’s arrangement, which zoned the national chairmanship position to the North-central, Yari said he was not aware of such things.

He said, “I am not aware that, the party zoned the national chairmanship position to North-central. What we were briefed was that the positions of the North should go to the South and that of the South to the North. That is what the caucus sat down to agree.

“I am one of them and many others are not, therefore, as you see in the social media that is the same way I saw it in the social media and as a senior person in this party, I cannot rely on information from the Social media; they deserved to be verified.

“In any case, one thing we should be determined to do is to bring about true democracy. For instance, this particular office is always being marred by all sorts of arrangement that did not deliver the right choice of the people.

“For instance, should the chairmanship be zoned to northern Nigeria and Presidency to the South, are we going to dictate to the zone, who should be chosen? No!

“We are trying to break that jinx and embrace the real democracy. I did not know any issue about zoning, because it was not communicated to me. I only saw it on social media

“I have already purchased my form and you know what it is the National Assembly that makes laws for everyone. Whether reconciliation or any other process, I have already picked form. We are ready to meet in the ballot box.”

Yari, therefore, urged stakeholders not to vote for someone who could reform the party, saying, “The contest should not be about where you came from, it should be about what you can do.

“We hope to produce the next president and we need a leader that will ensure that the party keeps winning. This election we have been postponing was supposed to be done in the last one year.

“I came to present myself to you and solicit for your support. If we cross the bridge, we hope to work hard and produce the next president of this country,” Yari said.

Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, who stood in for the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, said Yari came close to occupying the Senate seat but for the court decision, he was restrained, adding that such should not be allowed to repeat itself.

Omo-Agege said Yari was one of the few contestants who had formally visited them in the Senate and that, having been in the House of Representatives and supported them, they would also support him.

He said, “APC is at crossroads. That is the bad news. The good news is that all the challenges will soon come to pass. You are a major stakeholder. You’ve served as a governor and you know the problems of the party. In the next few days, continue to tour that part of peace. All we seek here at the National Assembly is a strong APC that will win the next election.

“There are so much conspiracies outside here. The PDP is praying to win the 2023 General Election, we are also praying and we pray God should not answer their prayers. You are a leader that can speak truth to power. You are a leader that fits that bill. We wish you success on the 26 of this month, “Omo-Agege said.

Buni’s CECPC Briefs APC Senators

The Mai Mala Buni-led CECPC of the APC, yesterday, briefed senators of the ruling party.

The announcement was made by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, at the start of plenary yesterday.

Omo-Agege, conveyed notice of the meeting in a letter addressed to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and signed by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi.

The Senate Leader, in the letter said the meeting would avail the Buni-led Committee to brief the lawmakers on the forthcoming convention slated for March 26, 2022.

He further disclosed that Yari, would also address the caucus.

In another development, a presidential aspirant of the PDP, Senator Bukola Saraki, would also met with PDP senators yesterday.

Saraki was President of the Eighth Senate between 2015 and 2019.

The notice of meeting between Saraki and members of the Senate PDP caucus was contained in a latter signed by the Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe.

The letter was also read by Omo-Agege, who presided at plenary.

Bauchi APC Stakeholders Decry  Exclusion in Power Sharing

Meanwhile, ahead of Saturday’s National Convention of the APC, critical stakeholders of the party in Bauchi State, had written to President Buhari, Buni and Bagudu over alleged exclusion in the power sharing arrangement in the party.

The stakeholders expressed this reservation in a letter  jointly signed by Mohammed Abubakar; a former governor of the state, Malam Isa Yuguda; a former Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara; Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu; and the Deputy Governor of Bauchi State, Abdulmaliki Mahmoud, among others.

The stakeholders, who rose from an emergency meeting yesterday in Abuja, said they were not  part of the decision to cede the seat of the Deputy National Chairman to Borno State.

To this end, the stakeholders unanimously rejected the decision of a section of the stakeholders of the party from the North East to micro-zone the seat to Borno.

“We, the undersigned critical stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi State, comprising former Governors of the state, former Deputy Governors of the state, three serving Senators, former Speaker of House of Representatives and eight of his colleagues in the green chamber and 17 House of Assembly members, are vehemently opposed to the arrangement on sharing of seats for the national working committee (NWC) in the North East geopolitical zone of the country,” the letter stated.

They were of the opinion that Borno enjoyed  more than enough of government patronage under the President Buhari led-administration than Bauchi that had carved a niche as a traditional base of the APC after Kano State, since the 2015 general election.

The aggrieved APC stalwarts argued that there was no way Borno would be placed far ahead of Bauchi renowned as the traditional base of the APC in the North East part of the country in both the 2015 and 2019 general election.

They stated: “The decision to micro zone the office of the Deputy National Chairman to Borno State was arrived at by a section of party stalwarts from the North East geopolitical zone without the input of critical stakeholders of the party in Bauchi state.

“That it is unfair and unjust to sideline us from the scheme of things since Borno State boast more than enough of government patronage under than the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration than Bauchi State that had carved a niche as a traditional base of the APC after Kano state since the 2015 general election.”

The stakeholders insisted that there  was  need to reinforce APC’s position in Bauchi State to enable the party to reclaim the state in the forthcoming general election.

Relatedly, a forum of APC aspirants from the 19 Northern States and stakeholders, has  endorsed and adopted Segun Dada as a viable candidate for the office of the National Youth Leader of APC.

The Spokesperson of the Forum, Mr. Saminu  Dazara, stated this while addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, and called on APC leaders in the South-west to adopt Dada.

He stated: “We also appeal to the Leaders of APC in South West, APC Leaders in Lagos State, the National Leader of our Party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Executive Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and all critical APC leaders in Lagos State to adopt Segun Dada as the most acceptable aspirant from the state for the interest of APC Youth worldwide and the sustainability of President Muhammadu Buhari Legacies beyond 2023.”