Ex-minister calls Buhari’s consensus initiative ‘dictatorship’
as Buni assures Umahi, Ayade, others of protection
Adebayo Shittu, a former minister of communication from Oyo State, has deplored the consensus option promoted by President Muhammadu Buhari for selecting party officers at the APC convention, concluded on Saturday.
The Cornet reports that President Buhari had impressed on governors, select aspirants, and founders of the party that he preferred that party officers emerge through a consensus arrangements.
He was also said to have anointed Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who eventually became the national chairman of the party. As a result, governors and party leaders then jointly agreed on other candidates to fill various other positions.
In Shittu’s reaction, after he was made to step down for Iyiola Omisore, who was the consensus candidate for the position of National Secretary, he described the process as a “dictatorship”.
“For me, I will see the issue of consensus as an element of oppression against my person, against my rights and against the good people of Nigerians, so the question of stepping down does not arise,” he said.
“People tout the issue of consensus whenever they want to cheat others or engage in dictatorship. Consensus cannot be a compulsory agenda. We claim to be a progressive party, why are we not doing things differently from all other parties?
Meanwhile, the former chairman of the now defunct APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Governor Mai Mala Buni, assured his colleague governors facing defection suits not to panic.
Different courts have recently proclaimed the removal of Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, his deputy Kelechi Igwe, and 16 state lawmakers for defecting from the PDP to the APC.
Similarly, a court declared that 20 lawmakers of the Cross River House of Assembly are to lose their seats while it postponed ruling on that the state Governor Ben Ayade till April 6.
Speaking at the convention, allayed the defectors fear while assuring them they had not broken any law.
“Those whose defections are being challenged in court have nothing to fear. You have nothing to fear, your defections do not contradict any law. It will never be in vain,” he said.
