Internal
wrangling, non-compliance with its constitution, and absence of
leadership are some of the signals that the ruling party is toeing the
same destructive path that led to the downfall of the Peoples Democratic
Party, writes Shola Oyeyipo...
The
All Progressives Congress (APC) is indeed an extra-ordinary party. It
is the party that defeated an incumbent. Not a mean feat in this part of
the world.
This
was the first time in Nigeria’s political history that an opposition
political party unseated a governing party in a general election and one
in which power transferred peacefully from one political party to
another.
However,
it appears that the party was formed for the purpose of defeating Dr
Goodluck Jonathan because after achieving this feat, the party has been
struggling to remain united.
Apart
from its inability to manage itself, the government formed by the
party has also not been able to meet the yawning and aspirations of the
electorate. This has led many to wonder what happened to a party that
promised so much but delivering so little.
Apparently,
the party’s strength is also its weakness. Formed in February 2013,
the party is the result of an alliance of Nigeria’s three biggest
opposition parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress
for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a
faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) – which merged to
take on the ruling PDP.
Having
achieved the purpose for which it was established, the party appeared
not to have given adequate thought to what would happen after the
election.
A
chieftain of the party in Ogun State, Chief Bode Mustapha warned that
his party was beginning to make the same mistake the Peoples Democratic
Party made. He said: “Let us face it. When APC was coming, the mantra at
that time was ‘Any Other But Jonathan’ (AOBJ), but that had come and
gone. Now, the PDP is trying to put its house in order. Now, APC is
beginning to make the same mistake that PDP made.”
Mustapha
pointed out that one of the mistakes APC is making is imposing
candidates and depriving party members the opportunity to chose the
person they wanted.
Although
the party has continued to manage the various power blocs that are
spoiling for a show down by avoiding to hold some of its statutory
meetings, this is not a sustainable tactic.
Admirers
of the party have waited endlessly for the party to get its acts
together, consolidate on its unprecedented 2015 presidential elections
victory and bring about the change it promised. But going by events that
have characterised the activities of the party since it assumed power,
such expectations are likely to wait much longer because of the
discordant tunes within the rank and file of the party.
Indication
that all is not well in the APC is evidenced in the fact that the party
has continued to flagrantly flout some provisions of its constitution
by not holding some of its statutory meetings some of which include the
national caucus, the National Executive Council (NEC) and the National
Convention
For
instance, while article 25 of the APC constitution expressly specified
that “The National Convention of the party shall be held once in two years at
a date, venue and time to be recommended by the National Working
Committee and approved by the National Executive Committee,” but the
mid-term convention earlier fixed for April 2017 has since been aborted
twice, purportedly due to the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari who
was away for medical reasons.
The
inability of the operators of the party machinery to hold a convention
has no doubt constituted a source of concern for party members, hence
the promise by the National Working Committee (NWC) that a national
convention would hold not later than the first quarter of 2017 but after
the mid-term non-elective convention earlier slated for April had been
postponed, no new date has been announced.
Many
members of the party are dissatisfied with the way the party is being
run while others who wanted to join the party are also being
discouraged.
Mustapha
again explained how bad the situation is when he said: “Again, having
had the experience of being a member of the National Working Committee
member of the PDP, while PDP was in power, the national exco meetings
were always held, national caucus meetings were always held statutorily,
NEC meetings were always held, and we NWC members who were running the
party, met every week, but today and I think, what has caused that is
because APC was hurriedly put together, without any ideology, without
anything whatsoever, just to say, like I said earlier on, Jonathan has
to go because the damage done to the economy, and to this nation, was
enormous and we didn’t know it was this bad and it was only a snippet of
it that we had. So, I agree with you, that the party is being run like a
fiefdom.”
The
convention is an important platform in the political calendar of every
party, not only is it the highest organ of the party, it is mandatory,
provides room for self-reappraisal and re-evaluation. During invention,
vacancies at all levels of the party arising from deaths, appointments
and others are filled by delegates elected to participate while the
national leadership of the party is also elected at the meeting.
