RECENT crises in All Progressives Congress, APC; the Presidency; many of its agencies, and exposures that led to ongoing probe of the top echelon of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, are traceable to permutations for the 2023 presidency, a top administration official confided in Vanguard, last night.
The official, who presides over a strategic arm of the government, said the dissolution of the APC National Working Committee, NWC, and the sack of key officials believed to be working with a top leader of the party, was informed by the revelation that they had planned to hijack power from the Presidency and render President Muhammadu Buhari irrelevant upon leaving office.
The opposition within the APC is said to have created parallel party structures across the states of the federation and actively fuelled the crises, which engulfed the party with a view to strengthening its position ahead of 2023.
“All they were planning with the chairman of the dissolved NWC was to give the arrowhead of the crisis and presidential aspirant from the South-West an undue edge over others and render our leader, President Buhari, irrelevant in a party that he leads,’’ the official said.
It was also alleged that the forces in the APC NWC led by the South-West top shot were planning to recruit the suspended EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, to screen out their perceived enemies so as to give him the opportunity to emerge as presidential candidate of the party.
Said the official: “It was based on this discovery that President Buhari directed the Attorney-General of the Federation to come up with a way out of the crisis, propose a strategy to end the feud, and create a level-playing field for all who would be interested in the 2023 presidency.
“Unfortunately, it was when the advice had been given by Abubakar Malami that the NWC be dissolved and an emergency National Executive Committee, NEC, of APC be held to assuage the ill-feelings within the party’s fold that the Ibrahim Magu trouble crept in and almost swallowed everyone.
“But what I can assure you is that the Presidency is solidly behind Malami in this situation because he knows that the minister has done the right thing even though nobody knows how he would resolve the Magu probe.
“The truth of the matter is that the forces are against Malami because they believe that as one of the closest persons to Buhari, he advised him to move against them and recognise the Victor Giadom controversial leadership, which is pro-Rotimi Amaechi that the South-West top shot does not want to align with in any political discussion.’’
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Source: www.vanguardngr.com
