Gombe APC crisis defies solution, as party gets c’taker chair
The emergence of a new political group in the Gombe State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has shown that the lingering crisis rocking the party since it lost the gubernatorial election to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015 has not been resolved.
The APC crisis in Gombe started during the party’s primary poll to elect the flag bearer for the 2015 governorship election.
The outcome of the election divided the two key party leaders in the state; a former governor, now senator, Muhammad Danjuma Goje, and Senator Usman Bayero Nafada, who was a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. The two leaders joined the APC from the “new PDP”.
As the party moves to unite the two leaders, the formation of a new group which membership emerged from the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) has brought into the light the ideological differences between members of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the CPC, the three legacy parties that merged to form the APC.
After the merger in 2014, the interim chairmen of the legacy parties steered the affairs of the APC. But shortly after the members of the ‘new PDP’ entered the party, Senator Goje and his followers allegedly hijacked the party from members of the legacy parties.
After the election was conducted for the executive committee of the party, the members of the ‘new PDP’ swept all the key positions, including that of the chairman, deputy chairman, secretary and legal adviser.
Among the members of the legacy parties, only the defunct ACN managed to get the positions of treasurer and vice-chairman, south.
Though the scenario didn’t go down well with the members of the legacy parties, Daily Trust on Sunday learnt they decided not to complain, hoping to benefit from other political seats available during the incoming primaries in preparation for the 2015 general elections.
However, members of the ‘new PDP’ swept all the nominations for all the contested seats both at the state and federal level. They got the governorship candidate, three senatorial seats, leaving only one out of the six House of Representatives seats to a member of the legacy parties.
A serving member of the House of Representatives from the CPC, Alhaji Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, could not get a return ticket to the House. He was replaced with another ‘new PDP’ member, Alhaji Yaya Bauchi, who subsequently won and was sworn-in to represent people of Gombe, Kwami and Funakaye Federal Constituency.
However, not long after the APC candidate was defeated by the incumbent PDP governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, who is now into his second term in office, the party was enmeshed in crisis for over 18 months. The Magaji Doho’s faction and some party officials relocated to Gombe Local Government area office, while the Karu Ishaya’s faction retained the state secretariat with each faction claiming to be the authentic body recognised by the national secretariat of the party.
Worried by the crisis rocking the party in Gombe, and the failure of the zonal officials to broker peace among the aggrieved members, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC, announced the dissolution of the factions and constituted a caretaker committee, under the leadership of the Alhaji Lawan Shettima.
A statement issued by the National Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni, said that the party waded into the matter to reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable differences among the top hierarchy, which led to the factionalisation of the party in the state.
“The NWC of our party, in exercise of its power contained in Article 13.4 (xvi & xvii) of the party’s constitution, resolves to accept the resignation of Mr Karu Ishaya and Mr Sallau Manu Pindiga, as state deputy chairman and state secretary respectively, and relieved Barrister Muhammed Magaji Doho and Barrister Dauda Manu, as state chairman and state legal adviser respectively,” the statement said.
The statement added that the NWC approved the composition of caretaker committee under the leadership of Alhaji Lawan Shettima as state chairman, Captain Bala Jibrin, deputy chairman, Alhaji Sule Yakubu, secretary and Barrister Joseph William, legal adviser.
Before the caretaker committee could reach Gombe to start the reconciliation process and conduct a mini congress to fill the vacant positions in the executive committee, a ‘stakeholder’s forum, comprising mostly members loyal to the Doho camp, convened a press conference, asking the NWC of the party to reinstate Doho and Barrister Manu as chairman and legal adviser of the party respectively.
Addressing a press conference, the chairman of the forum, Mr. Yakubu James Laubakta, said the NWC failed to follow constitutional process in its decision to sack Doho and the state legal adviser, Mr. Dauda Manu. He said following a consultation with party members both in Gombe and Abuja, they resolved that the sacking of Doho was not the best political or constitutional solution to the Gombe APC crisis, which could best be solved by the party members themselves. Mr. Laubakta said the NWC did not give the duo of Barrister Doho and Mr Manu a fair hearing before they were relieved of their positions.
The forum, therefore, called on the NWC to convert the caretaker committee constituted by the national headquarters of the party to an electoral body to conduct elections into the vacant positions of the state deputy chairman and state secretary, which were willingly vacated by Mr. Ishaya Karu and Alhaji Sallau Manu Pindiga.
The crisis among the members of the legacy parties has affected the growth of the APC in the state, jeopardising the chances of its members from getting any appointments from the federal government, like other states, where the APC candidates who lost governorship polls, were compensated with appointments at the federal level.
Political pundits from the state are of the view that the nomination of Alhaji Sulaiman Hassan, a former state chairman of the defunct CPC for ambassadorial appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari triggers the launch of the new group, “the Adalci group” by others to get attention from the president, who was the leader of the defunct CPC.
The chairman of the group, a former member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, who addressed a press conference in Gombe last Monday, said the group was formed to strengthen their support for the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and resolve the crisis rocking the state chapter of the APC.
Mailantarki appealed to the caretaker committee constituted by the APC NWC to ensure justice, fairness and democratic process during the election to fill the vacant positions of state chairman, deputy chairman, secretary and legal adviser.
“Considering the uncertainty of the party leadership in the state in terms of loyalty and support to President Buhari and fear of betrayal, there is need for us as defunct CPC members to resist and denounce the party leaders at the state level who are jeopardizing the effort and policies of his administration,” he also said.
Shedding more light on the Adalci group, a member of the group and secretary of the stakeholders forum, Barrister Abdulganiyyu Bello, said the group was formed to fight for the interest of defunct CPC members who were sidelined by the new PDP members.
“The Adalci group is believed to have started in Adamawa State to mainly fight for the interest of defunct members of the legacy parties, especially the CPC, who felt shortchanged and sidelined in the state and national level,” Bello said.
Our correspondent gathered that the state caretaker committee chairman, Alhaji Lawal Shettima, appointed by the NWC to resolve the crisis, was said to have been appointed as a commissioner in Yobe State. And at the time of filing this report nobody was appointed to replace him.
For now, only time will reveal when the logjam in the Gombe state chapter of the APC will be tackled head-on.