The
convention also provides a platform for power plays among the party
heavy weights especially those with ambition. If it had been held it
would have provided an opportunity for the president’s men – the ‘Abuja
Boys’ as they are known in some quarters and other notables like former
Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who is already projecting his
presidential ambition; former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu
who is believed to have been edged out of scheme of things in the APC,
Senate President Bukola Saraki and former Kano State governor, Senator
Rabiu Kwankwaso to mobilise their base and strategise for future
election.
Truth
is, whenever the convention holds, these major forces are expected to
position their interests. The 2019 presidential election and the soul of
the ruling party will be the motivation for the gladiators in the APC
and in the light of current events in the party, it is going to be quite
intriguing.
In
fact, as far back as March 2017, the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) has watched with dismay APC’s refusal to hold a mid
term convention within the stipulated time frame prescribed by its
constitution. INEC has kept its silence on the issue, fuelling suspicion
as to whether the commission would have the will to take on the ruling
party on the issue.
Already,
there is a constitutional crisis looming in APC as it struggles to
agree on a date for its National Executive Committee meeting preparatory
to the now overdue mid term convention.
In
what many consider as a direct result of the cold war between the APC
National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and some forces within the
party, his National Working Committee has not really been favoured by
some power brokers within the party and as such there have been battles
of wits for the control of its national secretariat, a situation that would play out when the convention eventually holds.
The Underbelly in APC
If
there is one thing that political observers of the situation within the
APC agreed upon, it is the fact that there is a widespread disaffection
within the party. However, many of the aggrieved parties appear to have
resolved to stomach their disenchantment till the right time before
they speak out. A simple pointer to that was the outburst of the First
Lady Aisha Buhari, who alleged that some cabals have taken over the
presidency
The
root cause of the fault lines in the party is simply that the APC
started on a faulty note of incompetence in the sharing of the national
offices. The problem started immediately after the presidential election
when the leadership of the party was unable to collectively arrive at
how to distribute the national offices.
An
agreement that was worked out by the NWC which allocated principal
offices of the National Assembly to the various geo-political zones
became contentious and was marred by intrigues. It was because the party
failed to take charge that the opposition PDP had the opportunity of
participating in deciding how the four top positions in the National
Assembly would go. This was what led to the takeover of the leadership
of the National Assembly by dissident elements within the system.
While
the party preferred the duo of Senators Ahmad Lawan and George Akume
for the office of Senate President and Deputy Senate President, the pair
of the APC’s Senator Bukola Saraki and the PDP’s Senator Ike Ekweremadu
eventually clinched the two leadership positions. Similar scenario took
place in the House of Representatives where the party preferred Hon.
Femi Gbajabiamila and Mohammed Moguno as speaker and deputy speaker, but
they were defeated by the unofficial candidates of the party, Yakubu
Dogara and Lasun Yusuf. These developments polarised the APC from the
onset and also brought into the fore the fact that the party was
constituted by strange bed fellows..
The 2919 Presidential Race
Another
hurdle that the APC must cross which is capable of exposing the degree
of fragile peace in the ruling party at the slightest opportunity is the
2019 presidential election. While it is yet unclear whether or not
President Muhammadu Buhari, despite his health challenges would be
considering a second term after 2019, there are members of the
president’s party who are eyeing his job. Others who are not seeking to
be president fear that if the party presents an ailing candidate it may
lose the election. Yet, the shenanigans within the party will not allow
such a voice of reason to prevail.
Already
former Vice-President Abubakar, who was the second runner up at the
last presidential primary of the APC has already tactically indicated
his desire to take over from Buhari.
That
much the Minister for Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan said when she said
that she would rather go with Atiku in the 2019 election.
