Members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were anxiously looking forward to a date in December 2020 for the party’s national convention when the 13-man Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) led by Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni was inaugurated in June 2020. The antecedent of the new caretaker chairman, as a one-time national secretary of the party, heightened the expectations of members.
Twenty months down the line, a six-month mandate has become elastic and unending. Several times the convention was postponed. The CECPC was compelled by pressure from within and without to announce February 26 (this Saturday) initially as the date for the convention. But, with only a few days to the D-day, hopes were dashed once again when the caretaker committee once again postponed the event. The holding of the much-awaited convention of the self-acclaimed largest political party in Africa as scheduled on the new date (next month) will make the event the 10th wonder of the world.
While some leaders and party faithful are pushing for the hosting of the convention, there were strong allegations that both the CECPC and some highly influential governors of the party have a different agenda. They seemed not prepared for the convention.
With the seemingly self-inflicted and avoidable crisis, the party under the watch of the Buni-led CECPC seemed not set to honour the promise to conduct the national convention that will usher in a new National Working Committee (NWC) to run the affairs and lead it to another victory during the forthcoming general elections scheduled to hold early next year.
Hiding under the various intra-party crises in states over the outcome of the last year’s congresses, the struggle for control of party structures between governors, ministers, federal lawmakers and some former governors, the supporters of the Buni-led CECPC see no need for the convention. Even when the legality of the existence and the activities of the caretaker committee put the party’s future electoral victories at a mercy of court pronouncement, for lack of substantive NWC in place, the leadership seemed not perturbed.
On January 19 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, Buni nearly took the shine off the National Women Progressives Conference when he advised the women to seek leadership positions at the forthcoming national convention. His words: “We look forward to having more women contesting in the forthcoming national convention of the party slated for February 26, 2022, and the 2023 general elections.”
In readiness for the convention, which was initially billed for this weekend, no fewer than 15 party faithful had thrown their hats into the ring for the office of the party’s national chairman. Similarly, each of the other NWC positions equally has the same number of aspirants, if not more.
To many members and political observers, the coast was clear for the convention. But, alas, they are wrong. Some few individuals, who can read between the lines, knew that the caretaker committee was not prepared. Unknown to many, the Buni-led committee knew they had no intention to deliver the February 26 date.
To actualise this, a well thought out script was prepared by the CECPC. They engaged foot soldiers whose primary assignment at different stages was to plant a landmine that will make February 26 date unattainable.
The first area of concern that fired the apprehension among aspirants, party members and political watchers was the clash in the date chosen; the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had scheduled by-elections in several states on that date. INEC had fixed legislative by-elections in six federal constituencies in four state constituencies for February 26.
Many political watchers saw this clash as a big hurdle and a trap capable of truncating the conduct of the convention. But, the Buni-led committee never saw the threat posed by the clash in the date for the convention and the by-elections. The committee pretended that everything was well until Monday when it suddenly realised that the by-election threatened the conduct of the convention and promptly shifted it to next month.
Despite subtle protests and the campaign by various groups for strict adherence to the February 26 date, the Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu in a letter to the CECPC chairman came out from the blues calling for the postponement of the convention. He effortlessly justified the need not to go ahead with the convention.
Kalu did not limit his call to the postponement of the convention, the lawmaker stoutly solicited that the Buni-led CECPC should consider conducting the presidential primary and election of the party’s NWC on the same day.
In the letter titled ‘Urgent Appeal for Postponement of APC National Convention’, the federal lawmaker also warned that holding the convention in February without sorting out the minor disagreements that arose during the congresses would lead to implosion.
Weeping up the sentiment on why the convention should be shifted, Kalu said: “It is pertinent to note that some states are embroiled in a crisis with multiple factions. These factions are not new to our politics, especially since the return of democracy in 1999. However, it is important to put into consideration the consequences of these factions during and after elections.
“It is on this note that I write to appeal to your office and members of the Convention Extraordinary Planning Committee to reconsider the slated date for the 2022 national convention.
“The logical corollary of the foregoing pronouncements of the courts is that having too many cases without settling them amicably, the APC may be embarking upon a collision course which may lead the party to implosion. It is important to first postpone the convention with all peace and reconciliation machinery fully put in place. The issue of zoning should be properly handled with even representation across the six geopolitical zones.”
In the same vein, Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma saw nothing wrong in postponing the convention. For him, no offence will be committed if the party fails to conduct the event on February 26.
