Speaking at the APC Caretakers Committee Executive meeting last Friday at the State House which has since its first inauguration on June 25, 2020 become APC new secretariat, President Buhari reminded Nigerians of “the crisis that engulfed the APC, leading to litigations and presented a picture of selfishness and division,’’ adding “We want to leave behind a legacy of transparency and fairness, which the party needs to survive.’’
Predictably, the president whose style is “delegation by abdication” refused to take responsibility for what to most perceptive minds, was more of the “hand of Esau Voice of David” to reposition his cronies in APC. He also expressed no remorse for sacrificing Oshiomhole who was booed and stoned in Abeokuta, hated and despised in other places where he had stepped on toes in pursuit of Buhari’s 2019 victory, just the same way he pretended those on whose back he rode to power in 2015 did not exist after his victory.
The caretaker committee, inaugurated in Aso Rock after the illegal dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC), had had its tenure extended twice for six months each and now indefinitely. Ironically, Buhari as a ‘hard sell” presidential candidate took little interest in APC in the run up to 2015 election or even after his victory. He had to reach out to the rejected corner stone for the 2019 election with giant-killer Oshiomhoile helping him to chase Saraki out of APC, tamed empire and fiefdom builders in Abeokuta and Imo State and put an end to PDP’s 60 years illusion of uninterrupted reign.
However, in a smart move to reposition his cronies in APC, the president who has always distanced himself from politicians, took over the party whose secretariat he relocated to Aso Rock Villa where he had presided over two extensions and now with an indefinite extension, his cronies have time to consolidate their hold on APC. And if anyone doubts APC is now Buhari’s APC, it is perhaps such a person missed Mai Mala Buni’s opening speech where he said he hopes the committee report would meet the expectation of President Buhari.
By Jide Oluwajuyitan
The Nation
