By Emmanuel Ogbeche
On March 4, 2020, I had cause to reflect on the fall of Adams Oshiomhole as the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in an article titled; For Oshiomhole, Nunc dimittis?
In that piece, I made the point that “Oshiomhole’s troubles can be situated in his unending bloviate nature and now has become his hubris. Seeing himself as an emperor of sorts, the embattled National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, font of provocatively bad opinions was unyielding and unceasing.”
With the drama playing out at the APC with the removal of Governor Mai Mala Buni as the Chairman of the Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee and in his stead his brother governor, Abubakar Bello of Niger state, Spanish philosopher George Santayana’ aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” comes to mind.
Buni like Oshiomhole became oblivious that he is an elected governor and just an interim national chairman of the ruling party. Rather than execute his mandate within the first six months, Buni gravitated from one controversy to the other even when it was needless and sought for endless tenure extension.
He became an emperor and dispensed favour as he deemed fit, while he out boxed those he considered his traducers. Now the chickens have come home to roost. Having become a pain in the neck of the APC, Buni since last Sunday, March 7, 2022 could not sleep as he was swept off his princely seat at the APC headquarters.
Like in all things ephemeral, nine members of his committee have switched allegiance to the new sheriff at the headquarters.
While he ran the show in Abuja, and gallivanted from one state to the other to welcome decampees, it was alleged that governance took a distant seat in Yobe state.
Perhaps, now that the lure of the APC National Chairmanship is no longer his to keep and use, one only hopes that Buni will find it expedient to go back to the job he was elected for and use the less than two years of his time in office to make amends and serve his people diligently.
Buni’s ouster at the apogee of his powers and rumoured scheming to ascend to Aso Rock as vice should serve as study for politicians, that is if they are ever willing in taking history lessons from the rise and fall of party chairmen.
• Ogbeche is Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja chapter.