Buni Cancels APC NEC Meeting Fixed By Gov Bello

The caretaker chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mai Mala Buni, has cancelled the emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) earlier summoned by the acting chairman, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, and other leaders of the party.

The meeting, said to have been endorsed by nine out of the twelve members of the caretaker committee, was scheduled for Thursday to plan toward the March 26 national convention of the party.

But Senator John Akpanudoedehe, national secretary of the caretaker committee, announced on Wednesday that Buni had approved the cancellation of the meeting.

“As directed by the National Chairman of APC CECPC and Gov. of Yobe, Mai Mala Buni, a purported emergency meeting of the party’s NEC slated for Thursday, March 17, 2022, is hereby cancelled,” Akpanudoedehe said in a terse statement.

The notice of the now-cancelled meeting was said to have been signed by Governor Bello, Senator Ken Nnamani – Southeast representative, Senator Abubakar Yusuf – Senate representative, Stella Okotete – Women leader and James Lalu, representative of the people with disabilities (PWD).

The party had planned to hold the meeting amidst a fresh leadership crisis occasioned by plans to oust Buni as the chairman of its caretaker committee.

Meanwhile, in a letter to the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) chairman, Governor Atiku Bagudu, on Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari called on APC governors to suspend plans to remove Buni ahead of the party’s March 26 national convention.

Buhari also urged the governors to stop further utterances that could lead to disunity in the party ahead of the convention.