There Was a Party: Who Has Jazzed APC
Fellow Nigerians, let me state once again that I have never been a member of Nigeria’s ruling party, APC, but I was almost a fanatical supporter of its Presidential flagbearer, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, in the 2015 Presidential election. The reason was simple. We were mostly tired of PDP after wasting loads of opportunities in 16 years. Even hardened members of that Party would readily admit to their myriads of gaffes, faux pas, misfortune and misadventure which seemed uncontrollable over those unfortunate years, particularly in the last days of the Jonathan administration. Despite our strident pleas for sanity to prevail, the party pressed on with its crass arrogance that it can rule with impunity for eternity. For that reason, we desperately craved a change and the amalgamation, or cocktail, of political parties called APC was forged in that season of the rape of Nigerian people. With PDP’s unrelenting assault on the people despite the that there were esoteric powers that exist with emergence of the mega political party called or without our knowledge. In order not to APC, that party became too attractive to ignore sound crude, we came up with the term jazz. or resist and Nigerians openly welcomed It is difficult to know where it originated from. the Party and its charismatic leader, General “You have been jazzed” was a popular cliché Muhammadu Buhari, as their saviour. on campus. It was a way of telling you things
The choice of Buhari was both divine and were not normal with you or there is more than coincidental. Many of those who had opposed meets the eye in your matter. Some powerful and rejected him as an untouchable entity for enemies are on your case! various reasons which are now well known were The matter of APC thus looks extraordinary. forced to embrace him on his fourth attempt It is difficult not to imagine that APC has been at seeking the Holy Grail of the Nigerian jazzed, hypnotised, mesmerised or spellbound by Presidency. Our theory was rather simple or some powerful, possibly extra-terrestrial forces too over-simplistic: the enemy of your enemy and influences, walahi. They have apparently is your friend. At any rate, Buhari won and learnt no lessons whatsoever from our very the rest is history. recent history and the crisis that rocked PDP
The meat of the story is that the APC that and brought it catastrophically to its knees took over from PDP under four years ago and and paved the way for Buhari to become what was envisaged by most Nigerians to be President and the party to gain ascendancy at the beginning of unity of progressive forces has the centre. The current situation of APC appears suddenly become the nightmare prospect of abysmally worse than that of PDP pre-2015, a party in disarray and almost in tatters. It is when some influential leaders of PDP left the unbelievable that a party that came into power party and teamed up with others to form APC with so much promise and uncommon goodwill and then proceeded to work assiduously to has virtually frittered away its humongous change government. I can’t remember PDP equity. It has become very tempting to see breaking up to as many warring groups as APC as a victim of hypnotism and jazz, a there are in APC today. It is unthinkable that truly Nigerian phenomenon that besets some a ruling party facing major elections in barely good ventures and deeds. In case you are not three months from now would engage in this familiar with those terms in the Nigerian context, stultifying war of attrition. This is why many let me explain what I mean in a jiffy. I don’t have come to the conclusion that some juju know how much of superstitions still exist men and fetish women are working hard on in our world today, but I think it is still big bringing the APC government down at the enough to affect the way we live, in Africa in polls next year. general, and Nigeria in particular. Everything Whenever the APC hardliners get some bad is attributed to evil machinations of the sober moment for reflection, they should please enemies and the devil. It’s so bad that if you consider the following. It is doubtful if the APC have headache, your wicked enemies are said has gained new members substantially since it to be squarely responsible. To put it bluntly, came to power in 2015. As a matter of fact, it someone must have used juju on you. Juju is seems the party has lost control in many States supposed to be a kind of talismanic weapon of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I have never capable of having devastating effect on the seen members of a political party descend so victim. Almost everyone believes in the efficacy viciously and violently against its party Chairman of juju, including those who pretend to be like they have done, and doing, to my former holier than the Pope. That is why we hear of Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who a lot of Islamic and Christian leaders paying was only recently overwhelmingly supported, nocturnal visits to the haunts inhabited by by the Governors of APC, as Party Chairman. alleged practitioners of the dark and arcane No sooner than he took power than the bubbles art of Juju. Many tend to hate the concept of began to burst. At the point Comrade came on juju or traditional medicine, but deep down, board, it was as if the former Chairman, Chief they still feel it works wonders. John Odigie Oyegun was the arch-enemy of
In our days as pioneer JAMBITES at the the party he had helped nurture from infancy. then University of Ife, from 1978, we decided Oshiomhole was the much needed angel of to funkify the concept of juju or “oogun mercy and life-saver. abenugongo.” As a student of Yoruba language Uncle Adams settled in quickly, but not before and literature, we studied the cultural aspect he had fired darts at those he considered internal of Yoruba in-depth and came to the conclusion saboteurs. He embarked on a reconciliation
THISDAY Newspapers Limited. process of party chieftains, an exercise at which the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had only just recently appeared to have failed woefully. Even Comrade Adams was unable to bring any camaraderie to the process and his undoubted efforts were not enough to stop party chieftains in the Senate, House of Representatives and Governors of some states from making a wholesale departure from the party that had suddenly become afflicted with the plague of carpet-crossing and defection. Whilst we thought that the party would quickly heal its near mortal wounds and come together in a show of unity we were to have our hopes dashed as very quickly the messianic party seemed to unravel like a ball of wool.
