APC: Time to choose an adroit leader

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, our party, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will have a new national chairman in June this year, if not earlier. And typical of the trend in contemporary politicking in Nigeria, some party members, comprising the good, the bad and the ugly have started jockeying for this post.

Notable among these early campaigners are former governor of my state, Nasarawa, and now senator representing Nasarawa South, Alhaji Umaru Tanko Al-Makura; former Zamfara State governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari; a former Borno State governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff; former governor of Gombe State who now represents Gombe Central in the Senate, Senator Danjuma Goje, and former Benue State governor, Mr. George Akume.

As party men, it is clearly within their inalienable rights to vie for any leadership position in the party. But while they are eligible to contest for the coveted office of national chairman of the APC, it is pertinent for loyal party members like us to caution eminent leaders of the party against making another wrong choice this time around.

Like it happened after the emergence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the nation’s political scene in 1999, the hope of millions of Nigerians was rekindled in 2015 by the prospects of a great march towards the growth and development of Nigeria. This was particularly so following the emergence of a vivacious APC, which had shown great promise.

Our rapturous 2014/2015 campaign slogan-“APC: Change”endeared virtually every heart across the country, including some dyed in the wool PDP members. The flicker of hope in our party’s great potential was further accentuated by the emergence of a government, at the national level, led by Muhammadu Buhari, who, for many, symbolised the “change mantra” in our sloganeering.

Prior to the APC’s sweet victory of 2015, festering corruption had dealt devastating blow to the reputation of Nigeria. Nigerians have been viewed, rightly and wrongly, with a lot of suspicion worldwide. That unenviable global standing of our nation was compounded by a ravaging insurgency which had almost put the country on the path of religious war. These were further worsened by numerous other challenges such as kidnappings, persistent power and fuel shortages, illegal oil bunkering, etc. It was amid that gloom that the Buhari government arrived at the scene.

Notwithstanding his dark military background, Buhari himself impressed millions of fellow citizens by his ascetic life and principled anticorruption stance. This was bolstered by his remarkable inaugural speech in which he pledged a radical break from the past, and a viable and progressive country under his stewardship.

We can’t say it’s Uhuru yet! But the administration has been doing its best. Its gigantic infrastructure projects like the extraordinary moves to break the Lagos-Ibadan road project jinx, the Abuja-KadunaKano road rehabilitation project, the ongoing railway modernization projects all across Nigeria, and many more are quite dear to the hearts of millions of citizens.

However I, like many other party members at the lowest rung of the social ladder, frankly believe that the current national government and the governments at the 2nd tier (the states) would have achieved much more, if we had a robust and dynamic party leadership. The APC, regrettably, has not lived up to the high expectations of Nigerians. The party’s poor participation and contributions to governance at both the federal and state levels contributed immeasurably to the current level of instability in our polity. And invariably, this played a role in the noticeable lack of peace and unity countrywide.

No doubt, Baba Bisi Akande did his best for the APC as its interim leader at its formative period. But as a loyal party man, I cannot say the same about the stewardship of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who though relatively experienced in politics, appeared to have been overwhelmed by the blithe and selfish tendencies of some of our state governors. Again, this happened largely because Chief Oyegun himself did not appear to be firm and decisive.

The worse shenanigans were however to be seen in the APC after the emergence of the succeeding leadership. Though they served for a fairly long period, they suddenly melted into the maze of what can best be described as politricks. His tenure was characterized by street brawls amongst party members, and frequent quarrels between him and either governors or other party stakeholders. Recall that at some point the APC lost in Rivers State; lost Zamfara State; lost Adamawa State; lost Bauchi State, and equally lost Imo State (until a Supreme Court verdict returned Imo to us), largely due to silly disagreements within the party.

It is a truism that most of these, and many other losses were recorded because of the leadership’s lack of grips with party politicking.

And herein lies the current challenge to us: select another neophyte simply because he had served two terms as governor, and we throw our party, and by implication the entire nation, on the path to perdition.

We frankly need a dexterous politician, one who has probably “seen it all”, who is well-schooled in the game of politics in Nigeria. The APC requires a mature political actor who actively participated in the rambunctious politics of our country, perhaps in the second, third, and now the fourth republics. It most certainly requires one that is not just an apparatchik, but has also seen the various walls of governance such as been a governor, a senator, etc, so that he can neither be cajoled nor intimidated into taking wrong decisions at any point in the life of the party.

The APC surely needs a loyal member that can weather the stormy waters of our politics, especially now that Buhari’s tenure is coming to an end, and the sing-song even among some party members is that once President Buhari, who currently appears to be the only rallying point, leaves the stage, the party could go down with him. This pathway will be most unfortunate, and must be avoided through the choice of an adroit national chairman.

Danladi Dunhu resides Lokogoma District of Abuja.

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