President Muhammadu Buhari has instructed Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, to immediately take over the affairs of the Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He also cautioned governors elected on the APC platform to shun actions and utterances capable of causing disunity within the party.
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Mr Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
He revealed that President Buhari, who is currently out of the country, met with Governor Buni in the United Kingdom.
According to Adesina, the directive comes as part of the President’s intervention in the ‘uncertainties’ currently rocking the ruling party.
President Buhari, he stated, also wrote to Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State who is also the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum.
In the letter, the President decried the multiplicity of cases within the APC which he said has the prospect of invalidating the activities and actions of the party by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He said the party could not change the leadership of the CECPC without infringing on the time limit set by INEC, and the current uncertainties and controversies “pose a real threat to the party.”
As a result, President Buhari believes it has become necessary to issue the following directives:
The issue of the leadership of the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Committee (CECC) should immediately return to status quo ante;
All members of the (Progressives) Governors’ Forum and their followers should desist from any behaviour or utterance that will likely lead to disunity in the ranks of the party, and ultimately jeorpadise the transition to the convention;
The Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Committee should accordingly be allowed to proceed with all necessary preparations to hold the convention as planned- unfailingly on 26th March 2022.
Those copied in the letter by the President included Governor Buni and the acting Chairman of the CECPC, Governor Sani Bello of Niger State, as well as the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Inspector General of Police.
Adesina also shared a photo of President Buhari posing with Governor Buni and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, in the UK.