Romanus Ugwu, Abuja and Chinelo Obogo

Chairman of the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, has denied suspending the decisions initiated and executed by the acting Chairman and Niger State Governor, Sani Bello.

Following the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari that the Buni-led committee still stands, Senator James Akpanudoedehe had in a statement on said Buni had approved the dissolution of the sub-convention committees put in place by Bello.

On March 7, Governor Bello took over as acting national chairman in the absence of Buni who was out of the country for medical treatment. He also said the over 1,000-member committees put in place by Buni to organise the convention were too many and subsequently re-organised the sub-committees and reduced the number to 107

Buni confirmed validating those actions in a statement while reacting to media reports that he had suspended some of them, yesterday.

“This is to bring to the notice of all stakeholders and members of the party that the purported suspension of some activities initiated and executed by the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee under the acting Chairman and Niger State Governor, Sani Bello is not true.

“Therefore, all activities that were done in my absence remain valid and binding. All party stakeholders and members are hereby advised to disregard the previous statement discarding the activities of the Committee under the leadership of the Acting Chairman.

“It would be recalled that I had duly transmitted power to Governor Bello to enable me undergo medical attention. Therefore, all actions and measures taken by the committee under the leadership of the Acting Chairman, remain effective.

“The party calls for support and understanding to move the party forward to a successful convention slated for March 26, 2022,” he said.

The implication of Buni’s statement is that the pruning of the convention sub committees by Bello remains valid.

A source within the party said: “Buni’s camp has won the leadership tussle but want to be mature in handling things by now carrying everyone along. You know he (Bello) inaugurated state chairmen, which Buni was supposed to do before he travelled. If you say everything done in the absence of the substantive chairman has been thrown away, that, too, will be thrown away.

“So it is a way of dousing tension and not giving room for further media feast on a probable crisis in the ruling party.”

Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, Governor Buni defended the absence of his secretary, Akpanudoedehe, arguing that he was part of them since it was not a formal meeting.

On the purpose for the meeting, Governor Buni, said: “You know that since I travelled the party has not stopped. His Excellency, Governor Bello, has done very well in managing the affairs of the party in my absence.

“We are here to discuss issues about going forward. We are now at the finishing line in the preparations for our national convention which is already at hand on March 26. We are putting heads together to achieve this task ahead. I want to emphasis that the March 26 national convention is sacrosanct.”

Governor Bello expressed happiness that decisions taken while he was in charge has helped in making some progresses ahead of the convention.

“For the past one week, I have been acting as the chairman of CECPC and what I can tell you is that we made lots of progress towards our convention like we saw in the inauguration of the State Chairmen, adopted some of the zoning formula, and some of the decisions of the CECPC taken before he left the country. I can tell you for free that in the last one week, we have ensured that we are good to go for convention,” he said.