Chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may have initiated moves for an extension of tenure for the All Progressives Congress Caretaker/Extra Ordinary National Convention Planning Committee led by Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni.
The interim national leadership of the party was announced by President Muhammadu Buhari at the emergency APC National Executive Committee meeting held at the presidential villa last June.
The proclamation was a sequel to the dissolution of the substantive National Working Committee under the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
Announcing the interim national leadership of the ruling party, President Muhammadu Buhari gave it the mandate to reconcile aggrieved party faithful at state chapters and conduct a National Convention to produce a new set of national officers.
But chieftains of the party have since argued that the six-month timeline was too short for the Governor Buni-led caretaker team to conclude the assignment it has been saddled with.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after a meeting with Governor Buni and his faction of Zamfara State chapter of the party, former governor, Abdul Aziz Yari said he was impressed with the performance of the interim leadership.
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He further argued that what was important to him was the troubleshooting efforts of the interim leadership ahead of 2023 general elections. He maintained that an extension of its tenure would not be an aberration.
He said: “It doesn’t matter, as long as you people look at what is happening now in the Secretariat, I think you too can judge what is going on now.
“What I have seen, since the time he came to the office, I only came today. What I see now is different from what I saw in the past and I was here when the Taraba delegation left and they came for reconciliation and development of the party in Taraba State so it is interesting. We not in a hurry to say make this or make that but we are in a hurry to have an intact party that cannot be beaten come 2023.”
Chairman of the Taraba State chapter of the party, Honourable, Ibrahim El-Sudi spoke in the same vein.
“You can see that there is relative peace within the APC all over the country. And the chairman is a tested and trusted leader. He was a secretary in his state. He was chairman of another party in his state and he was the national secretary. So, he knows the plethora of problems inundating the party and he has already taken steps towards solving most of these problems. The period is enough. If it is not enough, it should be added in his capacity to solve the problem confronting APC.”
The former Zamfara State governor, however, foreclosed reconciliation between his faction of the APC in the Northwest state and another faction being led by Senator Kabiru Marafan.
He accused the Senator Marafan faction of sabotaging the growth of the APC in Zamfara by picking appointment in the PDP administration of Governor Bello Muhammad Matawalle.
“Reconciliation to some extent will need result but every reconciliation that eventually mar the prospect of the party is no point.
Reconciliation has so many definitions. We are ready to reconcile with everyone. “But the situation where you are going to reconcile with somebody who has already members in the Government of the State, he has Secretary to the State Government, he has Commissioner, he has everyone there. But if everyone is ready for reconciliation we will know what is there because we are doing this game since 1999.
“We are ready for reconciliation and we are supporting the Acting Chairman for any reconciliation, ranging from Zamafara State to anywhere. We want our party to deliver.”
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