“Let
me tell you today that if Baba said he is going to contest in 2019, I
swear to Allah, I will go before him and kneel and tell him that ‘Baba I
am grateful for the opportunity you gave me to serve your government as
a minister but Baba, just like you know, I will support only Atiku
because he is my godfather. If Atiku said he is going to contest.”
Though
the minister later apologised to her party for the opinion which she
openly expressed, the truth is that some underground scheming is already
on among the party bigwigs who have been left in the cold by the party.
As 2019 draws closer, the party risks an implosion.
The Tinubu, Kwankwaso Travails
Another
formidable power bloc in the APC is the Tinubu-Kwankwaso bloc and both
men have had not too good experiences since the last presidential
election. The crisis reached it climax on Sunday, September 25, 2016
when Tinubu demanded the resignation of the national chairman,
Odigie-Oyegun.
The
former governor of Lagos state accused Oyegun of engaging in
undemocratic actions in Ondo State, particularly by sending the name
Rotimi Akeredolu to INEC against the decision of the appeal panel that
recommended a fresh primary for the governorship election in the state.
In
what reminds one of efforts by former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan
to breed new political allies while he jettisoned those that brought him
into power, there has been a gradual but well-coordinated plot to
reduce Tinubu’s influence in the party by forces within the APC as the groundswell towards the 2019 presidential election continues.
In
Kogi, Ondo and at the National Assembly levels, Tinubu’s interests were
stampeded. Not only that, his former allies like former Lagos State
governor, Babatunde Fashola; former Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi:
APC National Legal Adviser, Mr. Muiz Banire with whom he has apparently
fallen out, were appointed ministers into Buhari’s cabinet without his
input. Those at the helms of affairs seem to have resolved to whittle
down his influence in the party he sacrificed so much to bring about and
give it electoral victory.
Just
as his Lagos counterpart, Kwankwaso, a serving senator has been at
loggerheads with his successor, Governor Umar Ganduje in Kano state. In
fact, in March last year, the leadership of the APC in Kano State
initiated moves to suspend him over what it termed anti-party
activities. Kwankwaso who came next to Buhari in the APC primary still
has his eyes on the presidency and he is still not a push over in
northern politics.
Atiku Cries Out
Recently, Atiku Abubakar, accused Buhari’s government which he said he helped into power in 2015 of scheming him out.
Abubakar’s
accusations at the government came same day Aisha Alhassan, said she
would support the former vice president even if Buhari runs for election
in 2019.
In
an interview on the Hausa Service of the Voice of America, VOA,
Abubakar said he had been side-lined despite his efforts in making sure
that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was defeated in 2015.
He
said, “Honestly speaking, I’m still a member of the APC; I was part of
all the processes, including campaigns until success was achieved.”
“But
sadly, soon after the formation of government; I was side-lined, I have
no any relationship with the government, I’ve not been contacted even
once to comment on anything and in turn, I maintained my distance. They
used our money and influence to get to where they are but three years
down the lane, this is where we are.”
He
applauded the president on the successes recorded so far in the fight
against Boko Haram, but said it was not yet time to celebrate and
jubilate because a lot is yet to be done and “the ruling government had
failed in many fronts.
“Yes,
there were successes but not comprehensive success because the Boko
Haram miscreants are still very active, killing our people and many
local government councils in Borno and Yobe are under their firm grip.
People cannot dare go back to their dwellings”
“This
thing baffles me; I never imagined that Nigeria will fight a protracted
battle with Boko Haram for five years. At a time, we fought the Biafra
war, which was more complicated because of the terrain in the South but
the Biafran soldiers were roundly subdued in 30 months. But here we are, fighting an endless battle with the Boko Haram and there’s no end in sight”.
Abubakar
said little was achieved on corruption asking “How many people were
arrested, prosecuted and jailed? How much was recovered from the
looters?”
The Discordant Tune
The
signal that intrigues will characterise the 2019 presidential election
and that the election will be as fiercely contested is seen in how Atiku
has said without mincing word that the Nigerian citizens are yet to
witness the change promised them by the APC.
