*Matawalle calls for caution
Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has waded into the mega-crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) leading to the removal of Yobe Governor, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni as Caretaker Chairman and head of the Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).
The Ondo State Governor has alleged that Buni perfected moves to create a crisis in the party and to ensure that the March 26 national convention does not hold.
In his view, the sack of Buni as APC’s Chairman of the Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), was long overdue.
The governor in a statement he personally signed on Thursday, stated that the Yobe State Governor had alongside a few of his colleagues, whom he referred to as ‘yahoo yahoo’ governors plotted to frustrate the convention from holding.
He said that President Muhammadu Buhari and the majority of the governors’ quick action to save the party from “internal scavengers” was a tremendous move in avoiding the party from falling off the cliff.
Abubakar Sani Bello, the Governor of Niger State, became the acting chairman of the party two days ago, following reports that the Buni-led CECPC was planning to sabotage the party’s next national convention.
While assuring Bello of the support of the majority of APC governors in organizing a successful national convention for the party, Akeredolu stated that despite the bungled efforts of those opposed to a hitch-free convention, the APC will remain great.
Reports say Buni who was outside the country when his leadership was toppled, is still battling to be reinstated in the position while his Secretary John Akpanudoedehe has resigned his position.
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On Wednesday, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State said Buni who is on a medical trip in Dubai had been removed at the instance of President Buhari.
He had blamed Buni for the widening crisis in the party and said that the Yobe governor had been removed for good and that Sani Bello was fully in charge with the support of at least 19 governors of the ruling party.
While reacting to the ongoing crisis in the ruling party, Akeredolu had said “only Yahoo Yahoo governors are with Buni”.
In his reaction, however, the governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle cautioned his counterparts against “unguarded statements” over the party’s crisis.
In a statement issued on his behalf Friday, Mr Zailani Bappa, his Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment, Media and Communications, Matawalle said “it is not right for us to wash our dirty linens in the media, especially at this critical time of the party’s transformation as we move towards a decisive period in 2023.”
Matawalle added: “It is not wise to drag the name of His Excellency, Mr President into taking sides on issues that are ordinarily a normal political misunderstanding common to every collection of interests. Now, more than ever before, the party needs the strength and unity to face the challenges ahead as we move towards the critical period of elections of which the party must maintain its supremacy at all levels.”
