AHEAD 2027: As Tinubu moves to appease flustered APC faithful
At last, the All Progressives Congress (ASPC) has held its National Executive Committee) meeting, with President Bola Tinubu in attendance. KUNLE ODEREMI writes on the directive by the president for the setting up reconciliation committees and how far it can go in cementing existing cracks and reuniting aggrieved founding leaders and other tendencies with the APC.
FIVE months ago, leaders of All Progressives congress (APC) converged on Lagos to brainstorm on how to resolve some internal issues. It was an assemblage of the movers and shakers of the party from the South-West geopolitical zone of the country. President Bola Tinubu was unavoidably absent due to official engagements. He was ably represented by his Chief of Staff, Honourable Femi Agbalajobi. The most striking feature about the gathering was the frankness of all the leaders when they expressed reservations on the trend of events in organs across the board. Former national chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, and other elders of the party were blunt about what they perceived as lapses in the running of the party. The summary of their individual submissions was that the trend had created schism within the party and escalated into avoidable grievances. A few of the key stakeholders also expressed fears that the disenchantment among many party faithful at the grassroots over alleged neglect after contributing to the success of the APC in the 2023 general election posed a threat to the chances of APC at the governorship election coming up in November 2024 in Ondo State. Chief Osoba and other top shots of the APC at the meeting convened by Governor Babatunde Sanwo-Olu took time to plead for understanding from the aggrieved party members, saying President Tinubu was out to bring about a paradigm shift in governance in Nigeria. The highly revered journalist and administrator revealed his frequent engagements with the president. Honourable Gbajabiamila, who had listened with rapt attention to the speakers, including the low and the high, promised to table the grievances of the APC faithful to President Tinubu. Gbajabiamila said: “Mr. President has asked me to convey his message; he knows he has made very tough decisions. He sees the light at the end of the tunnel. The time will come when we will all thank him for the decisions. Mr. President said I should let you know that he is not thinking of the next election but the next generation. For every moment in a country, a particular leader is produced for that time. This is the time to produce a courageous leader.”
Gathering storm
True to the apprehension expressed at the Lagos meeting, the party soon found itself in a turbulent time at the threshold of the Ondo election. The acrimony, arising from the conduct of governorship primary, triggered a wide storm such that it was beyond the capacity of the state chapter of the party to resolve. Frantic efforts were made by APC to broker peace between the two tendencies at the centre of the conflict. With the prompting of President Tinubu, the APC national leadership quickly mobilised other critical stakeholders particularly governors from the South-West to appease the aggrieved aspirants over the manner the choice of party candidate was made. At a meeting to rally APC stakeholders, Governor Sanwo-Olu, chairman of the South-West Governors Forum, warned of the consequences of a divided house, urging: Whatever differences may have existed in the past, it’s time to set them aside and work together as one big family. Nobody will be left behind or taken for granted. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is aware of this gathering and keen on ensuring APC’s victory in the coming election. We are in this race to sustain the ongoing development. We can’t afford to let our progress be reversed.” His Ekiti State counterpart, Abiodun Oyebanji, underlined the significance of the election, asserting: “Although we are marking my second year in office in Ekiti, I had to be here because the Ondo election is more important.” He appealed to party members to remain united to preserve the achievements of the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu” he added: “This is why APC must be returned to power. The legacy the late governor left behind must be sustained.”
However, the most instructive was the views expressed at the meeting by APC national chairman, Ganduje. He said: “This election is critical, and as party leaders, we must treat it with the seriousness it deserves. It is a task we must carry out diligently, not just for the state but for the party at large. This election is a win-win situation for everyone.”
It is against this background that last Wednesday’s APC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting that had suffered several postponements has engaged discussions among other critical stakeholders in the ruling party. The gathering was preceded by a meeting of the APC national Caucus, conducted on Tuesday, with President Bola Tinubu, the national chairman, Dr Chairman, Dr Ganduje and other stalwarts of the party in attendance. The immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, his Vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, former Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi and a former Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, were not at the NEC meeting. Nonetheless, the president used the occasion to set the needle for the APC as political parties intensified efforts at placing themselves in a better stead ahead of the general election. He acknowledged the raging discordant tunes in some state chapters of the APC and advocated a proactive action by the leadership towards restoring amity. Tinubu tasked the APC National Working Committee (NWC) to constitute a body to appraise the situation and the way forward. He said: “The National Working Committee is doing a very good job; I am pleased with them. However, there are a few conflicts in the various states. Let’s set up committees to look into the lingering problems in the states and appeal to these party leaders in various states to please be calm and be collaborative.”
