Mai Mala Buni
By Praise Agbro, Lagos
Efforts by the National Reconciliation Committee set up by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress to resolve the internal crisis in some state chapters of the party may have suffered a setback in some states, Sunday PUNCH has learnt.
In some of the states visited by the committee, led by a former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, findings showed that the crisis in the party was far from over.
It is believed that the prolonged crisis in the state chapters of the party prevented the party from holding its national convention. Since June 2020 when the committee, led by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, was inaugurated, the convention has been postponed several times.
At the ward, local government and state congresses of the party held previously, parallel leadership emerged in many states, prompting the setting up of the committee.
In Osun, Oyetola and Aregbesola groups are fighting.
In Kwara State, it was gathered that the committee met with the two factions: one led by the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed; and the other led by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, in separate meetings in Ilorin, the state capital, on Monday.
Adamu had assured the factions of fair hearing and that it would try its best to reconcile the parties.
The Publicity Secretary of the faction loyal to the governor, Alhaji Folaranmi Aro, who confirmed that the committee met the group, said the prominent members of the opposing group in the party including the two ministers; Lai Mohammed and Ms Gbemisola Saraki, as well as Bashir Bolarinwa, the suspended chairman of the APC Caretaker Committee in the state, were not present at the meeting.
Meanwhile, soon after the committee left the state, the faction loyal to the Information and Culture minister accused the chairman of the reconciliation committee of bias, saying he should do justice to the issues without fear or favour in the overall interest of the party.
In a statement jointly signed by the state secretary of the faction, Alhaji Isiaka Agboji, and the publicity secretary, Mr Ibrahim Sharafdeen, the faction said Adamu’s body language and conduct were at variance with the stated objectives of the committee.
They said Adamu’s comment that he would not accept anything that could discredit the administration of the APC-led administration in the state was a “prejudicial remark from a man expected to be neutral in view of the volatile nature of his assignment.”
Their statement added, “We view such a belligerent tone as a prelude to what should be expected as the outcome of his input to the committee’s report. It is our belief that anyone who uses reason to escape history will end up repeating history.
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