Senator Kabiru Marafa has called on chairman of the caretaker committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governor Mai Buni to organise the national convention of the party in line with the mandate given to the committee or quit.
The Buni’s committee was inaugurated in June, 2020 and saddled with responsibility of administering the party’s affairs as well as organising a national convention within six months after dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC).
Many chieftains of the party have been mounting pressure on Buni to restrict activities of his committee to convocation of a national convention.
Lending his voice, Marafa said the decision of the committee to conduct membership registration was clearly outside its mandate.
He said membership registration was not part of the mandate of the committee, saying it is diversionary and an attempt by Buni, who is Yobe Governor, to perpetuate himself in office.
Marafa, who is leading a faction of the APC in Zamfara, told Buni: “Don’t overstretch your luck, we are not afraid of you.
“Many of us are aware that your appointment is unconstitutional, [section 17(iv) of our party’s constitution is very clear].
“We only kept quiet because of the respect we have for Mr. President and the belief that the party needs to open a new page.
“Be informed that any action you take outside your primary mandate of organising a convention that will usher in a new set of executives will be null, void and of no effect what so ever. You have up to December to do the needful or we chase you out.
“Your state needs you more than the party, go and administer your state, you can’t be Governor and Chairman of APC at the same time its unconstitutional.
“You equally can’t accuse Chief Oshiomhole of any wrong doing because you were part and parcel of all the decisions he took. If there is any mess in APC today, you are part and parcel of it.
“We are eager to witness the emergence of a responsible leadership, a leadership we all can trust, a leadership that will carry every member, every section, every
tribe along, not the type that leads by deceit and lies.
“You have failed woefully, your fake claim of succeeding in reconciling members of the party in nine states when in actual sense you only aggravated their problems by taking sides unjustly clearly shows the kind of leader you are.
“Looking at the composition of the committee we all thought you will lead the party out of the mess you contributed in putting it in.
“However, events in recent time have shown that you are not concerned about fixing the party, you are only interested in the politics of 2023. It is unfortunate that things have became even more messier than before”.
He likened the attitude of Buni to that of the former Zamfara Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, who he alleged abandoned governance of the state in favour of Governors Forum because of greed.
“Your state Yobe, is in deeper crisis than APC, the state needs you more than the party, emulate your senior brother and colleague in Borno. Your agenda will collapse in a similar way the ones before yours collapsed,” he said.
