At this time, President Muhammadu Buhari who as president doubles as the leader of the party did step in, he singlehandedly dissolved Oshiomole’s NWC, appointing Mai Mala Buni, a former National Secretary of the party as well as the sitting Governor of Yobe State. Buni alongside his other committee members were then given a six months mandate to quickly conduct a fresh convention and hand over to a new NWC that would lead the party, sadly what was to take six months has nearly entered its second year, with the CECPC embarrassing itself needlessly as it has had to reverse itself for an umpteenth number of times on when it will hold its convention and give way. As the Buni leadership continued to sit tight, under one pretext or the other, tempers became flayed and leading party members began to call on Buni to leave.
Sadly, the same President Buhari who has for a long stretch of his Presidency being aloof on party matters, preferring not to interfere as some of his predecessors did, again only chose to interfere last week, before backing down owing to the crisis such an intervention was likely to bring about. In what looked like a coup, the Buni leadership was sidestepped for his Niger State counterpart, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello witnessing a number of policy reversals until Buhari himself halted such moves and retained the status quo.
Even the President’s interventions in these periods can be said to be faulty, yes, President Buhari may not possess that mischievous machiavellian nature, someone like former President Obasanjo has as one of his numerous talents, but then his timing of his interventions puts to question the President’s political adeptness. For example, why did the president not intervene while the pro and anti Oshiomole forces battled for supremacy? Had the president as leader of the party intervened and had gotten all those in the trenches to reach some kind of accord or amity, then there would have been no need for the CECPC to have come into place? Also, the president could have allowed the matter to progress through the courts like the Sherrif Vs Markafi matter, it’s exhaustion at the courts would not only have strengthened the party, it would also have helped set legal precedents for the conduct of party politics. The dissolution of the NWC which was popularly elected at a party convention cannot in any way be said to nurture our democracy.
Today, even with the numerous achievements of the CECPC, the party is still in crisis, in other words, the much vaunted unity the CECPC was created to establish has somewhat remained elusive, even within the APC Governors Forum, such a division exists there between a couple of Governors who are wary of Buni’s continuous stay in power and have presumed that he is either scheming to perpetually remain in office or seeks to use the office to negotiate for himself a Vice President’s slot and the so called “Yahoo” Yahoo” governors who are reportedly backing Buni. The point I am making here is that had Oshiomole’s NWC remained in office, whatever divisions that existed then may have thinned out, the CECPC’s existence hasn’t helped bridge whatever divide the party is presently facing, as we speak, almost every state chapter of the party is immersed in its own share of intra party crisis, and compared with that of Oshiomole’s era, surpasses the latter. The CECPC’s existence has also somewhat stifled debate within the party’s platforms, as a number of organs which also ought to be functional has been reduced organizing little or no activities, now once these organs are not functional the political party begins to lose its essence, it becomes diminished and is no different from what we see operational in China and North Korea, at best it is a sole administration by Buni and Co. Now, if they had accused Oshiomole of being a dictator what would many now say of what is presently obtainable?
Looking ahead, it is obvious that the damage has been done and that the removal of Oshiomhole did more harm than good to the APC. Nevertheless, there is still hope that the Buni led CECPC can somewhat redeem themselves and go ahead to conduct a very free and fair convention which would see the APC bounce back and perhaps produce a much qualified person as successor to Buhari.
Anything short of a free and fair Convention, would only help the party’s much predicted implosion come quickly, compounding the party’s woes and jettisoning any hope for peace to return to its fold soon.if the APC cannot achieve consensus, it should allow a fair contest between all aspirants to take place. The APC must learn from the mistakes of the PDP and get its act right, otherwise it would have more ghosts to deal with.