The crux of the matter was the party primaries which has led almost to a fatal implosion in the party. No zone appears to have been spared in this folly apart from the North Central zone of the country.
Perhaps the State that best demonstrates the massive problems facing the party in terms of a total lack of cohesion is Adamawa State, in the North East of the country, where the Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari sought to install her younger brother, Mahmood Halidu, as the Governorship candidate of the Party for the State. She lamented the lack of transparency and deceny in the conduct of the party primaries which had been manipulated to give automatic tickets to anointed candidates despite the fact that other candidates had been encouraged to purchase nomination forms at exorbitant prices. She declared that this was not in consonance with the party’s change mantra or the perception of the new national chairman of the party, comrade Adams, who should have stood for the common man and fairness. She ended her homily to the party faithful by urging them to “vote wisely”, an apparent indictment of her husband’s party. It is a sad state of affairs when the President cannot hold the home front and the “other room” just months before the election and the condemnation of the party by the Wife of the President speaks volumes about the unity and preparation of the party for these pivotal elections.
Another calamity arose from the party primaries in Zamfara State in the North West Zone of the country. The situation got so bad that INEC declared that no primaries had been held in accordance with its guidelines and that no candidate of the APC would be eligible to contest the forthcoming elections for that reason. This position remains complicated and it is distressing that a party in power could not get its act together in such a crucial state and that by virtue of the intransigence of its party members in Zamfara State the PDP as the other leading party would clearly waltz its way into all the elective, including that of governor, in that State. What a crying shame!
Also, in the North Western State of Kaduna, there is intra party feuding between the incumbent Governor, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and Senator Shehu Sani. The Senator had been in a running battle with the Governor for a long time, but matters came to a boil with the conduct of the party primaries which naturally was skewed in favour of the Governor. The Senator who had stuck by the party when the gale of defections decimated the party’s ranks decided that enough was enough! He asserted that honour, integrity and internal democracy which he had believed would be the ethos and norm of the parry had been jettisoned and for this reason he resigned and has now joined the People’s Redemption Party to contest the election as the gubernatorial candidate of that party.
The misfortune that has befallen the APC arising form the party primaries is not limited to the Northern part of the country alone. The same situation has been replicated in equally pronounced form in Imo State in the South East Zone, Rivers State in the South South Zone and Ogun State in the South West Zone.
In Imo State, the incumbent Governor, Rochas Okorocha, who is completing his second term in office decided that he would only hand over the mantle of Governor of the State to his son-in-law, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu rather than Senator Hope Uzodinma who is the preferred choice of the National Executive and the acclaimed winner of the party primaries. The National Secretariat kicked against this contending that Rochas himself had already been handed an automatic ticket as a Senatorial candidate of the party. There was no justification for imposing his son-in-law on the people of Imo State and the party has stuck to its guns. Naturally, Rochas has been insistent, pouring acidic vituperation and invective on the party executive and particularly the national chairman, Adams Oshiomole. However, it is noteworthy that the impasse has continued with the submission of the party’s candidates for elections into State offices and no candidate has been presented to INEC as APC Governorship candidate for Imo State.
Perhaps nowhere has the battle line between the party executive and an incumbent Governor been more starkly drawn than in Ogun State, in the South West of Nigeria. There Senator Ibikunle Amosun who is, like Okorocha, serving out his second term embroiled in a royal titanic battle with Prince Dapo Abiodun, billionaire business magnate and chairman of the Corporate Affiars Commission as to who will succeed Amosun as Governor of the State. Whist Abiodun has the full backing of Oshiomole and the party executive and ostensibly won the party primaries conducted by the National executive and observed by INEC, Amosun is standing staunchly in support of Hon. Abdulkadir Adekunle Akinlade, a federal legislator representing Ogun State in the House of Representatives. Akinlade, who had initially been declared as the APC consensus gubernatorial candidate by Amosun, subsequently won a direct primary election organised by the State Executive of the Party with the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa, as the Chief Returning Officer. The insults, slurs and vitriol emanating from both camps are simply too venomous and considering these are members of the same party, the damage to the party is best left to the imagination. Abiodun and Oshiomole seem to have prevailed as it is Abiodun’s name that has been announced by INEC.
The debacle has reached comical proportions with some APC governors accusing Oshiomhole of fraud and corruption and the DSS which is in the control of the party arresting, detaining and questioning him over these allegations. Oshiomhole upon release travelled to the UK although his return to the country is said to be imminent.
Again, we pray that APC finds its mojo and resolves these intractable differences otherwise its fortunes will be non-existent at the polls next year.