Aliyu Audu of the APC Rebirth Group, a pressure group of APC Stakeholders, has raised the alarm on another orchestrated plot by the Governor Mai Mala Buni led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) to extend the life of the committee beyond February regardless of the claim it pushed out that the convention will hold in February.

The group has also asked Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State to step aside as a member of the APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee with immediate effect to pave for its rejigging

Oyetola who has picked a form for the party’s Governorship Election in Osun in July, according to Audu, cannot be a judge in his own matter.

Audu claimed in a statement released in Abuja that the CECPC was behind surreptitious reports in news media fixing the APC convention on February 25. He added that report was deliberately planted by the APC leadership, knowing full well that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had earlier fixed the same for six bye-elections in four states. Aliyu said the CECPC was deceiving members of the party trying to buy more time.

“The real plot is to use the planted February 25th date to buy more time, pretending it has no knowledge of the forthcoming bye-election; by which time it will be left with no option but to postpone the much-awaited February convention to another date.

“The CECPC will do this either by arranging a group of people to obtain a kangaroo court injunction hiding under the guise of exclusion by virtue of the bye-elections or simply ride on the excuse of limited time if any other date in February is to be chosen. In any case, the purported February 25th date, just like many other decisions that have been taken by the Caretaker Committee, was not a collective decision by members of the committee.

“This is the reason it opted to plant the date in the media rather than coming out with an official position. We wonder why other members of the CECPC have continued to tolerate the unilateral decision-making and dictatorial excesses of the Chairman of the committee.

“We are bringing this new plot of the CECPC to public attention, just as we have done in many other instances, in order to reawaken the consciousness of party members to the reality of Buni leadership of APC and to call on all those concerned to prevail on him not to toy with the February date for the national convention.

“If the CECPC is serious about holding the national convention, February 19 is a good date and the time to start preparing for it is now. Rather than planting dates and stories in the media, the CECPC should come out with a clear position and timetable for the much-awaited national convention,” the statement said.

APC Rebirth warned that “any attempt by the Buni-led Caretaker Committee to move the convention any further under any guise will be resisted by all means possible”.

APC Rebirth pointed out that aside from “the obvious travesty of being in contravention of section 183 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria” which forbids sitting governors from the membership of the committee, the continuous stay of Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State especially is a disrespect to our laws and morals.

“The governor, who will be standing as an aspirant in the forthcoming governorship primary election in Osun State cannot be a judge in his own case. He should therefore relinquish his membership of the Caretaker Committee, considering that CECPC may prepare and most likely conduct the primary election for the number one seat in Osun State,” the group said..

(Daily Independent)

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