‘INEC working with insiders to wreck APC’

• Buni Shut Out As ‘New’ CECPC Chair, Bello Arrives London
• Remain Steadfast, Maintain Party Unity, Buhari Urges Members
• President Can Resolve Crisis In 24hrs If He Wishes – Ettah
• Tinubu Charges Leaders, Members To Prevent Party’s Implosion

As the leadership crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) deepens leaving confusion in its trail across party lines, a former Deputy National Vice Chairman (South/South) of the party, Hillard Ntufam Ettah has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of working with some conservative elements within to wreck the ruling party.
 
This was as he suggested that the only way out of the quagmire the party has found itself is to re-invite the authentic National Working Committee (NWC) alongside other caucuses of the party to a roundtable to proffer solutions. He noted that without this, the current crisis would persist.

Ettah said that if President Muhammadu Buhari is interested in resolving all contentious issues in APC, he could do it in 24 hours. He stressed that all he needs to do is to call a meeting of the governors, the leadership of the National Assembly, and the leadership as known in the various segments of the party, adding, “I do not know why Mr President does not want to take leadership, I really don’t know.”

But the President, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, yesterday, urged party faithful to remain steadfast and maintain party unity if it is to continue in the path of victory and maintain its dominance at all levels across the country.

Buhari warned leaders and members to desist from name-calling and backstabbing ahead of the oncoming March 26 Convention.
“Look at the once-powerful, main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) now enfeebled and adrift. Learn lessons in disunity, mismanagement and corruption. They failed in 16 years in power and (are) a failure as opposition.

“Yes, we are entitled to our share of dissent and intra-party discord. These are common in all parties all over the world. But parties splintered by competing egos destine themselves to the worst possible fate,’’ the President warned.

“As the country prepares for the long run up to the 2023 presidential election, we all expect a robust debate on the issues that matter and what is going on in the APC should be a reflection of this, not the infighting we are seeing. There must be no more distractions ahead of the convention to choose new leaders,” he added.

Prersident Buhari recalled that the APC started out with a confidence of victory and the party today enjoys that confidence in nearly two-thirds of 36 states. Yet, he noted that this is a party that has been in existence barely for eight years, and is becoming the dominant party because it has thrown open its doors to defectors from other parties, big and small.

He noted that party was proud of the fact that in its short period of existence, it has won two general elections decisively and despite losing a few states in 2019, it steadfastly expanded its pan-Nigerian outlook with significant defections of the opposition Governors and parliamentarians into its fold.

Buhari said: ‘’Given all that is at stake, we can expect contests into offices as we are now faced with to be heated although candidates and their promoters for party offices are not so much debating policy differences but differences of management, personality, character, and suitability for the most important leadership roles in our country and therefore the continent.

“It is equally clear that over the last week or so, the internal management affairs of the APC have been afforded generous media coverage – over and above its importance to the voters of Nigeria. It is important to ask what benefits the poor are getting during the period of intense negative coverage.”

President Buhari urged the media to put matters into healthy perspective in reporting the ruling party.
“Of course the media are welcome to comment on the content of the character of the potential APC candidates; discuss their suitability for leadership; scrutinise their offer to the membership. But to focus on the routine internal divisions and magnify them into what they have become today is a waste of everyone’s time, amounting to no more than a discussion over seating arrangements. This is not what Nigerians talk of in their communities. They have an inclination only for things that matter.”

Meanwhile, the move by the embattled Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Mai Mala Buni to seek the face and support of President Buhari over his ignominious removal from office may have hit the brick wall.

Sources told The Guardian yesterday that Buni, who had embarked on a trip to London to redeem his battered image, was blocked from having access to the President.

The source said: “As we speak, Buni is still struggling to find a way to see the President. He can’t see him and you know why it is so. Anything can still happen though before the end of today.”

Interestingly, Governor Abubakar Bello, who replaced Buni in a palace coup instigated by majority APC Governors led by Nasir El-Rufai, is not leaving anything to chance as he has also travelled to London to prevail on Buhari not to give Buni a listening ear.

“The Bello group is equally not taking chances. They wont take the risk of allowing Buni to get to the President first before them. Even if Buni ends up telling his stories, Bello would be there to let the President know the facts according to the group. They see this as a campaign to save the soul of the APC,” the source added.

Reacting earlier to assertions that the ruling party may be close to an implosion, former Deputy National Vice Chairman, Ettah said the way to avert the destruction, is for “everybody to wake up and take decisions embedded in patriotism and compelled by patriotism, because the Nigerian body polity need the progressive interventions.”

Recall that following a letter by the new acting chairman of CECPC, Abubakar Bello, through which the committee invited INEC to an emergency meeting of the APC National Executive Committee (NEC), the electoral commission had disclosed that there was no record of the signatory in APC’s documents with the commission.

INEC stated that the authors of the letter did not conform to the provision in Section 82(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, and the provisions of Article 1.1.3 of the commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Party Operations (2018).

But Ettah said: “I read the letter of INEC, where the commission said they recognised Buni and Akpanudoedehe. When Victor Giadom convened a meeting in Aso Villa, who did INEC recognize? Who was the chairman as elected at the convention that was in their (INEC’s) records?
  
“So, INEC and a large section of the judiciary are working so hard to destroy the APC with some of our leaders working in tandem with them. When that happened, when a deputy national secretary convened a NEC meeting, where was INEC? Have you ever seen that kind of thing before?

Asked to react to Ettah’s allegations, however, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi said the electoral umpire would not join issues with the ex-Deputy National Vice Chairman of APC, saying he was entitled to his opinion.

On his part, the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu emphasised the need for the party to strengthen its internal democratic processes to remain relevant.

In a statement, titled, ‘President Muhammadu Buhari’s Optimism About APC Commendable,’ the former Lagos State governor said many progressive leaders had invested time, energy, ideas and resources in forming the APC with a view to providing a better Nigeria.

“The president is a founder of this party. I too have lent my humble bit. As founding fathers of this party, we must continue to guard its purpose. Let not the APC descend into the ways and rank of the other parties. Instead, may we strive to be an exemplar for a caring and democratic society. Only in this manner can we ensure the legacy of the party while leading our nation to its greater improvement,” Tinubu stated.