The National Legal Adviser to the All Progressives Congress, Mr Muiz Banire (SAN), has denied reports that he has fallen out of favour with the national leader of the party, Mr Bola Tinubu.
Mr Banire has also criticised those seeking his expulsion from the APC, describing them as political jobbers who know nothing about the party’s constitution.
He disclosed this during a phone interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today after shunning a disciplinary committee set up by his constituency to investigate allegations of anti-party activities levelled against him.
“As I am talking to you, no disciplinary committee has been put in place by any legitimate group. Of course, it is a continuous show of shame by those people that claim to be party members but unfortunately they do not even know the colour of the constitution of the APC talk much less the content,” he said.
“They lack the capacity in the first instance to even summon me, assuming that they are members of the APC. If you have seen the publication today by the authentic members of the APC in Mushin Local Government, you will see that these are strangers, these are political jobbers that are put together for a purpose.
“Unfortunately, they are just wasting the people’s resources in this regard. This is not the first one; they have just recently failed in compromising the national leaders of the party.”
Members of Mr Banire’s constituency have held protests, calling for his expulsion from the party, but he attributed this to his insistence on transparency in the party and his opposition to impunity.
Asked if his travails had anything to do with falling out of favour with Mr Tinubu, he said, “I have no problem whatsoever – I have not fallen out with anybody much less Asiwaju (Tinubu) particularly. As far as I am concerned, Asiwaju is our leader; I have no issue with him.
“Those people who certainly are not for the rule of law can never be my friends. I am for the rule of law. It is as simple as that.”
There have been several twists to the controversy surrounding Mr Banire. One of these twists was the emergence of reports that he had been suspended from the party, a development which prompted the national leadership APC to issue a statement late July rubbishing the reports.
Although the efforts to get Mr Banire sanctioned or expelled from the party have continued, he appears unfazed.
“I tell you for free. If you are conversant with the APC’s constitution, which I can even oblige you. You cannot even expel anybody, not even the national body can expel a member of the party,” he said.
“It is only the national convention that can legally even expel anybody. That further confirms to you that these (those calling for his expulsion) are strangers to the party.”
