By Gideon Njoku

President Muhammadu Buhari didn’t mention them by name in the letter which he wrote, and personally signed, to call them to order. But anybody who has been following the failed Palace coup in the All Progressives Congress, APC, knew who he was referring to.

In an anti-climax, the threats by, especially, the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, against his Yobe State counterpart, Mai Mala Buni, who doubles as the National Chairman of the APC, came to nought. It was all hot air. A coup badly planned. Badly executed.

The same applies to the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu who, in an unprecedented outing, inelegantly dismissed his colleagues who did not agree with, and or support the coup, as “yahoo-yahoo Governors.

But, guess what? The “yahoo-yahoo Governors” were right. They were on the side of the law. El-Rufai and Akeredolu were wrong.

For days, the APC was embroiled in an embarrassing leadership tussle. A number of the APC Governors planned and executed a coup to topple Buni. They alleged all kinds of things against him, including, but not limited to sabotaging the party and its planned National Convention. While Buni was out of the country, attending to his health in Dubai, they threw him out of office and replaced him with the Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello. They also threw away the National Secretary, Senator James Akpanudoedehe.

On a National Television, El-Rufai flaunted President Muhammadu Buhari’s name. He said Buhari asked them to remove Buni from office. He said Buni will never come back to office as the National Chairman. Nor would Akpanudoedehe. Both are gone he boasted.

Akeredolu in a statement he personally signed, berated his colleagues who did not support the coup. “Yahoo-Yahoo Governors”, he called them.

But both Governors, and their other colleagues, 19 of them El-Rufai said, were in for a shock.

The first sign that their coup had failed came from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The Commission refused to recognise Bello. They ignored the letter he wrote, inviting them to the Party’s National Executive Council meeting. INEC said it recognises only Buni and Akpanudoedehe. While they were still playing the ostrich, an embarrassed Buhari did an about-turn. After a meeting with Buni in London, and having read the handwriting on the wall, he backed Buni. Question is: Did the President not know the implications when, according to El-Rufai, he asked the Governors to sack Buni?

In a letter he wrote to the Chairman of the APC Governor’s Forum which he copied the Director General of the Department for State Services, DSS, and the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Buhari called the Governors to order. He listed  the implications of sacking Buni, and ordered them to return to “status quo ante.”

In an apparent reference to El-Rufai and Akeredolu, Buhari said:

“All members of the Governors Forum and their followers should desist from  any behaviour or utterance that will likely lead to disunity in the ranks of the Party, and ultimately jeopardise the transition to the Convention.”

The implication is that Buni remains in charge, and would organise the Convention which, the President insists, must hold as scheduled on March 26, 2022.

To show that he is now fully in charge, he cancelled the NEC meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 17, 2022. Dismissing the meeting as purported, Akpanudoedehe said it has been cancelled.

Following is the full text of the President’s letter.

“As you are no doubt aware, the All Progressives Congress, APC, is currently facing a litany of controversies and some level of uncertainties that may ultimately question its status and affect the status and feasibility of its proposed National Convention.

“In addition, it has come to my attention that because of  recent events, the APC is faced with a multiplicity of Court cases pending against it in various Courts across the country.

“As a result of this, the party faces the possibility and prospect of the invalidation of all its activities and actions by the INEC.

“Furthermore, the Party has demonstrated its inability to proceed with the issue of effecting change in the Leadership of its Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Committee (CECC) in a way that is inclusive and respectful of the time limit set and required for giving INEC sufficient notice of the time and venue for holding its Convention.

“No doubt, these controversies and uncertainties, as enumerated above, pose a real threat to the Party, and may lead to a possible non-recognition of its activities, elections, and the probable invalidation of all its other actions by INEC. This may ultimately even lead to its implosion and non-existence.

“There is, therefore, an urgent need for the Party to, as much as possible, avoid all controversies, litigation and all other unnecessary distractions and quickly get its act together.

“In view of the foregoing, therefore, I would now direct as follows:

1. a) First the issue of the Leadership of the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee should immediately return to status quo ante.
2. b) Second, all members of the Governors Forum and their followers should desist from any behaviour or utterance that will likely lead to disunity in the ranks of the Party and ultimately jeopardise the transition to the Convention.
3. c) Third, the Mai Mala Buni-led CECC should, accordingly, be allowed to proceed with all necessary preparations to hold the convention as planned- unfailingly on 26th March, 2022.”

Buni is billed to arrive Nigeria, today, March 17,2022.

The magazine gathered that he would head straight to the APC Headquarters where, it is learnt, many of his associates would gather to give him a warm welcome.