48 INSIDEPOLITICS
It’s crises everywhere in the All Progressives Congress (APC) with fears in many circles that what’s happening is reminiscence of what wrecked the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2013 and ultimately brought it down low in the 2015 general elections.
Local government congresses of the APC are expected to hold today in all 776 councils in 36 states of the federation. This is coming even when the acrimony, blame game and threats among the rank and file of the ruling party could not be said to be a normal misunderstanding in a family.
The ward congresses of the party held exactly a week ago across the 36 states of the federation left a devastating scar in almost all the over 9000 wards of the party with the exception of a very few where the delegates election did not hold at all or party leaders at the state level succeeded in placating aggrieved members to accept the outcome.
The media was throughout last week awash with angry voices echoing from various quarters over the ward congress, with allegations that congress committees deployed to states by the national leadership of the party either compromised their mandate or were coerced into submission to do the bidding of governors who wanted to have every delegate in their pockets ahead of party primaries to elect those who would fly the party’s flag in next year’s election.
Of course, the national secretariat of the party was not unmindful of the unsavory results that might likely emerge from the congresses at all levels, hence the setting up of congress appeal committees for all the layers of elections.
But one week after the ward congresses, most of the appeal committees appear to be helpless and overwhelmed as no news is heard about them, instead, there are allegations that they too have been compromised by powerful forces.
So uncertain is the situation that even some powerful forces including governors are crying foul. The Kwankwasiyya and Gandujiyya faction in Kano State held two different congresses, heightening fears that the polarization in the state where the APC got the highest votes in 2015 is getting messier.
In Bauchi, it was alleged that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and other members of the National Assembly were sidelined. The party’s secretariat was even burnt by hoodlums.
The chairman of Progressives Governors’ Forum and Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, is calling for the cancellation of the ward congresses in his state.
There were allegations that the deputy governor of the state and members of the National Assembly outsmarted Okorocha to have a field day and if the result stands at it is, the governor might not have much say during the local and state congresses and by extension, he might also be sidelined on who becomes what despite the fact that he wants his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, to succeed him.
In Adamawa State, the ward congress was postponed after protests and petitions from former EFCC boss, Nuhu Ribadu and former SGF, Babachir Lawal whose candidates were shunned in the distribution of nomination forms.
In Yobe, party leaders from all the wards in the 17 local government areas got their seats through affirmation, a development that did not go down well with some aspirants, prompting a petition to the national secretariat of the party to seek redress.
Two groups, one loyal to Governor Yahaya Bello and the other to the camp of late former governor Abubakar Audu which is now being led by Rep Abiodun Faleke had a field day in Kogi State, with each holding a separate congress, ultimately leaving the party with the peace of the graveyard as very soon, the two parallel leaders will start competing for recognition.
But it is not a bad story all through, as there were smooth ward congresses in Ogun, Lagos, Sokoto, Zamfara, Niger, Plateau, Borno, and Jigawa, among others, a development that gave those still confident in the party an aura of hope that things might get better later.
But the aftermath of the ward congresses barely subsided when notable personalities in the APC, mostly members of the defunct nPDP that broke away from the then ruling PDP in 2013, visited the National Secretariat of the APC on Wednesday, May 9 and dropped a dicey request described by some analysts as a time bomb.
Led by their leader, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, a former Acting National Chairman of the PDP, the nPDP members gave the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun, a seven-day ultimatum to arrange a meeting with President Buhari for them to ventilate their anger.
This means Buhari would have to see them either next week Tuesday or Wednesday, despite the fact that he is currently on medical trip in London. Though his handlers said he would be back in Nigeria today, other sources in the Presidency said his return is not certain.
Some sources in the APC, especially those loyal to President Buhari, are already faulting the ultimatum by members of the nPDP, saying they deliberately gave a short notice that could not be beaten by the president for them to have reasons to out rightly revolt against the party.
“They have perfected plans to leave the APC, we know their antics,” a source said.
The nPDP had earlier in a letter signed by Kawu Baraje and Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola dated April 27, 2018 copied to President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said they needed to be heard on the grounds that they were never treated fairly despite the support they gave.
The departure of nPDP from the PDP in 2013 dealt a devastating blow to the then ruling party and ultimately led to its defeat.
Those who left included five governors-Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Abdul-Fatah Ahmed (Kwara), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), former governors Adamu Aliero (Kebbi), Danjuma Goje (Gombe) and Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun), former vice president Atiku Abubakar, a former speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal, many serving members of the National Assembly such as Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara and PDP elders were never publicly acknowledged by President Buhari.
The letter titled; ‘Request for Redressing of Grievances of the Former New PDP Block within the APC,’ said they were desirous of strengthening the APC, especially now that party congresses had commenced ahead of the national convention and another round of general elections.
“How can you trust them now?” a die-hard supporter of President Buhari said.
“Do you think Buhari would be able to do anything at this critical period to assuage their minds? They have already made up their minds to leave and they would leave,” he said.
He said curiously, Prince Oyinlola, a former governor of Osun State who is one of those who signed the protest letter to Buhari, did not even wait to have audience with the president before he left, apparently clearing the way for his co-travellers.
Instead, he surreptitiously dumped the APC on Wednesday, May 9 when he presented his resignation letter to the chairman of the APC in Ward 1, Okuku, Odo Otin Local Government Area of the state.
Oyinlola also resigned his position as chairman of the National Identity Management Commission and on Thursday collapsed the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) formed by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo early this into the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Another APC stalwart said many nPDP members would join the ADC in the coming days. With recent realignments, only time will tell if the APC will survive the turbulent waters.