Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, revisits penultimate Saturday’s APC national convention, identifying factors that made it a resounding success
Muhammadu Buhari
Apparently in a bid to prove their critics wrong, the leadership of opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) battled real hard, as they successfully organised the party’s very first national convention at which national executive members were elected. At the exercise that was concluded on Friday, June 13, former Governor of Edo state, John Odigie Oyegun emerged the national chairman.
To most political watchers, the convention, which took place at the Eagle Square, Abuja, although not thorough in terms of organisation, was adjudged commendable as it steered the party away from implosion.
While APC members, since the exercise, seem to be celebrating the joy of the feat, it is obvious that Oyegun’s emergence did not go down well with former Minister of External Affairs, Tom Ikimi, who lost out due to the consensus deal struck by chieftains of the party.
TheNiche gathered that part of the reasons the APC leaders worked against Ikimi’s aspiration was that they saw him as a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) mole in the party. But Ikimi has described the allegation as nonsense. In a two-page statement he published in a national newspaper last week, Ikimi dissected the APC convention and concluded that it was a charade hijacked by some leaders of the party for their selfish interests.
The impression that had trailed the emergence of the APC, particularly by the PDP, was that the party would not survive implosion, given its make-up. The PDP had shown great optimism that APC would crash due to its allegation that the opposition party does not have the democratic tolerance to conduct a national convention. In fact, the PDP made it a singsong that APC, which, arguably, Nigerians see as the major albatross of the ruling party at the centre in the 2015 general election, would disintegrate when it comes to selecting those who would lead the party through a democratic process.
APC had, however, earlier proved its critics wrong in this regard when it inaugurated its elected states executives in 34 out of 36 states and Abuja, on Thursday, June 5, without pronounced crisis.
Political watchers agree that the party leadership was smart in its calculation. This is because the leaders knew that going through the hurdle of electing the national leaders was not going to be as easy as organising the state congresses. The first problem APC tactically tackled was on how to zone the positions without instigating intra-party squabbles. It was gathered that the party leadership spent sleepless nights in different parts of the country tinkering with how to come off this without the party being torn apart. This, a source said, informed the reason the party’s zoning formula was kept a top secret, two days before the convention was held. In all, the zoning was done in such a way that it was rancour-free.
There is no doubt that there were lots of interests. These included the interests of the APC leading figures such as Muhammadu Buhari, former military head of state; leader of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu; the 16 governors of the party and the interest of other political gladiators. The issue of religious and ethnic balancing was also not left out. There were other considerations. Tinubu, for instance, was known to have earlier rooted for former acting PDP chairman, Abubakar Baraje, but the governors were not comfortable with it, as they wanted a more transparent election.
For the convention committee chairmanship, the governors rather settled for the governor of Sokoto State, Aliu Wamakko, who promised to deliver a transparent convention.
At first, the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, was touted as the man for the position of national chairman. This permutation was said to have changed a few hours to the convention when some members reasoned that giving the position to him would amount to great risk, as the PDP and presidency were said to be eagerly waiting for such mistake, so that they could re-activate his corruption case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Sylva was earlier pencilled for this job because he is said to be aggrieved over the way his kinsman, President Goodluck Jonathan, treated and hounded him out of the PDP, which he was a founding member.
Sylva’s second term ambition as Bayelsa governor was cut short by Jonathan who replaced him with Henry Seriake Dickson.
Apparently to play safe, APC finally settled for Oyegun who, though not a money bag, commands tremendous respect from party leaders. It is, for example, on record that since 1998 when the nation’s democratic experiment commenced, Oyegun has remained in the opposition camp, first as a leader and founding member of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and later as a member and Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), before joining the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Former interim chairman of APC, Bisi Akande, said what Nigeria just witnessed in the convention was an indication that the party was well organised and serious in its quest for power to transform Nigeria.
His words: “Let me make it clear that this is but a stop in our steady and progressive march to Aso Rock next year. I can report to you that the state of our party is strong, and that our achievements have surpassed all our expectations. Our voice has been ringing out loud and clear, and today in Nigeria we are seen as an undisputed and credible alternative to the babbling and fumbling PDP.
“For the first time since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, the over-confident PDP has been rattled and has suddenly realised the possibility that it can, indeed, lose power at the centre next year.”
Mohammed Zakari, activist and lawyer, commended the conduct and diplomacy of APC at the convention, saying the party exhibited political maturity in its calculation. He said if the party would continue with such performance, it would help in deepening the nation’s democracy.
He said: “If they can replicate what they have done in their presidential and gubernatorial primaries, it will go a long way in deepening democracy in the land. This is because, for the first time, a convention of such magnitude was conducted without people openly crying foul.”
