More Trouble For APC As INEC Denies Receiving Buni’s Handover Letter To Gov Bello

The quest by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to cover up its gaffes has suffered a setback as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it had not received communication from the party’s chairman, Mai Mala Buni handing over to the Niger State governor, Abubakar Sani Bello.

Bello had on Monday taken over the party’s affairs following President Muhammadu Buhari’s alleged order to sack of Buni, who had been piloting the affairs of the party since June 2020 when the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) was sacked.

On Wednesday, Bello wrote the INEC in his capacity as the acting national chairman of the APC’s Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), inviting it to the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting scheduled for next week Thursday via zoom.

Swiftly, the commission replied the ruling party, saying it was not aware of leadership change and that only the duo of Buni and the secretary of the CECPC, Sen John James Akpanudoedehe, could relate to the commission on behalf of the party.

The commission, via a letter dated March 9, signed by the secretary, Mrs Rose Oriaran-Anthony, advised the ruling party to follow due process.

According to Daily Trust Saturday, the development worsened the confusion in the ruling party, and to address the situation, top shots of the party came up with the idea of the handover letter allegedly written by Buni.

The letter, it was gathered, was written in the office of one of the key functionaries of the government on Wednesday.

Dated February 28, the letter went viral on Thursday, March 10, a day after the INEC queried Bello’s communication to it.

In the letter, Buni allegedly directed Governor Bello to act in his absence as the chairman of the CECPC because he would be away for a medical trip to Dubai.

The letter was purportedly copied the INEC and all members of the CECPC. However, Governor Bello denied receiving any letter from the embattled Governor Buni.

INEC’s national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Festus Okoye, said, “We did not receive any formal letter from the National Chairman of APC transferring power or duties.

“All registered political parties are obligated to comply with the provisions of the constitution, the Electoral Act and the Regulations and Guidelines of the Commission.

“We asked the Party to note the issues raised in our letter for compliance.”

He told Daily Trust Saturday that registered political parties have a known and formal way they communicate to the commission.

According to him, Article 1.1.3 of INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Political Party Operations (2018) provides that “the national chairman and national secretary of the party shall sign the notice of meetings, conventions or congresses and submit same to the commission”.

Okoye said the commission had in its docket, the specimen signatures of national chairmen and secretaries of all the registered political parties in Nigeria.

“The letter referenced was not signed by those whose signatures are domiciled in the commission.

“Political parties are constitutionally and legally obligated to inform the commission of any change in their leadership in accordance with the law and the constitution.

“Furthermore, any political party that wants to effect alterations or change in its governance structure in any meeting, congress or convention must give the commission 21 days’ notice of its intention to effect such a change,” he said.