APC CECPC Chairmanship: Buhari Behind Bello’s Take Over, Says El-Rufai

• Has support of 19 APC govs
• President picked Nat’l Chair from N’Central,
• Demands reconstitution of c’ttees, says March 26 convention date sacrosanct

Governor Nasir el- Rufai of Kaduna State has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari and 19 governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are in support of the Governor Sani Bello-led Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

Speaking on Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, yesterday, El-Rufai said the president ordered the governors to ensure that Bello takes over the leadership of the party and ensure the conduct of the National Convention.

The governor said there were only four state governors that supported Governor Mai Mala Buni’s continued stay in office as CECPC Chairman, adding that the majority of the governors had to act to save the March 26 date for the party’s convention.

El-Rufai said: “The president said Governor Sani Bello must take over and we should do whatever is legally necessary to make sure that this convention is delivered.

“It was the president’s order to us the governors to make sure that Governor Bello takes over the leadership of the party, reconstitute all the committees for the convention and ensure that the 26th of March date is sacrosanct.

“He has the president’s full backing and the backing of at least 19 of the 23 APC governors and deputy governors. There are some governors that are not fully on board and they are the ones writing fake stories flying on the social media but what I’m telling you is the fact and this is the situation.”

According to the governor, President Buhari was prevailed upon to pick a preferred candidate for the National Chairmanship, adding that he will still consult with North-Central governors to get their buy-in and support of the candidate.

While alleging that there are fifth columnists in the party working to subvert the convention, he said: “We are hearing that there is a court order and we now found out that there is one. The court order was obtained in November when a member of the party went to court to say there will be no convention until his case against the party is disposed of, which can take months or years. “And the lawyer of the party and the lawyers of Mai Mala Buni went to court and agreed with the petitioner and gave this order.

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“Nobody know about the order because it was never brought before the technical committee and it was hiding like a hiding nuclear weapon to destroy the convention, which for ward made us believe that there are fifth columnists in the party working to bring this party down because if we do not have an elected executive committee of the party and we go ahead to have primaries, we are likely to have our candidates lose all their seats as we saw in Zamfara State.”

(Report, excluding headline: New Telegraph)