From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
There was tension, anxiety and confusion at the headquarters of the the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, over the expiration of tenure of the party’s caretaker/extraordinary convention planning committee on Friday.
The secretariat was turbocharged as fleets of cars arrived for the emergency meeting of the caretaker committee billed to apparently brainstorm on how to approach their tenure which ends on Friday this week.
The meeting was attended by the caretaker committee chairman, Governor Mai Mala Buni, Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Mohammed Bello of Niger and Mohammed Badaru of Jigawa among other members of the national leaderships.
The desperate attempt to resolve the tenure of the committee, whose legal standing has come under scrutiny, is not unconnected with the threat it posed to the forthcoming Anambra State governorship party primary billed for Saturday.
Regrettably, the national leadership of the party is yet to set up primary election committee, three days to the poll or the appeal committee to handle issues that may arise from because of fears in many quarters that the caretaker committee that would conduct the primary would not stand legal scrutiny.
A source told Daily Sun in Abuja that the Buni-led committee members were fighting the battle of their lives to convince the Presidency to approve tenure extension before Friday to facilitate conduct of the primary this weekend.
“The situation is tensed because the Presidency has told the committee that there may not be any other tenure elongation again. The directive actually rattled them hence they are frantically trying to convince the presidency on the implications of not extending their tenure.”
The six months initial tenure of the caretaker committee was extended by six months in December last year.