Supreme Court verdict: APC set to remove Buni as party chairman

Following the Supreme Court judgment on the Ondo State governorship election, fresh indications have emerged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is set to remove Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni as the Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee.

Apart from Buni, other persons expected to be affected in the reported shakeup are other governors, who are members of the committee – Sani Bello of Niger State, who is representing the North-Central, and his Osun State counterpart, Gboyega Oyetola, who represents the South-West.

The implication of this is that the national caretaker committee will have to be reconstituted.

Newsflash Nigeria reports that Supreme Court judgment on the Ondo State governorship election involving Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and Eyitayo Jegede had attracted controversy.

Judges at the Apex Court had reportedly unanimously agreed that it was illegal for Mai Mala Buni to be the governor of Yobe State and also hold an elective position.

They agreed on the constitutional point that a sitting governor could not hold the dual elective position of governor and party national chairman.

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President Muhammadu Buhari’s aide and the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, had called on the APC to stop its scheduled nationwide congresses.

Backing him up, Babafemi Ojudu, a political adviser to Buhari and Ita Enang, Buhari’s adviser on Niger Delta Affairs, had also called for the suspension of the congress.

The move, Newsflash Nigeria gathered is to forestall any legal booby trap in the future, particularly the 2023 elections over the conduct of the party’s affairs particularly its congresses and convention.

The APC had been thrown into the twist and seed of division sown among the members following the minority ruling of the Supreme Court in the Ondo State governorship election suit which said Buni, a sitting governor, should not have presided over the process which produced Rotimi Akeredolu as the party’s guber candidate.

In his reaction shortly after the ruling by the apex court, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN) called on the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Mai Mala Buni to resign immediately to save the party from disgrace.

The minister also called on the party to immediately stop all preparation and conduct of congresses nationwide. The advice was however ignored as the APC proceeded with its ward congresses on Saturday.

But in a bid to save the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from a major crisis, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has met with APC Governors over the recent ruling of the Supreme Court amidst fears of the implication of the judgment.

The PUNCH also quoted a member of the APC National Caucus, who confided in its correspondent on Tuesday, as saying, “We are only waiting for the President to return to hold a National Executive Committee meeting to review the state of the party.

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“The court judgment in the Ondo matter as it relates to the position of the law regarding the chairman of our caretaker committee holding the office while at the same time serving as governor has set us thinking.

“We have two options, continue and risk everything or make adjustments and save something.

“What is currently on the table is to reconstitute the Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee, while retaining members who are not holding executive positions like those of governors.

“There is also a proposal to either pick an acting interim national chairman from among the members or nominate a strong hand who will lead the party into the convention.

“Recall the arrangement we had in 2014 when Chief Bisi Akande served as interim national chairman and led us into the national convention where Chief Odigie-Oyegun was elected as substantive chairman.”

As it stands, the fate of the ward congresses held across the country on Saturday hangs in the balance until the APC can take a definite stand on how party affairs will be run in view of the Supreme Court ruling.

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