He added: “Of course, that is the decision of the party, and there is nothing wrong even if it doesn’t hold; what is important is that we must have our convention. We have said it is February 26. If for any reason tomorrow it is not doable in the opinion of the party, we will shift it. But that does not mean that there is any intention to shift it.”
Political observers are equally quick to cite the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Reconciliation Committee (NRC) as another plot to scuttle the conduct of the convention as planned. In October 2021, when the Adamu-led NRC was inaugurated, many never saw beyond the line. Many never failed to read between the lines when the Chairman CECPC said the outcome of the assignment of the committee of the former Nasarawa State governor will have a vital role to play in the forthcoming convention.
So political discerning minds were not surprised three months after some intensive reconciliatory efforts, the Senator Adamu-led NRC said it will need more time to enable it to attend to petitions submitted by aggrieved members.
The former Nasarawa State governor noted that reconciliation is a work in progress and members need to be patient to get the issues sorted out properly. He added that the committee cannot pretend that they have attended to all the issues raised in the petitions.
With 47 petitions to attend to, Adamu said his committee need more time, “because there are still members who are still submitting reports to be treated and the door cannot suddenly be shot against them because they deserved to be heard. As of today, we still have petitions coming in. People are still trooping in to come and see us. And we cannot in all fairness stop them. But as long as we are there when we get the final report, the first thing about Reconciliation is a work in progress.”
Behind the scene, the Buni-led CECPC equally plotted to frustrate the holding of the convention. After succumbing to pressure and announcing the February 26 date, it came up with a schedule of activities towards the convention. Many expected the party to stick to the plan, but a crack was noticed in the plan on February 14 when aspirants for various positions were denied nomination forms. The Buni-led committee failed to provide forms and by February 19, it became clear that it has no plan to honour the arrangement. This was when Buni refused to announce and inaugurate sub-committees for the convention. All these sent signals that February 26 is nothing but a mirage.
Though many party chieftains have vouched for President Buhari’s resolve for the hosting of the convention as planned, the national caretaker committee and its cohorts cashed in on the president’s trip to Belgium last week to declare that the convention can no longer hold on that day because the number one citizen was not available to authenticate the date as the leader of the party.
In the words of Barrister Muktar Inua, “The inability of Mr President to stamp his feet on the convention before jetting out to Brussels, Belgium was capitalised on to finally nail the February 26 date. Some say the inability of both the CECPC and the governors to equally agree on the zoning arrangement ahead of the date further compounded the matter.
While the caretaker committee was having their way seamlessly, a group of aspirants under the aegis of All Aspirants Forum threw their weight behind the CECPC agenda. In a letter to the Buni committee, the forum called for the postponement of the convention, even though its members are major stakeholders. The letter was signed by Maxwell Yakubu Gowon, an aspirant for the position of National Youth Leader and Mohammed Bala Mohammed, an aspirant for National Secretary.
The aspirants in their letter faulted the activities of the National Reconciliation Committee. The forum observed: “The Abdullahi Adamu-led reconciliatory committee did not help matters in the task assigned to it. Instead, it further complicated the issues at stake by refusing to look at issues holistically but instead relied on rumours and hearsays in coming to a conclusion in its report.
“The implication of the above statement is that those that were meant to be reconciled ended up infuriated by the actions of the reconciliatory committee. The signs in this regard are evident for every well-meaning member of the APC to see. But they have elected in their wisdom to downplay these contentious issues in the report submitted.
“This, in our opinion, is a great disservice to your efforts at positioning the APC for electoral success. As you may be aware, the public space has been flooded with narratives that paint the APC as a party of strange bedfellows whose interests are propelled primarily for self-aggrandizement.
“Mr Chairman may wish to critically examine the various agitations in the different states in the country. The feelers are not pleasant, and with the benefit of hindsight, it would indeed spell doom if the party goes ahead with the national convention under such circumstances.
“The truth remains that the February 26 date for the party’s national convention is not realistic. Mr Chairman may wish to be reminded that should the party disintegrate, all fingers would point in his direction. The tendency for unsavoury remarks on his personality would not be in shortfall. We strongly advise Mr Chairman to, without further delay, stop all preparations toward the national convention slated for 26th February 2022.”
Now that February 26 has become history, all eyes are now on the new date. Will March 26 not fall victim to the same machinations that scuttled February 26? Only time will tell.
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