Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Mai-Mala Buni of Yobe State, has said he will not allow crises to fester in the party.
The governor was responding to a question on how he intends to carry aggrieved party members along at the end of National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, which announced him as chairman of the committee.
‘As a former two-time National Secretary of the party, I know the party very well,’ he said. ‘It’s all about doing justice to every member of the party because without justice there won’t be peace and it is all about team play. I am a team player, I have a capable team that can work with me. If you don’t manage crises, obviously crises will manage you. So, I won’t allow any crisis to fester henceforth. And the process of convening this NEC, I want to tell you that it is a continuation of the last notice that was issued and we said we have adjourned and now it’s a continuation of the last adjourned NEC meeting. All the notices were issued accordingly, so in no way are we in any aberration.’
Related: APC NWC dissolved, Buni heads caretaker committee
On allegations that the dissolution of the NWC was done to whittle down the influence of the National Leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, the Yobe governor said all efforts are being made to rescue the party.
‘You mentioned the name of one of our leaders, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a founding father of this party. We are all together to rescue this party from all this, nobody is happy with the situation under which the party is now operating because we are in court for various problems and crises. So, this decision was taken by the NEC to address some of these issues…so nobody is targeted and it is against nobody. Asiwaju is one of the leaders of this party and a founding father of the party.’
The Yobe governor continued that ‘the duration of office is for six months within which we will do whatever we can as enshrined in our constitution and ensure that we strengthen the party and cap it up with the convention.’
On the series of crises across the states, Buni said: ‘The NEC is the highest organ of the party if not convention; and by our constitution, the NEC can act for a convention in between. Whatever happened during the last NWC culminating in Edo primaries have already been ratified by the NEC. So we are good to go.
The Governors of Niger, Abubakar Bello and Osun, Gboyega Oyetola, are also members of the committee representing the North-Central and South-West, respectively.