APC’s counsel, Akintola, berates members calling for Buni’s removal

The counsel to All Progressives Congress (APC) and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Adeniyi Akintola, yesterday, chided members of the party calling for the removal of the Interim Chairman of the party, Mai Mala Buni.

He also berated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for calling last weekend’s congresses a nullity.

Akintola, who spoke with The Guardian in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, said those tendencies that had lost out in the congresses were the ones calling for the removal of Buni.

“Those saying that the congresses will be nullified, it is their wishful thinking. I don’t have a reply to that. All the grandstanding and hullabaloo does not call for any reaction. This is not the first time we will have such a minority judgment. It is not binding. It is only good for sociologists and academics.

“The minority judgment may be popular but it doesn’t have any effect.

“Those who have lost out are the ones crying for the removal of Buni and nullification of the congresses. Those who felt short-changed are the ones making the call. It is their constitutional right. You can’t beat a child and expect him not to cry. They are just crying foul,” he stated.

Akintola also slammed the PDP for describing the congresses as a nullity, urging the party to paddle its own canoe, saying: “For the PDP to say that the exercise is a nullity, is like crying more than the bereaved. It is another wishful thinking. The party has no locus standi to comment on our party. The intra-party crisis is not the business of the court, let alone the party that has its crisis. I don’t know their business at the party. The PDP is only crying more than the bereaved”.

They have their crises but we are not involved.”

Akintola also said he advised the Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami, to go on with the congresses.

“I told Malami to go on with the congresses. Osinbajo did not consult. I am a lawyer, a senior lawyer, but I gave the advice which was subscribed to by Malami,” he said.

The lawyer said there were no parallel congresses in Oyo State.

He said: ”In Oyo State to the best of my knowledge, there was no parallel congress. There is this misinformation. Our party recognizes consensus but not in all cases that people embrace consensus. Our party lays more emphasis on the democratically elected executives. Another option is consensus. Where consensus fails we resort to the election.

“There are many tendencies in Oyo APC. The congresses are to harmonize all the tendencies. It is one of the reconciliatory moves.

“Our party is waxing stronger every day. The fears are unfounded. Oyo State is different. It is not a cash-and-carry State. I don’t know of any faction in Osun State as a party leader in the Southwest. As stated in our constitution, the governor is the leader in the station”.