The administration crisis rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress is evidence of the inept misgovernment of President Muhammadu Buhari in all aspect of the governance in Nigeria in the last seven years, civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria(HURIWA), has said.
HURIWA, in a statement on Friday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the power tussle shaking the boat of APC whose leader is said to be the President has shown that the APC government cannot competently run the affairs of the country going forward.
The group pointed out that the President and APC governors run the affairs of the party like headmasters, with no regard for constitutional and legal provisions by the Independent National Electoral Commission, thus the many woes confronting the party.
According to reports, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, said the President ordered the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, to remove Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State as Chairman and replace him with his Niger State counterpart, Abubakar Bello.
But INEC rejected a letter inviting it to an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee of the governing party where Bello’s chairmanship, among other things, is to be ratified.
The commission drew the attention of CECPC to the fact that the letter of invitation was not signed by the National Chairman and National Secretary of the CECPC, Buni and Dr John Akpanudoedehe, respectively.
It said this was contrary to the provision of Article 1.1.3 of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Party Operations (2018).
Also, the APC, due to maladministration is currently battling no fewer than 208 court cases with some of them challenging the leadership of the party in various states and the legitimacy of the caretaker committee appointed by the President at a meeting on June 25, 2020 after the dissolution of the national leadership led by Adams Oshiomhole.
But the party has battled many crises since the Buni committee took over, threatening its March 26 planned convention of the party hurriedly put together in 2017 to oust then President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Commenting on the commotion rocking the APC, HURIWA faulted the appointment of Buni as caretaker chairman in the first instance and the subsequent appointment of Bello, noting that it is illegal for an elected governor to hold a very top position in any political party.
HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “How on earth will a governor who is elected for four years on full time job for a specific state government and governance territory be clothed with the extra judicial executive office of the national chairman of a national political party for years and the Independent National Electoral Commission looks on as if the commission is not to be concerned about the ethical and constitutional wellbeing of political parties given all the constitutional guidelines made on how parties should be administered transparently?
“How on earth are President Muhammadu Buhari and governors behaving like head masters of their political party as against their oaths of office which obliges them to be loyal to the constitution and be 100 per cent dedicated to the mandates that the voters and those who never voted delegated and clothed them with as the legitimate permission to exercise their authorities as governors or President and not to mix these up with party administration?
“The persistent crises rocking the APC and the blatant violation of guidelines governing the affairs of political parties by the APC is condemnable. The party should learn from best practices in the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom.
“These abuses if not rectified within seven working days will be challenged in court by HURIWA so we get the Court to make pronouncements on how political party administration should be for the sake of national security and national health.”
March 11, 2022
Emmanuel Onwubiko
National Coordinator – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA).
