Mai Mala Buni, governor of Yobe State and Chairman, Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and John Akpanudoedehe, national secretary of the committee, will be held responsible if the party loses the 2023 presidential election, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) has said.
Mai Mala Buni, governor of Yobe State and Chairman, Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and John Akpanudoedehe, national secretary of the committee, will be held responsible if the party loses the 2023 presidential election, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) has said. Speaking exclusively with Daily Independent on Sunday, Sagay, a chieftain of the APC, who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), said the two men were the ones responsible for the upheavals in the APC in the last two years.
Responding to questions on the new date proposed for the party’s national convention, Sagay said Buni may still shift the March 26 date so as to perpetuate himself in office as he has always done.
According to him, even though Buni was chosen to manage the affairs of the APC for just six months after the sack of the Adams Oshiomhole- led National Working Committee (NWC) in June 2020, the Yobe State governor has employed all sorts of tricks which has seen him remain in office as APC acting national chairman for almost two years.
“This man (Buni) was appointed as APC caretaker chairman for six months.
He’s managed to do magic, turning over and over, doing all sorts of somersaults. He extended the six months to one year; added another six months and it became one year and half. It is now going to two years and the man is still somersaulting and doing more magic”, he said.
Speaking further, Sagay said he heard a report that attempts were being made to bring former President Goodluck Jonathan into APC to serve as president for one term and then hand over to Buni who will be his deputy.
“The question is, what does he want? Now we are hearing from the sides, former President Goodluck Jonathan wants to join APC.
Why would a man who had been president before denigrate himself to that level? “And I hear that the conspiracy is to bring in Jonathan as APC presidential candidate and Buni as vice presidential candidate. If APC wins, Jonathan will go away after four years and Buni becomes the president. That is the rumour I’m hearing now.
“You cannot subject a whole nation and a ruling party to your ambitions and all sorts of tricks just because you want something for your tiny self at the expense of the remaining 200 million Nigerians.
“This man called Buni wants something for his tiny self and he has been playing APC on his fingertips and turning the party round and round for two years instead of staying there for six months.
“They got rid of (Adams) Oshiomhole and they asked Buni to stay there for six months and hold a national convention. But he has refused to do that, instead he has been doing all sorts of funny things and bringing in people of dubious backgrounds into the APC fold as if the party has no principles and ideologies.
“They just allow all manners of shady characters into the party without any questions asked. Today you are PDP, tomorrow you are in APC.
Buni has brought APC down to a level of opportunism and makes it look like a party without morals”. Speaking on the convention, Sagay said Buni’s aim for continually postponing the convention is to preside over the presidential primaries of the party.
“The way things are going, he is going to destroy the APC because of the way he keeps on postponing the convention. It is very clear Buni doesn’t want to give up power.
“The way I see it, he wants to be in charge of APC when the presidential primaries is held.
That is what he has been planning all along but he will fail eventually. He will never preside over that presidential primary.
I can assure you on that. “Buni and Akpanudoedehe are the ones responsible for all the travails of APC in the last two years.
If anything goes wrong and APC loses the 2023 presidential election, they will carry the consequences of that failure on their heads. “All Akpanudoedehe cares about is getting appointments. Promise him any appointment, he will smile from ear to ear and kiss your boots to get any appointment”.