Buhari distances self from APC convention crisis

• Okorocha, Oshiomhole meet Buhari on tussle in Imo
• Court to hear suit on Enugu APC congress June 6
• Restrains party from recognising Nwoye, others

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday refuted allegations that he interfered in the affairs of the All Progressives Congress (APC) or matters before the law courts.

Buhari said it is not in his nature to go against the provisions of the country’s constitution let alone his party’s constitutional provisions.

The President’s denial came yesterday amid allegation by aggrieved members of new People’s Democratic Party (nPDP) in the APC that some names of members of the APC convention planning sub-committees were smuggled in by the Presidency.

But in a statement signed by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, yesterday, the Presidency stated that nothing in the allegation could be the truth in every material particular.

It described as disingenuous to attribute every perceived infraction in activities of party or government appointees to the President’s desk.

“It ought to have been obvious by now to ­discerning Nigerians that it is not in t­he nature of this President to go agains­t the provisions of the country’s consti­tution let alone his party’s constitutio­nal provisions,” the Presidency noted.

In another vein, President Buhari has met behind closed doors with Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha and former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Okorocha’s meeting with the President, which lasted for about an hour, came few days after he met the president in his country home, Daura, Katsina State, where he complained about the conduct of the ward congresses of the APC in Imo State.

Okorocha, who was accompanied by Oshiomhole, declined comment on the outcome of his meeting with the President.

In another development, a Federal High Court, Enugu, has granted an ex-parte order restraining the APC from recognising Dr. Ben Nwoye as chairman of the party based on the outcome of last Saturday’s state congress.

The court presided by Justice A.M. Liman, asked the party and its National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun to refrain from acting on the outcome of last week’s party congress which is yet to come to force, pending the hearing of the substantive suit fixed for June 6.

He further ordered the maintenance of status quo pending the hearing.

One of the chairmanship candidates, Deacon Okey Ogbodo and two others had prayed the court for an order restraining Nwoye and other members of the state executive from parading themselves in their capacity.