APC convention: Inside story of Buni-led committee

There have been discordant tunes within the ranks of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) over alleged moves to extend the tenure of the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee. Daily Trust  looks at the issues.

Barring any last minute change, plans have been concluded for the extension of the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, multiple party sources told Daily Trust on Sunday.

The sources said the National Executive Committee (NEC), the second highest decision-making organ of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will meet before the expiration of the six-month tenure of the Buni-led committee to ratify a new tenure for the panel.

It was gathered that the approval of the new membership registration by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday was a precursor for the extension of the tenure of the committee.  One of the sources said the president had been briefed on the need to extend the tenure of the committee.

Governor Buni had announced that the NEC would meet before the end of the year to work out a proper timetable for the party.

The committee was inaugurated in June, 2020, with the responsibility to administer the party’s affairs, embark on membership drive and reconciliation among aggrieved members, as well as organise a national convention within six months for a new crop of National Working Committee (NWC) members to emerge.

The committee was constituted following the dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led NWC by the NEC over an alleged abuse of office.

But while the committee’s tenure elapses in December, it has not rolled out a programme of activities for the convention, leading to discontent and uproar in the party.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered from key players in the APC, cutting across blocs,  that the six-month tenure allotted to the committee to complete its assignment was ‘’infertile’’ and would be extended on that ground.

A credible source said the issue of tenure extension was settled and was only awaiting the approval of the NEC. He told one of our correspondents that the new timeframe was still being determined, but expressed optimism that it would not be more than six months.

It was further gathered that the NEC would also ratify the party’s membership registration and revalidation exercise to be embarked upon by the caretaker committee.

It was hinted that Governor Buni would also brief the NEC on the significant milestones the committee had recorded and identify areas of challenges before it would consider the extension of the committee’s tenure to enable it fill the gaps before the convention.

The APC, in a statement a few days ago by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, said the caretaker committee was yet to organise a national convention because the party was still in crisis.

A chieftain of the party told Daily Trust on Sunday that the game plan of the committee was to delay the convention until when it would be ripe to zone the presidency and other positions.

“The main reason they are buying time is because, as it is now, you cannot zone party positions different from what is on ground. The power equation is still the same.  For instance, you cannot zone the chairmanship position to the outside South-South,” he said.

According to him, the plan is to push the convention to the time when it would be ripe for proper zoning of the party’s positions and the presidency.

“If they had their ways they would want two more extensions, so that by that time, the 2023 elections would be around the corner.  At that time, the NWC that would emerge would be on ground until after the 2023 elections.

“But now, if the convention is held, the NWC members that would emerge would be based on the present zoning arrangement in the party. As long as the presidency and other positions are not zoned, you cannot zone political party positions,” he said.

“He said the only reason the caretaker committee decided to embark on membership registration was to use it as a justification to seek for tenure extension.

“The registration can be staggered for six months or more. At the middle of the registration they will now push for another extension. By then, it would be ripe to talk about zoning of the presidency. So, when the presidency is zoned, the party positions too will be zoned. The set of the NWC that would emerge then would be the ones that would midwife the primary of the party. That is the game plan,” he said.

But a member of the APC national caucus, Chief Sam Nkire, told Daily Trust on Sunday on phone that there was no law against the committee going beyond December, 2020. He said if the committee was not given enough time to settle the internal wrangling in the party, the convention would have a bad taste.

“What is their grudge with the timing?  Do they want a hurried job that is ineffective?  I don’t see any sense in what they are saying.

“There is nothing the party is doing that is wrong.  Why the hurry?  The next general elections are in two and a half years’ time.

“I don’t see this taking more than three or six months.  By March, everything will be done.  So I think the caretaker committee is not sitting tight,” he said.

According to him, membership registration and primaries are publicity for the party.

“If you are doing membership registration you are marketing the party, you are drawing more members into the party. So what do they want the party to use this time for? This exercise is campaign in itself.  For now, let us give them a chance; when they overstay, everybody will know.

“It is an internal matter, and we want to solve the problem at hand.  Every political party has its own problem.  People who are protesting are not good members of the APC. We have a mechanism of settling matters in our party. I have not seen anything unconstitutional.  I believe it shall be well.

“A big party like the APC will always have problems, it is just the ability to be able to settle the problems that matters. There are things to contest for in the party because we are in power,” he said.

Similarly, the Director-General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Alhaji Salihu Mohammed Lukman, told Daily Trust on Sunday that bullying the caretaker committee to simply organise a national convention can at best produce surrogate leaders with hardly any verifiable membership register.

“These so-called leaders advocating that the APC should have a national convention without going through the process of membership registration/verification simply want to plant their surrogates as new leaders of the party. To achieve that, false arguments are being presented that the national convention of the party doesn’t require membership registration.

“There is no need to worry about any litigation on this matter. All committed APC members should be ready for this stage of the struggle.

“As committed party members, we should be able to combine the political battle for the democratic development of our party based on ensuring the institution of best practice standards as the operative framework for our party with skilful legal engagement.

“Nobody should be allowed to use any bullying tactics to force us back to the old undemocratic ways of manipulating critical processes of leadership selection in our party by undermining or corrupting our membership records,” he said.

When contacted to comment on the alleged plan to delay the convention until the time for zoning of offices and presidential ticket is ripe, Nabena said, “When we get to the bridge, we will cross. At the end of the NEC meeting the party will brief you accordingly, based on the decisions reached,” he said.