Situation in states
Checks indicate that there is hardly any state chapter of the [arty that does not have serious issues to contend with or that are agitating the minds of many of the members. Some of the issues bother on matters arising from the conduct of congresses to elect officers to run the party at state, local government and ward levels. Others have to do with allegations of ego on the part of a privileged few to lord things over other party faithful. In Kano State, there are reports about a frosty relationship feud between the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Yusuf Ata and Abdullahi Abbas, the state APC chairman over the governorship ticket of APC in 2027. The state chairman is said to have the backing of Dr Ganduje, while Abbas is said to be favourably disposed to the speculated governorship bid of the deputy president of the Senate, Senator Jibrin Barau in 2027. The battle for the soul of APC in Benue State rages between Governor Hyacinth Alia and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume. APC leaders in the state work across purposes. The conflict dovetailed into the general election and has weakened the APC structure in the state. The key figures in APC in Zamfara State are yet to drop the gauntlet in spite of the electoral damage inflicted on the APC due to the simmering crisis of confidence among the leaders. Some chieftains of the Delta chapter of the party are also embroiled in an uncanny power struggle over the structures of APC. In Rivers, the storm in the tea cup of the APC has shown no sign of receding. The tug of war has left the party gasping for breath. Many of the former frontline leaders have been completely sidelined. The fallouts of the last governorship tussle in APC in Bayelsa have continued to hunt the party in the bid to reposition itself and make a difference at the poll. It should be recalled that the infighting led to the existence of parallel structures by the belligerent camps. Issues
There is also the question about patronage by the party after it formed the government. Some party buffs claimed the government has not taken necessary steps to appreciate the sacrifices they made individually and collectively to guarantee APC’s victory at the elections. According to them, more individuals, who are not members of the party have favoured federal appointments. Issues such as the position of national chairman currently occupied by Dr Ganduje from the North-West remain on the front burner despite the decision of NEC. Stakeholders from the North Central are not relenting in their demand that their zone ought to be allowed to fill the position.
Posers
As the party prepares to constitute the reconciliation committees proposed by President Tinubu, the party faithful across the country and beyond are curious about the names that will be on the lists. According to them, the criteria to be used in determining the membership are crucial in order to invoke confidence and guarantee fairness. Will it contain names of those considered as close allies, confidants and supporters of notable APC leaders, who have turned the heat on the APC-led administration? Are the aggrieved camps likely to make necessary inputs into the process of constituting the committees? Can the likes of Mallam El-Rufai, Amaechi, and Salihu Ibrahim still reconcile with APC after they have literally drawn the battle line? Their outbursts against the government, some analysts noted, have, to say the least, been irreconcilable with the fact that they are among the founding fathers of the APC in 2013.
Internal conflict resolution mechanisms
For the national secretary of the APC, Dr Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru, life is full of challenges and which should be addressed as they come. He noted that the APC has succeeded in deepening democracy in the country, stating that the fact that Nigerians freely exercise their right to criticize and abuse the government on television or radio and walk free is a plus for democracy in the current dispensation. Similarly, the APC deputy national organising secretary, Nze Duru, is of the conviction that the situation in the party is not out of control. He was quoted as saying that the conflict resolution mechanisms of the APC were alive to their functions. “The interesting thing about politics is that just like every other affair of human beings, it is something that we do not micromanage, and people are allowed to meet and take their positions at any given point in time. The ruling party is not in any position to enforce its decisions on the state party. But I can assure you that very soon, most of the issues we’ve spoken about will reach a point of resolution. Unlike other parties that do not have answers on how to resolve their contending issues, the APC has those mechanisms on how to resolve conflicts,” Duru said.
The APC national publicity director, Bala Ibrahim, is equally confident in the ability, competence and capacity of the party leadership to resolve the existing issues in some state chapters. According to him, “The APC under the leadership of Dr Abdullahi Ganduje is a party that does not shy away from responsibilities. It’s a party that confronts problems head-on and looks for lasting solutions to those problems. These are problems that are being created and overblown by the opposition, thinking that they will succeed in derailing the mission and ambition of the party.”
Will the directive issued by President Tinubu to the APC national leadership to set up committees with the sole mandate of reconciling flustered party members across the state chapters be a magic wand for the ruling party?
