Mai Mala Buni, the under-pressure Chairman of the APC’s Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, has received a vote of confidence from state lawmakers in the country’s North Central zone.
The legislators also endorsed Yahaya Bello, the governor of Kogi State, as their presidential candidate in 2023.
The lawmakers defended their support by stating that Bello was the only individual from the zone who expressed interest in the role, praising him as bold.
These developments occurred during a one-day extraordinary meeting of the APC States Legislatures from the six states of the North Central Zone, which took place in Abuja on Thursday.
According to a statement made available to InsightnaijaTV, the parliamentarians made the two announcements with a unanimous yes.
They urged Bello to pursue his ambition, saying he was the only one who could unite the zone “in order for it to be counted in the country’s power equation.”
Buni’s supporters emphasized that the Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee required the assistance and cooperation of all faithful parties in order to reposition the party for greater performance and success in the 2023 elections.
Mr Ahmed Marafa, the immediate past Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, convened the unusual meeting to debate the zone’s political destiny in relation to what he referred to as the country’s power balance.
Marafa urged members from the zone’s six states to see why all well-intentioned men and women should band together and fight for a fair share for the zone.
Also speaking, Mr Matthew Kolawole, Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, praised the lawmakers for their quick response to the meeting, noting that it would go a long way to show their genuine efforts to look after the welfare of their people. Mr Matthew Kolawole, whose governor received the endorsement and was quoted as having initiated the meeting over a year ago, praised the lawmakers for their quick response to the meeting, noting that it would go a long way to show their genuine efforts to look
Despite the region’s human riches, he noted, the zone has been marginalized and disregarded in the country’s democratically chosen leadership map since 1960.
Kolawole believes it is past time for everyone, regardless of political background, to rise up and join hands to push for a north-central president in 2023.
The legislators issued a statement at the end of their one-day roundtable, urging all party loyalists at all levels to give Buni their support and cooperation so that he can finish the wonderful work that has brought many people into the party since he took office.
They also urged all North-Central leaders to continue pursuing the North-Central presidency regardless of their personal ambitions, arguing that the number one position in the country would be more beneficial to the zone and the country as a whole.
Buni’s vote of confidence would be perceived as a masterstroke at a time when the governors of the ruling APC are divided, with many opposing his continued appointment as interim chairman of the party.
They claim that crises in the states and at the national level could undermine the APC’s ambition to stay in power, while Buni is accused of conducting a one-man show.
Bello, on the other hand, is in his second term as governor and has been repeatedly accused of bad leadership, with little to show for it.
