Apparently poised to assuage aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the composition of the party’s presidential campaign council, the party’s standard bearer, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni, as special adviser on party integration and reconciliation for the campaign team.
Buni’s appointment is coming one week after secretary of the presidential campaign council, James Faleke, released a list of 422-member council, with President Muhamadu Buhari as chairman; Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate and Abdullahi Adamu, the national chairman of the party, as deputy chairmen, as well as Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong, as director-general.
The list was however greeted with media reports suggesting that the governors under the party’s platform rejected it on grounds that the presidential candidate and the party ignored their nominations and replaced them with others from their respective states.
LEADERSHIP Sunday learnt that Buni who was chairman of the APC caretaker committee of the APC from June 2020 to June 2022 was engaged by Tinubu following the success he recorded in reconciling members of the party after the ouster of the Adams Oshiomhole-led national working committee.
Tinubu, in the letter, said Buni’s appointment is fitting given his achievements as governor of Yobe.
The presidential candidate stated: “By way of this letter, we are pleased to formally convey your appointment as the Adviser on Party Integration & Reconciliation of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council,” the letter reads.
“This appointment is fitting and appropriate given your impressive political achievement and the exemplary leadership you have demonstrated as governor of your state and as a party member.
“We are grateful that you have joined our campaign team. We know you will do your utmost in this new responsibility so we conduct an effective, message-driven campaign leading us to victory in the 2023 presidential election.
“Together, not only can we ensure victory for our party in the February 2023 election, but we shall also move Nigeria along the path of national greatness by building on the achievements of our party and the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in providing progressive good governance to Nigerians.”
But a source close to the APC campaign team told our correspondent last night that Tinubu decided “to bring in Buni following the protest that trailed the list of the 422-member campaign council released penultimate Friday.
“The idea, no doubt, is to tap from Buni’s wealth of experience in reconciliation which he deployed in stabilizing the party after the crisis that trailed the ouster of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the party’s congresses across the states,” the source who did not want his name in print added.
