August 01, (THEWILL) – The events of the coming days will shape the future of the ruling All Progressive Congress and possibly the future of Nigeria, as the party has started the process of selecting its flag bearers at the ward, local government, state and national levels. This will in turn indicate where its presidential candidate for the next election in 2023 will come from.
After a long wait, the Mai Mala Buni- led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, (CECPC) announced Saturday, July 31, 2021 as the date for the party’s congress at the ward level.
The exercise at the ward level will be followed by the local government and state congresses. It would be recalled that the party had earlier announced dates for the congresses, but they were later cancelled.
The earlier timetable by the party had fixed sale of the nomination form for ward congress for July 1 to 7; inauguration of ward/LGA Congress Screening/Screening Appeal Committees for July 10, 2021; ward congress for July 24, Local Government Congress for August 14, 2021 and the state congress for September 18, 2021.
The new date was contained in a letter with reference number APC/NHDQ/INEC/19/021/40 dated 11th July 2021 to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The letter, which was jointly signed by Chairman, Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) Gov. Mai Mala Buni and Secretary, Senator John James Akpanudoehede, notified the electoral body the party’s congresses will commence on July 31, 2021.
The letter reads: “Further to our letter referenced APC/NHDOINEC/19/021/39 dated 6th July 2021 on the above subject, we write to please inform you that the Congresses will now commence on 31st July 2021 starting with the Ward Congress, Local Government and State Congress will follow sequentially upon the completion of the Ward Congress.”
As expected, the kick-off of the congresses has uncovered intrigues, suspense and political horse-trading among the party leaders and their followers in various states of the federation. These features will becloud the much-awaited conduct of congresses as they move toward the ladder at the national convention.
The congresses, which is the first of such gathering of party faithful across the country since July 25, 2020 when the Adams Oshiomhole – led executive was sacked and replaced by a caretaker committee, may make or mar the party’s future.
Political observers believe it may result in an implosion in the party, if not well handled. This view was also corroborated by many watchers of political developments in the country who spoke with THE WILL, their reasons being that the party has just welcomed into its fold, governors and chieftains of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party.
How will the old members jell with the existing members? What role will the new bigwigs play in the election of party executives at the local and state levels? Will there be rancour? Even the party caretaker committee’s secretary, Senator John James Akpanudoehede, envisaged this and said the party was reaching out for consensus as a first option to forestall serious cracks within it.
Akpanudoedehe said, “For us, we have to take into consideration the need to accommodate everyone because APC is a party for all Nigerians.
“We are encouraging states to adopt the consensus arrangement because it saves costs and reduces acrimony.
“That is why when you look at Article 20 of the Constitution, which talks about elections, the first thing there is for members to try reaching a consensus.”
He further said that when the consensus option fails, party members can then cast ballots.
He said the party was making sure that it did not leave any room for the opposition to cause confusion within its fold.
Despite the fact that several APC state chapters have opted to adopt the consensus method of selecting their officials, controversy over the membership register in many of the state chapters may prove a stumbling block to the smooth conduct of the congress.
Aspiration for national positions and the 2023 presidency by several leaders of the party may make the congress a highly competitive one.
Among those that are known to be angling for the National Chairmanship of the party, though the party is yet to come out with a zoning formular, include Senators Tanko Al-Makura, Sani Mohammed Musa, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi and Mohammed Bima Enagi from the north central and former governors of Borno and Zamfara States, Ali Modu Sheriff and Alhaji Abdulazeez Yari, as well as Sunny Sylvester Moniedafe.
Another issue that has also polarised the party is the issue of registration and revalidation of party’s membership which was carried out by the CECPC.
At the end of the exercise, the CECPC said that no fewer than 40 million Nigerians registered as members of the party but the CECPC had to accommodate extended registration in Ogun, Rivers, Kwara, Imo, Cross River and Adamawa States, after pronounced complaints of allegation of exclusion and segregation among party leaders in the aforementioned states.
Hot Spots
States where congresses will be fiercely contested include Kwara, Osun, Ekiti, Imo and Kwara States. In Kwara State, supporters of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed are currently enmeshed in supremacy battles over the control of APC structure ahead of the 2023 poll.
As of today, many loyalists of the Information Minister, who operate from a parallel secretariat in Ilorin, had been suspended from the party at the instance of the state chairman, Mr Abdullahi Samari Abubakar who is on the side of the state governor.
Those affected include Joseph Tsado, Bamidele Ogunbayo, Issa Fulani, Imam Abdulkadir, Morufu Olaniyi Yusuf, Saludeen Lukman, Kerebu Fatai, Bola Ajani, Nurudeen Fasasi, Salman Shehu Babatunde and Abdullateef Ahmed Kolawole.
Osun State
Osun is one of the states that the concept of consensus may not work out perfectly. The party in the state is already divided into two factions: Ileri – Oluwa Group led by Governor Gboyega Oyetola and The Osun Progressives (TOP) led by the Minister of Interior and former Governor Rauf Aregbesola. The two groups are seeking the control of the party in Osun State.
