President Muhammadu Buhari has denied sanctioning the removal of Yobe State Governor and Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee, Mai Mala Buni.
This is he rejected reports that he approved the appointment of Governor Abubakar Sani-Bello of Niger State.
It was gathered that Buhari has backed Buni to oversee the APC convention scheduled for March 26th with a strict condition that no more postponements would be tolerated.
According to The PUNCH, Buhari took the decision in London after a meeting with his most trusted allies including the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
Buhari, according to sources, also cleared insinuations and reports that he had backed former Nasarawa State Governor, Senator Adamu Abdullahi for the party’s chairman.
He reportedly stated that he had no preferred candidate for the chairmanship position, throwing the race open.
An APC chieftain, who spoke to The PUNCH, said Buhari made it clear that he had not endorsed anyone as the chairman of the party.
“Buhari explained that he was not supporting any chairmanship aspirant and that everyone was free to contest. The President is tired of all these problems. He believes anyone who wants to contest should feel free to do so and should test their popularity on the field if this will bring peace to the APC,” the source said.
“The President also ordered Buni to resume as the chairman as quickly as possible, adding that he would not accept any excuses any longer. He said the March 26 convention date remains sacrosanct.”
Recall that in what looked like an internal coup, Governor Sani-Bello had last Monday taken over the leadership of the APC, denying reports that Mai Mala Buni officially handed over to him before embarking on a medical trip to Dubai.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna had in an interview claimed that Buni would not return as the party chairman, accusing the Yobe governor of planning to thwart the upcoming APC convention.
Also, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo had accused Buni and some yahoo yahoo governors of trying to destroy the APC because of their selfish interest.
