Whoever came up with sobriquet must be a genius and it is being widely circulated on social media after APC postponed its national convention for the umpteenth time. How do you explain a situation whereby the ruling party with 22 governors and the deputy governor of Anambra state, and a majority in parliament cannot put themselves together and hold their convention?
Although Nasir el-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna state, tried to explain the circumstances of the serial postponement which has become a major embarrassment to APC and the federal government at a press briefing in Abuja recently, I don’t know how many people believed his story.
It is not true that the planned convention divided the governors as El-Rufai stated, citing the timing of the convention as the main issue. Why fix the convention dates in the first place if the party was not ready? The Kaduna state governor should admit what is obvious; a minority group has been promoting a selfish agenda aimed at hijacking the party but the scheme, according to insiders, backfired.
The CECPC chaired by Mai Mala Buni, the governor of Yobe state, was inaugurated to plan the party’s convention with a mandate of only six months. But what has happened is that the committee, having “tasted” power, surreptitiously extended its tenure – to almost two years – in order to take control of the party and push their minority agenda through.
By the way, the southern governors’ forum has something to celebrate; APC has zoned the presidency to the southern region which was their wish. Will PDP tow the same path? It does not appear to be so due to discordant tunes emerging from the party but if the APC presidential candidate is from the south, PDP needs to think outside the box and respond appropriately.
In almost two years, President Muhammadu Buhari has played along with Buni and members of his committee who have used delay tactics and other dubious mechanisms to hold on to their positions for an interim job which has become a permanent job. Typical of Buhari, he does not like interfering once he gives you an assignment. But in this instance, the president ought to have set aside his traditional taciturnity and told Buni and company in no unmistakable terms to stay on the straight and narrow path. Why do they need two years to discharge their mandate which should have expired a long time ago?
When bloggers decided to poke fun by mocking the president’s party as “Always Postponing Convention”, it means something is not right. The sobriquet damages the image and essence of APC – the ruling party for two terms — and I’m almost certain Buni and CECPC members do not even understand the wider implication of their many forced errors.
Should APC continue on its current path, it would become a shadow of itself leading to party members switching their loyalty.