Just last week, TOP had accused Oyetola’s faction of scheming to manipulate the party’s congresses.
TOP, in a statement signed by its chairman, ‘Lowo Adebiyi rejected what it described as a consensus arrangement being put in place, ahead of the congresses.
“As we speak, the state Chairman of the Caretaker committee, Prince Gboyega Famodun has refused to carry along the Secretary, Deputy Chairman, Auditor, Publicity secretary and some other members of the state executives who do not tag along with the evil idea of selling the party ideals to the governor’s group, the IleriOluwa,” the statement said.
The statement added that only a political novice will believe that the good intentions of the National Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee will be successful in Osun due to some developing issues that are at variance with the principles of consensus building in Osun APC.
It added, “The aforementioned officers are not privy to anything in preparation for the coming Congress as Prince Famodun has refused to call any meeting for deliberation on Congress matters.”
Adebiyi said it is an established fact that the Ileri Oluwa is not ready to share an inch of the political space with any other interest group by virtue of their utterances, conducts and deeds.
“It will therefore be foolhardy and suicidal for other interest groups and stakeholders to talk of consensus building with the party and government-backed IleriOluwa group which has manipulated the membership register to maximum advantage.
“There is no doubt that the governor’s group will not give a position to other stakeholders in the party in pursuit of the beautiful and peaceful consensus building, but it is certain that this will have consequences if things are allowed to happen the selfish IleriOluwa way.
“The Osun Progressives (TOP) therefore, unequivocally states its lack of confidence in consensus arrangement that will be superintend over by APC leaders in the state who has sold it’s souls to IleriOluwa, today rulers without giving cognisance to feelings of other members.”
Ekiti State
This is another state where the consensus arrangement may not work out.
Governor Kayode Fayemi’s group and the group loyal to the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, known as South West Agenda for Asiwaju, ( SWAGA) led by Dayo Adeyeye, are also struggling for the control of the party in the state.
While Fayemi is said to be eyeing the presidency come 2023, his supporters have seen the SWAGA group that is supporting the aspiration of Tinubu to become president in 2023 as an enemy in whose hands the party structure in the state must not be placed.
Also SWAGA in Ekiti State has said the consensus arrangement being proposed by the National Caretaker Committee of the party will not work in the state.
The group said consensus in Ekiti will not work as a result of some unilateral decisions already being taken by the state government and its caucus, with grave democratic consequences to an all embracing congress.
In a statement signed by the Ekiti State Chairman of SWAGA, Senator Tony Adeniyi, he said the governor and his caucus in the Ekiti APC, has solely imposed an electoral body, just as delegates have been handpicked for the congresses without the input of several party stakeholders.
He said that the names of the delegates were already compiled with promise by government to pay for their electoral dues.
He hinted that the APC in the state is divided and only a direct primary can bring the party back on its feet.
Adeniyi stressed that the APC in Ekiti became fractured after a group within the party, known as ‘Tokan-Tokan’, to which the governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi belongs, took control of its affairs.
He said the party hierarchy would need to be painstaking in the conduct of the coming congresses to forestall likely imposition of candidates and a plot to disenfranchise some members of the party so as to plunge the party into avoidable electoral turmoil.
Senator Adeniyi, who commended the determination of the national caretaker committee to ensure a swerve in the constituted State Congresses Electoral Committees, also advised that there should be a level playing ground for party members to carry out their aspirations without fair or favour.
“We hereby state categorically that the APC in Ekiti State are fully prepared to go for Direct Congresses immediately after the registration/revalidation exercise. We are not and shall not be part of any unilateral ‘consensus’ arrangement whatsoever.
“The beauty of democracy is in allowing everybody to have their say, even when the majority would have their way. The only civilised way to prove our numerical values is through congresses, not by any proxy,” he said.
The former lawmaker from the southern part of Ekiti State regretted the current state of disunity in the state chapter of the party, saying, “With regret, it has become an open secret that our governing party in this state is critically ill, lying in the operation theatre for surgery.
Regrettably, still, the Chief Medical Director is contemplating “Mercy Killing” by withholding extreme medical measures, rather than providing life support for the patient.”
He said SWAGA, which is now offering life support for the APC in Ekiti State, want the national leadership of the party to do its best to firm up the process to avert any lopsidedness that would lead to litigations that could cripple party development as witnessed in 2018.
Imo State
In Imo State, there is a stiff power-play between Governor Hope Uzodinma and his predecessor in office, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.
Okorocha who took his case to the CECPC had described the party membership revalidation and registration exercise in Imo State as a sham.
Both Okorocha and Uzodinma are seeking control of the party in Imo State.
Okorocha is complaining that things are not going right in the state as it affects the party.
“We are concerned about the upcoming congresses. Certain things need to be put in place before congress, as it affects registration and others.
“There has been an issue about the elected exco of the party in the state. The elected exco have not been allowed to function,” he said.
So the coming months may be an interesting one in the ruling APC.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
