More facts are beginning to emerge on why the Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Governor Mai Mala Buni, was unceremoniously booted out of office on Monday.
In an unprecedented move, the Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Bello, who is a member of the caretaker committee, arrived at the APC national secretariat about 12:30pm to assume the position of the acting chairman of the caretaker committee.
Nationaldailyng.com learnt that most of the governors were said to have abandoned the Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Governor Mai Mala Buni, who had been steering the affairs of the APC since June 2020.
Speaking on Monday, an APC chieftain said most of the governors had abandoned Buni having grown tired of his shenanigans.
The official, who wished to remain anonymous, said it had become obvious to all the governors that Buni had no plan to conduct the national convention as he was nursing a Vice-Presidential ambition.
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“Buni is planning to become the Vice-President and this has blundered his judgment. He allowed his personal interest to override that of the party. He was supposed to have conducted the convention in December 2020 but they continued to manipulate the President.
“He had no plan to hold the national convention on March 26. Governors have grown tired of his tricks and I can tell you that at least 15 governors out of the 22 governors of the APC are now against him,” he said.
In a statement he signed on Monday titled ‘Rescuing APC: A task for all Party Leaders’ a former Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Salihu Lukman, argued that the Buni-led Caretaker Committee was battling several allegations, especially one purporting that the committee has allegedly procured a court order against holding the national convention on March 26; but which it plans to tender a few days to the convention.
He, however, said Buni’s purported removal had nothing to do with Buhari.
Lukman claimed that Buhari, like most party leaders and members, was highly disappointed at the serial cases of deliberate efforts by Buni and his associates to block the APC Convention from holding based on alleged personal ambitions.
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He added, “Between November 2021 and January 2022, the APC Convention had to be postponed three times because of deliberate refusal to initiate most of the processes required, such as booking the venue for the convention and serving the statutory three weeks’ notice to INEC.
“In addition, there were other serious allegations against the leadership of Mai Mala Buni, which include the discovery that his group, since November 2021, had obtained a court injunction against the convention and are waiting until three or two days to the convention before serving it on the party to succeed in blocking the March 26 APC convention from holding.
“The plot is that Buni wants to continue to run the affairs of the party and conduct the party’s primary where candidates for 2023 elections would emerge. Based on that, are there specific allegations of Buni striking some deals with some Presidential aspirants to ensure their emergence as the Presidential Candidate of APC for the 2023 elections?”
He said it would be difficult for members and leaders to continue to trust Buni’s leadership due to an alleged attempt to constitute another zoning committee after an existing decision between the President and progressive governors on zoning, based on which party stakeholders at zonal levels are to finalise negotiations.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that Buni, who is currently on medical leave, is expected to return to the country on Tuesday (today).
Confirming this development, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yekini Nabena, said things would become clearer once Buni returns.
He, however, warned the Niger State governor against convening a meeting of the National Executive Council, arguing that Bello lacked such powers.