Crisis continues to rock the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over the outcome of the National Assembly leadership poll, Assistant Editor (North), CHUKS EHIRIM, reports.
It has been two whole weeks of trouble-shooting for leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Since the party went into the intrigues of allocation of offices in the National Assembly, earlier in the month, things have not been the same for its members.
That singular engagement has literally reduced the party to an opposition, and making the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appear as the party in power.
The attempt by the APC leadership to take sides with some of its members in the contest for Senate Presidency and the Speakership of the House of Representatives had put a knife into what held the party together. Ever since, things seem to have fallen apart for the party, especially at the level of its national leadership.
At the Senate, the party had preferred Ahmed Lawan from Yobe State and foundation member of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) as its choice to head the chamber. But Bukola Saraki, former governor of Kwara State, had a different agenda altogether.
Saraki, a core PDP element and a key figure among those who ditched the PDP in 2013 for the then fledgling APC, had to run back to his old allies in order to be well-positioned to deliver that June 9 killer punch on his new party.
His deft political move in this direction was a masterstroke. He offered the plum job of Deputy Senate President to an opposition member, Ike Ekweremadu, who has since seen the offer as a well-deserved political settlement for his people in the South East. At first, Saraki was stiffly opposed by the likes of former Senate President, David Mark. But Mark was said to have yielded to superior argument from his party caucus which saw Saraki’s agenda as a perfect leeway to deal a mortal blow on the boastful APC.
That action by Saraki against his party’s choice has left in its trail chains of reactions. First, some elements within the party had insisted that the APC National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, should be shown the way out, for appearing to be sympathetic to the Senate President. That plot was what a source said prevented Odigie-Oyegun from according Saraki the initial recognition as Senate President.
Two days after his emergence, Saraki was billed to visit the party’s national secretariat, but the visit was curiously put on hold. By the close of work last week, the Senate President was yet to visit secretariat of the APC.
Those ganging up against Odigie-Oyegun on this matter are said to be loyalists of former Lagos State governor and national leader of APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, who has not recovered from the shock of losing out in his agenda of imposing his men as principal officers of the National Assembly.
Odigie-Oyegun’s foot soldiers are not relenting either. They too are subtly campaigning for the expulsion of Tinubu and his followers from the party, TheNiche gathered. A group that called itself the ‘Coalition of APC Support Groups – South West’ laid credence to this fact when its members stormed the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday to ask APC members to sheathe their swords and allow the existing structures stand.
Specifically, the body, which staged a protest at the party office, stated that President Muhammadu Buhari, Odigie-Oyegun, Tinubu and Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, should not be harassed or removed from their offices because of the current crisis rocking the party.
The group added that since they contributed immensely to the victory of the party, they should be left alone in their positions.
Led by Rev. Adebiyi Abraham, the group stated: “Somebody wants to put President Muhammadu Buhari in trouble. That is why we are saying they should let sleeping dog lie and reward those who worked hard for the party.”
Pressured to reveal those he was pointing fingers at, Abraham said, “I believe the PDP is down but not out. They are looking for every possible way to bring down the APC. I believe the party is working hard, but we don’t want a situation whereby people bring down the leaders of the party.
“We believe all the leaders that have piloted the party so far should not be shoved aside. Let them continue. It is too early in the day to be calling for changes. Let us have peace in the party.”
Abraham did not appear to see anything wrong in the alleged attempt by a few persons in the party to appropriate the entire levers of its decision-making processes, an approach, a source revealed, is the cause of the resentment in the APC.
But Tinubu has debunked claims by some people that there is division between Buhari and himself. He said he worked very hard for Buhari to be president and cannot now be seen to be working against his effort.
According to him, the story of differences between them is perverse fiction and not journalism.
Tinubu’s media aide, Sunday Dare, said “the story first published on an online news site and later parroted by other online news outlets is an example of irresponsible journalism. This story has no source. It is a blatant fabrication to serve the interest of its sponsors. Tinubu has not spoken about the Senate election. This story is a perverse fiction, not journalism.
“He has never said these lies (that are) so wrongly attributed to him. There is no chance he will ever utter such words against President Buhari, a man he worked very hard for to become president, along with millions of Nigerians who voted. Tinubu would not accuse the president of plotting his own injury. If anything, he is alarmed by how this may impair the government’s substantive reform agenda.
“It is a mischievous attempt to drive a wedge between Tinubu and Buhari. There is no need to try to put words in Tinubu’s mouth. He will talk when and if it is necessary. His major preoccupation now is how Nigerians can support President Buhari and his administration to achieve the reform and change promised during the election.”
