The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it is not aware of leadership change in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Senior officials of the electoral body told Daily Trust on Thursday that this has been communicated to the party in the commission’s response to a letter written to it by the Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, who is the acting chairman of the party’s caretaker committee.
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The officials pleaded not to be named as they were not authorised to speak on the matter.
Governor Sani Bello had on Wednesday written INEC in his capacity as the acting national chairman of the APC’s Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) inviting the commission to their National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for next week Thursday via zoom.
Sani Bello had on Monday in Abuja assumed the APC leadership after President Muhammadu Buhari allegedly approved the removal of the Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, as the chairman of the CECPC and in his stead, okayed his Niger State counterpart as a replacement.
This has led to controversy because Sani Bello had on Monday shortly after presiding over meetings at the APC national secretariat said he was only acting as chairman.
However, on Wednesday, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State said Buni who is on a medical trip in Dubai had been removed at the instance of President Buhari.
He blamed Buni for the widening crisis in the party and said that the Yobe governor had been removed for good and that Sani Bello was fully in charge with the support of at least 19 governors of the ruling party.
But curiously, a letter surfaced yesterday purportedly from Buni officially handing over to Bello to act while he (the Yobe governor) was away. The authenticity of the letter could not be independently verified by this newspaper.
Responding to the claim, Governor Sani Bello said there was nothing like that.
‘INEC not aware of leadership change’
Two of the sources that spoke to Daily Trust said the alleged letter from the APC indicating a change of guard from Buni to Sani Bello was problematic.
“Yes, there was a letter from the APC, which the commission replied because there were legal issues…They did not do the right thing,” one of the officials of the electoral body said.
Another official said that the commission in the reply reminded the APC that it was only the national chairman and national secretary of the party that could write such a letter.
Senator John James Akpanudoedehe was the CECPC Secretary and his fate was yet to be decided in the new arrangement led by Governor Bello.
This, by implication, meant that INEC was yet to be formally notified of the leadership change in APC for the new leadership led by Governor Bello to formally write INEC for official matters.
The Electoral Act 2022 in Article 82 (1) stated: Every registered political party shall give the commission at least 21 days’ notice of any convention, congress, conference or meeting convened for the purpose of “merger” and electing members of its executive committees, other governing bodies or nominating candidates for any of the elective offices specified under this Act.
Sani Bello counters Buni on handover letter
Amidst the controversies, Daily Trust reports that Governor Buni’s purported letter had faulted El-Rufai’s narratives on his reported removal as the chairman of the CECPC.
The Buni’s camp claimed that the embattled APC caretaker committee legally handed over the affairs of the party to Governor Sani Bello before travelling out to Dubai.
In the letter dated February 28, Buni directed Governor Sani Bello to act in his absence as the chairman of CECPC because he will be away for a medical trip to Dubai.
The letter was reportedly copied INEC and all members of CECPC.
However, the Niger governor told newsmen yesterday after the caretaker committee meeting that he had not seen the letter.
“I haven’t seen it (the letter),” he said. On the reports that a new secretary has been appointed for the caretaker committee to replace Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, Governor Bello dismissed the report, maintaining that the issue was not discussed.
A legal practitioner who spoke on the matter described the response to APC from INEC as “an unprecedented intervention.”
According to him, “The ruling party is complicating its travails by not being straightforward. There is no shortcut in legal matters.
“If there is a change in leadership of any political party, they have to make it official to the electoral umpire and the general public.
“Honestly, I feel that INEC saved them by drawing their attention to the mistake they made. It is left for them to put their house in order so that the crises will not consume them in 2023,” he said.
We’ve survived a civilian coup – Akeredolu
Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu told members of the party that were not happy with the recent change in the leadership of the party to leave.
Akeredolu, in a statement, alleged that Buni tried to supplant the president’s will, saying they have survived a civilian coup largely inspired by mischief and incurable lust for power through artificial barricades.
“The insidious and appalling happenings within our party in the last few months, especially under the immediate-past leadership clearly posit a huge embarrassment. Without necessarily dwelling on details that are known to critical stakeholders, the path taken lately by Governor Mai Mala Buni, the immediate past head of the CECPC and an indivisible few, is an unenviable trajectory undeserving of our dear party. It is a disdainful narrative.
“Nevertheless, the courage and determination, as well as shrewd sincerity of purpose demonstrated by most of the APC governors, remain a delight. Significantly, the swift response and prompt action taken by Mr President have, in no small means, salvaged our great party from internal scavengers,” he said.
APC’ll collapse if NEC fails to constitute convention c’ttee – Marafa
A former senator from Zamfara State, Kabiru Marafa, says the ruling APC may likely collapse if the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party refused to set up a committee that will conduct the March 26 national convention of the party.
Marafa, who spoke last night on Trust Television’s Daily Politics programme monitored by our correspondent, described the name ‘Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC)’ as illegal, let alone allowing it to constitute another illegal committee.
“Now APC is re-inventing itself,” he said.
“What they need to do now is that this name CECPC be abridged, be condemned totally because it is unconstitutional, it doesn’t have a basis.
“And once you have that basis, people will go to court to say that NEC doesn’t have the power to make them, that whatever actions they take are null and void.
“Now, we will build national executives on top of it, primaries coming up, once you remove the foundation, everything collapses. NEC has the power to create a convention committee. They should create a convention now, I hope they are listening to me, and they will implement it tomorrow.”
The former lawmaker lauded Governor El-Rufai and his colleagues “for rescuing the party from its current political quagmire,” he said.
By Ismail Mudashir, Abbas Jimoh & Idowu Isamotu
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