APC convention threatened as Buni, Marafa row deepens

•Ortom urges Nigerians to sack party in 2023
•Former deputy gov joins Shekarau to fight Ganduje

Fears that the much expected national convention of All Progressives Congress (APC) may not hold this year emerged recently when Senator Kabir Marafa raised further constitutional huddles against the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

Marafa had, in a press conference, chided the CECPC for rushing the Zamfara State congress, stressing that the attempt to overlook Section 85 of the Electoral Act 2010 showed that Buni and his group wanted to ground the party.

The Zamfara-born former lawmaker faulted the CECPC for failing to comply with the stipulations of the Electoral Act in organising the state congress without giving the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the traditional 21 days notice.

Buni had, in a statement by his Director-General, Media, Mamman Mohammed, said Marafa rushed to the media to spew insults on the party and its leadership, wondering whether he was acting on behalf of the opposition.

But Marafa, through his spokesperson, Bello Maradu, challenged Buni to respond to the crucial issues raised in the findings. As APC’s woes heighten, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, yesterday, came hard on the party, stating that President Muhammadu Buhari and his party have failed in providing leadership for the country. He urged Nigerians to save the country from total collapse by voting APC out in 2023.

Ortom, who accused the APC administration of ineptitude in all ramifications, said the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors had, therefore, agreed to rescue Nigeria from the brinks in 2023.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, the governor said the APC leadership lost control owing to ineptitude exhibited by the leadership, hence many Nigerians became Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in their own country due to insecurity.

IN Kano State, former deputy governor, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, has declared loyalty to the Ibrahim Shekarau-led party leadership. The don had denounced support for Governor Abdullahi Ganduje’s leadership under Abdullahi Abbas as chairman.

Abubakar was Ganduje’s deputy from 2015 to 2018, when he dumped the governor to contest the 2019 governorship election under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The former Deputy Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK) later returned to Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) when the PDP ticket went to former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso’s political godson, Abba Yusuf.

The politically-inclined professor of food Science later returned to APC in 2019 and reunited with Ganduje, and they joined forces to defeat Kwankwasiyya’s political dynasty.

Shoving another political shock, Abubakar has decided to team up with the controversial chairman of the party, Ahmadu Danzago, anointed by Shekarau, Barau Jibril and some House of Representatives members from Kano to reject what they considered as lopsided leadership of Ganduje’s government.

Speaking with journalists yesterday in Kano, Abubakar said his decision to align with Shekarau’s camp amid the crisis rocking the ruling party was not unconnected with the future of the party.