By Ayodele Ifasakin
•APC faces ‘legal ditch’ over Supreme Court ruling in Ondo, legality of Buni’s leadership called to question
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| APC, PDP, Logos |
•PDP in crisis of confidence, plagued by defections, resignations
For the two main political parties in the country – the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – the road to 2023 appears inauspicious. Both parties are not only bogged down by leadership crises, but they are also plagued by seemingly intractable survival battles. Strangely, since the APC was coupled together on February 6 , 2013, by the different tendencies that came together, it has never been able to form a Board of Trustees.
The ruling party is today facing stringent legal complications, which have thrown its leadership into confusion since last weekend, after a Supreme Court judgement in the Ondo State governorship election sounded the alarm. PDP, too, is not only contending with a crisis of confidence but it is also desperately afflicted by a spree of defections by governors, and lawmakers elected on its platform, which has been compounded by yesterday’s resignations of top ranking party officials.
The reality of the delicate state of things in APC did not dawn on majority of members until the Supreme Court judgement in the Ondo State governorship election petition. The judgement suggested that the party would have lost the state to PDP had the opposition party’s governorship candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, joined APC’s National Caretaker Committee Chairman and Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, in the suit. .
The technicality of the case had split the seven-man Supreme Court panel to a four-three majority decision, with the minority judgement led by Justice Mary Odili, arguing that the apex court should have sacked Governor Rotimi Akeredolu since Buni acted on behalf of the party. But the majority judgement delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim contended that since all the issues revolved around Buni, he should have been joined for the argument to be valid.
The crux of the debate followed the position held by some members of the party that as governor of Yobe State, an executive position, Buni could not at the same time act as the APC chairman, another executive office. They alleged that Buni contravened both Section 183 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 17 (iv) of the APC constitution.
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