Mai Mala Buni has piloted APC into sound health — Kingsley Fanwo
Joel Oladele-Abuja
As the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention is gathering momentum, the party has since been generating a lot of debates both within and outside the party with the Chairman Caretaker Committee, governor Mai Mala Buni as a common denominator in all the emerging chaos.
However, Kingsley Fanwo, the Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communication has described Buni as an outstanding leader whose leadership strategy has piloted the party into sound health.
Fanwo made this known on Monday in an interview on Arise TV. While fielding questions from the hosts, he said the party is doing very well under the current leadership and it has been better positioned for landslide victory in the 2023 general elections.
“I think we must put all these things in a proper perspective; The All Progressives Congress is in excellent health as we talk. The party is progressing, the party is the party to beat and there are no crises at all in the party.
“ I think the issues that were raised before now has to do with the legality of the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the party led by by his Excellency Alhaji Mai Mala Buni but the Supreme Court which is the highest court in the land has laid that to rest by validating the position of his Excellency Mai Mala Buni.
“So it’s not a legal matter anymore, all the brouhaha that we are hearing about are just the creation of the opposition to try and steer some whirlwind in a tea cup. So that’s not happening. The party is doing very well.
“If you look at the congresses, they are largely successful. The congresses were supervised by the CECPC and it was quite very successful from ward to local government and the state and the party is also preparing for national convention, so the party is doing very well,” Fanwo said
He also noted that Buni led caretaker committee has done very well in depopulating the opposition party through its efforts at making the ruling party attractive and a place to be for all
“When you at the Mai Mala Buni led CECPC, they have done a lot in depopulating the major opposition party which is the PDP and by bringing even some of their governors to the fold of APC. So, I think the PDP and the opposition generally are trying to create a scenario that there is a problem in APC but APC is in rude health.”
Asked whether the convention will be happening in February and there won’t be any delay, Fanwo hinged the possibility on political permutations and different school of thoughts in the party
“There are a lot of permutations and a lot of abrasive, political things going on in the party. While some people think that the present leadership is doing very well and should not alter the balance and strength of the party at this moment with the National Convention that might further divide the party but there is also a school of thought that the party should have what they call a proper structure in place by having all the National Working Committee in place and all of that.
“So you have all these school of thoughts in an attrition of interest that are playing out in the party but you know by and large you have a CECPC that is doing excellently well in moving the party forward in stabilizing the party, in strengthening the party and that is what is most important to a lot of us that are members of the party at this moment that our party is doing very well and attracting heavy weights across all other political parties, so it shows that even the present leadership with their performance our party is ready to have a clean sweep of the 2023 general elections,” he added.
On Electoral law amendment bill, Fanwo said the president should be applauded by Nigerians for his patriotic role by not acceding to what he described as a threat to democracy.
“The electoral law amendment bill that was sent to the President by the National Assembly you have many clauses and parts of the bill that should sail through but the inclusion of the direct primaries has been the only option. That straight jacket insertion was not good enough for our democracy and you could see that Mr President was well advised by various bodies especially his attorney general and minister of justice. He gave him a very brilliant advice on the electoral amendment bill.
“What is there is that there is no problem with direct primaries but restricting all political parties to direct primaries is undemocratic. you have to give options, democracy is about choosing from various options so when you start tailoring the activities of political parties to a particular pattern, that on its own is grossly undemocratic and you could see the reason given by the president for not accenting to that, those reasons are brilliant, they are democratic, they are patriotic and we should applaud the president for that very wonderful decision.
“Our electoral law is what will guide our electoral process in 2023. We are going to a very significant phase of our democracy where we are going to elect our leaders who will chat the cause of development in the country so we must get the process right, if we don’t get it right from the laws, we will be having very serious problems.
“He has given them the opportunity to go and look at it again and let there be options. In the Constitution of the All Progressives Congress for instance, there are options for nominating candidate for election, you have the direct, you have the indirect, you have the consensus so there must be options for political parties to be able to adopt.
“It is not all parties that has the war chest that the apc and PDP can boast of and when you look at the cost on government and the difficulty in putting in place membership register to be able to meet the integrity and credibility test of such primaries then you will just agree with me that it is not good enough to just restrict all political parties to direct primaries.
“So what the president has done is patriotic, it’s democratic and should be applauded by all Nigerians.”
