At the virtual meeting of the National Executive Committee held at the Presidential Villa, the APC NWC was dissolved and a 13 man caretaker/ special convention committee with Yobe state governor, Mallam Mai Mala Buni as chairman was sworn in.
The DG of the Progressive Governors Forum in a statement on Friday declared that by that singular action, President Buhari has finally succeeded in rescuing himself from certain leaders of the party whom he noted have claimed in recent past that they have a grip on President Buhari.
Lukman further argued that with the resolution of the NEC, President Buhari has faulted claim in certain quarters that he was indifferent to the crises tearing the ruling party apart.
He said: “The fact is, the President was able to discharge his responsibility as the moral authority of the party because he freed himself from all the leaders who were the problem. It is only because of that he was able to see the true picture and accordingly make recommendations that can solve the problem.
These were recommendations that didn’t defeat anyone but favour everyone, which confirms the President’s status as ‘belonging to everybody and belonging to no one’.
This is one attribute that can be said to be unique to this President. Somehow, this is one attribute that all APC leaders must seek to imbibe especially those positioning themselves as potential 2023 successors.
If the APC leadership crisis is anything to go by, it highlights the danger of the shortage of leaders with this unique attribute.Therefore, part of the challenge before every APC leader is to develop this attribute.”
In a veiled reference to claim that the governors have taken control of the party, the Director-General of the Forum faulted it as he maintained that only President Buhari took the position to dissolve and constitute the caretaker committee without consultations with the governors.
“Beyond the recommendations, the ability of the President to keep these recommendations to himself until the meeting is a critical success factor.
Were the President to have leaked it to any of the parties in the leadership conflict, the outcome would have been different, which may include lobbies to dominate the Convention Working Committee with loyalists and benefactors to the crisis.
This could even lead to another dispute that may block the emergency NEC from holding.The element of surprise experienced by members of the APC-NEC when they received these proposals from President Buhari would have been a source of relief and therefore made approvals very easy.”
He further urged the newly constituted care-taker committee to be firm in taking disciplinary against certain members of the dissolved national working committee who were threatening to institute legal actions against Thursday resolution of the NEC meeting.