Dare also debunked the story of the visit of Saraki to Tinubu. He said it is not true as Tinubu is not in the country and there is no way he will be in France and Lagos at the same time.
He said “the story about Saraki visiting Bola Tinubu at his home in Lagos is a total fabrication. It is a lie. During the time alleged in the story, Asiwaju Tinubu was overseas in France to condole a family friend. Thus it’s physically impossible for Tinubu to have received anybody at his home in Lagos.”
Another source within the party told TheNiche that it was these unfolding internal squabbles that informed the conveying of a meeting with state chairmen of the party by Odigie-Oyegun, last Wednesday. The meeting was held at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Though the agenda of the meeting was not stated, a source disclosed that it was on how to save the national chairman and the party from the present crisis. He said Odigie-Oyegun has been under severe attacks from party members for not handling the National Assembly leadership election and the crisis it generated properly.
The APC national chairman had supported an APC mock election for the Senate President and House of Representatives Speaker that produced Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila (of the House of Representatives) as the party’s candidates. The two however failed to clinch the leadership positions.
Elsewhere, the APC members from Delta State were also summoned to the party’s national secretariat, same day, by the party leadership over leadership tussle in the chapter.
The stakeholders’ meeting, which had in attendance 45 APC members from the state, was presided over by the Deputy National Chairman (South), Segun Oni.
The meeting, according to an inside source, was centred on how to resolve the state chairmanship tussle between Adolo Okotie-Eboh and Jones Erue. The two leaders are said to have polarised the party in the state.
According to the source, “Erue had won the party chairmanship in the state and the Okotie-Eboh faction had disagreed on the outcome of the congress and had since been fighting against that. He had gone to court to obtain injunction restraining the other group, a move that affected the party in the state negatively, during the last election.”
He added that “the national party headquarters is trying to see how to resolve the leadership crisis in the state”.
This was alluded to by the party’s governorship candidate in the state, O’tega Emerhor, who spoke to journalists after the meeting.
Those at the meeting were said to have included Frank Kokori, Festus Keyamo, Tarry Hariman and Senator Francis Okpozo.
However, some of the party members who came for the meeting but were not allowed entry became angry with the national leadership of the party.
The state chairmen, after the meeting with the national chairman, proceeded to the National Assembly to interface with the APC legislators.
It was gathered that the chairmen had resolved to align with Buhari and Oyegun on their position on the National Assembly by recognising the present leadership.
Earlier in his comment on the crisis in the party, Oyegun had said: “All the party has decided to do is to re-unify as quickly as possible our members in both chamber of the National Assembly under the existing realities. That is the first priority. Every other thing will follow. All other things will have to wait. This is because, if, for instance, the president says he wants to present his list of ministerial nominees to the Senate, we don’t want a situation whereby the Senate will be divided. So, we are trying to sort that out; it is our number one priority. We are happy that we are arriving at amicable settlement of the situation; this one cannot wait for long. It has to be immediately.”
Tinubu’s acolytes are said to have interpreted the remarks as indicating that Odigie-Oyegun had abandoned their principal. Their grouse, our reporter learnt, is that the former Edo governor, seemed to have forgotten so quickly Tinubu’s role in his emergence as the national chairman of the party. Odigie-Oyegun’s supporters, however, insist that his stance was the best in the light of the realities confronting the party. For them, APC needed to make the best of the ugly situation, to ensure that it delivers democracy dividends to the people.
The national chairman, incidentally, is not oblivious of the speed at which Nigerians are losing patience over the perceived slow pace of the Buhari administration in tackling the issues confronting the nation. He had, for instance, sued for understanding from the populace on the increasing impatience of Nigerians with the government, especially with regards to appointments of such major functionaries as ministers and other presidential aides, stressing: “I don’t think that notion is correct. We have a very capable president. He is capable as ever. The president is a very careful man. He wants to be sure the kind of people he will appoint are people who are passionate about the country. What is really important is the speed of the delivery of his policies. You can see that things are already improving despite that. What the president is doing is to conduct a very thorough check on the background of the people he will appoint.”
He also dismissed insinuations that President Buhari is being held back by the inordinate ambition of some party leaders in his activities. Odigie-Oyegun said: “I don’t think that will hold him back at all. Like he said, he belongs to everybody and he belongs to nobody. They should just be patient. He does not want to make avoidable mistakes.
“What is important is to see whether on a daily basis your life is improving. Everything that can be done in these few days are being done and the effect is being felt already. Let me assure the public that peace is on the way. We had a problem in the family, no doubt about that, but we are moving quickly to resolve it. As you can see, we are working hard to see that the leaders and rank and file don’t start throwing punches.”
He also denied the speculations that he was lobbying to be made the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF).