While
the government is still researching and trying to come up with its
definition of restructuring, Atiku has aligned himself with Nigerians on
the topical issue. Recently, he told a large crowd of academics,
students, politicians, and others who were gathered at the University of
Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), in a lecture organised by the Senior Staff Club
of the University that Nigeria had failed to realise her potentials,
hence the refusal of the political leaders to restructure the country.
“Restructuring
will help to bring the benefits of change we promised the people in the
last election which we have not seen,” and “We need restructuring in
order to address the challenges that hold us back; these problems will
remain un-addressed unless we restructure.”
According
to him, “Issue of restructuring is beyond resource control; there are
more important issues. In my own vision, restructuring will not make
some states richer and some poorer; it is a win-win situation for all
the States. Nigeria will derive more revenue after restructuring.”
His
equally carpeted the APC decision to set up a 10-man committee on
restructuring headed by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir
el-Rufai, describing it as needless and that having an el-Rufai, with an
anti-restructuring posture to head the committee was laughable.
The
way stakeholders in the South are making their position known on the
topic of restructuring is instructive. The southwest is likely to give
massive support to whoever comes with a clear road map to actualising
the restructuring agenda. And with Atiku already leading the
restructuring debate, the indication is that the APC is like a house
divided against itself because there are grievances that will be brought
to fore as the move towards the 2019 general election continues.
Even
if Buhari is impressed upon to seek a second term and he picks the APC
ticket, the process of winning a re-election would be a lot more
difficult than it was during first term because from the look of things,
he is bound to face some resistance from those that gave him the
biggest supports back then.
In the Beginning
Prior
to the formation of the APC and its victory in the 2015 elections,
Buhari had previously contested (and subsequently lost) the Nigerian
presidential elections of 2003 and 2007 as the presidential nominee of
the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the 2011 Nigerian presidential
election as the presidential nominee of the Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC).
Apart
from making Buhari’s dream of becoming a reality, the APC won the
majority of seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives in the
2015 elections, though it fell shy of winning a super-majority to
override the ability of the PDP to block legislation.
The
formation of APC was not without hitches. In March 2013, it was
reported that two other associations – African Peoples Congress and All
Patriotic Citizens – also applied for INEC registration, adopting APC as
an acronym as well, reportedly “a development interpreted to be a move
to thwart the successful coalition of the opposition parties, ahead of
the 2015 general elections.” It was reported in April 2013 that the
party was considering changing its name to the All Progressive Congress
of Nigeria (APCN) to avoid further complications.
However,
the party received approval from the nation’s Independent National
Electoral Commission(INEC) on 31 July 2013 to become a political party
and subsequently withdrew the operating licenses of the three
predecessor parties (the ACN, CPC and ANPP).
In
November 2013, five serving governors from the governing PDP defected
to the APC, as well as 49 legislators who will now join the ranks of 137
legislators in the APC as a result of the prior merger of the smaller
opposition parties. This initially gave the APC a slim majority of 186
legislators in the lower house out of a total of 360 legislators;
however, subsequent political wrangling and pressure from political
factions and interests outside the National Assembly gave the party only
37 additional legislators thus giving the APC a nominal majority of 172
out of 360 legislators, as opposed to the PDP’s 171 (though some
smaller PDP-allied parties hold the balance of the other seats.
This
was further confirmed when the party seated 179 members on January 15,
2015 when the House resumed after a long recess to finally affirm its
majority. The governors who defected to the APC were Rotimi Amaechi of
Rivers State, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano
State, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State.
It
had been previously reported that Governors Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of
Niger State and Sule Lamido of Jigawa State were to set to defect from
the PDP to the APC; however, both ended up remaining with the PDP.
In
the 2015 elections, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu ran as a senatorial nominee
of the PDP for the Niger State east senatorial district, losing in a
landslide to the APC’s David Umaru.
The
APC is generally considered to be a centre-left political party that
favours controlled market economic policies, and a strong and active
role for government regulation
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