After some aspirants and delegates hinted that they would not back President Muhammadu Buhari’s consensus wishes at the All Progressives Congress (APC) national convention today, some of the president’s loyalists have vowed to enforce their boss’ plan.
A 35-member committee known as Technical Committee on Monitoring and Supervision and headed by Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, will enforce the president’s wishes, it is believed.
Listed as members of the committee are Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State; the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN); and the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who also represents Buhari’s home state of Katsina in the federal cabinet.
Others in the committee include Buhari’s ally and Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu; the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Sadiyya Farouq; and Buhari’s social media aide, Lauretta Onochie.
An APC source said that the members of the monitoring committee would be the “president’s eyes and ears at the convention.”
“They will monitor those who defy the president’s orders and report accordingly. Some of the members of the committee were the ones that travelled to London two weeks ago to save Mala Buni’s (interim chairman) job. They were with him long before he became the president.”
The president’s insistence on former Nasarawa governor Abdullahi Adamu as his preferred candidate had caused friction among some chieftains of the party, including some chairmanship aspirants.
Buhari had insisted on Adamu while other aspirants were asked to step down with a promise that the money they spent on procuring forms would be returned to them.
The governors were expected to draft a “unity list” for all party positions which would be affirmed at the convention.
