Uduegbunam Chukwujama
Barring any last-minute change of plans, Yobe State Governor and embattled chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker Committee Mai Mala Buni is set to return to office on Thursday March 17 after a brief meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in London.
Buni’s return date coincides with the March 17 date of Abubakar Sani Bello’s National Executive Committee meeting, which the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) had refused to honour. The ruling party had since publicly discountenanced the position of the electoral umpire on the NEC meeting, saying it was not in INEC’s place to approve or participate in NEC meetings of political parties.
These followed weeks of horsetrading and politicking that led to Buni’s removal and hesitant reinstatement by President Buhari. Before Wednesday’s brief stop from Dubai, Buni, who reportedly traveled to Dubai for medical checks, had earlier last week gone to London to meet with the President who is also on health leave.
Join our WhatsApp Channel”Their Excellencies President Buhari and Governor Buni had a brief and fruitful discussions on measures to move APC forward preparatory to the national convention and the 2023 general election,” Mamman Mohammed, the Director-General, Press and Media Affairs, said in a statement made available to Prime Business Africa on Wednesday.
”The governor is expected back to Nigeria tomorrow, Thursday, to resume office as the Chairman, APC Caretaker Committee”
The Yobe governor was hosted by the president in London earlier today (Wednesday) after it became clear that INEC was not prepared to positively acknowledge correspondences with the Acting Chairman Abubakar Sani Bello following his appointment by the President to replace Buni more than one week ago.
Meanwhile a statement issued by the Caretaker Committee Secretary John James Akpanuodedehe said the ”purported NEC meeting” scheduled for Thursday had been cancelled. The returnee secretary’s choice of words sends clear message to opposing camps, especially as the president had cautioned APC governors to desist from making further remarks capable of causing disunity in the party.
Buhari’s backing of Buni’s return to control of the APC levers of power was to prevent INEC’s hammer hovering over the ruling party as it relates to deadline for notice of Convention to INEC. The Elctoral Act 2022 allows a minimum of 21 days window within which to notify INEC of a convention date. Before his ouster, Buni had, in controversial circumstances, written INEC to inform it about APC’s plans for national convention. Another notification by a new chairman (Niger State Governor, Sani Bello) would have fallen short of that 21-day window, given that the party still plans to hold the convention on March 26, 2022.
