By Emeka Alex Duru
Various developments happening in quick succession in the last couple of days indicate the widening dimensions of the crisis rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The entry of President Muhammadu Buhari into the fray adds to the uncertain trends in the party.
Before Wednesday, June 24, 2020, the crisis in APC had largely been between suspended National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole on one hand and his opponents in the national Working Committee (NWC), led by National Deputy Secretary, Victor Giadom, on the other hand. With Buhari and National Leader of the Party, Bola Tinubu wading into the face-off in obvious partisan steps, the party seems set for a huge crack
Tinubu had in a forceful statement backing Oshiomhole, his protégé, dismissed Giadom for the audacity of summoning a virtual meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party on Thursday. To him, Oshiomhole should be commended for steering the affairs of the party creditably and not being challenged by Giadom. He made allegations of the Deputy National Secretary deriving his audacity from unnamed powerful quarters.
“We even had a National Deputy Secretary improperly calling for an NEC meeting on the basis that he believed himself to be the acting National Chairman. Clearly, this man would not have summoned the temerity to make such a move had he not been instigated by powerful individuals, whom he thought would reward or, at least, protect him for committing the wrongful act”, Tinubu had remarked.
The presidency did not allow Tinubu’s outburst to register impacts when it made announcement indicating that Buhari had taken sides with Giadom. In a tweet by his special assistant on media, Garba Shehu, Buhari claimed the party’s law supports Giadom’s claim to the disputed position. This position of the president puts an end to the claim by Oshiomhole’s camp which had tipped Abiola Ajimobi to act as chairman while his suspension subsists.
“The President has received very convincing advice on the position of the law as far as the situation in the party is concerned and has determined that the law is on the side of Victor Giadom as Acting National Chairman.
“Because he will always act in accordance with the law, the President will be attending the virtual meeting Giadom called for tomorrow afternoon.
“In addition to the President, the Giadom meeting will, hopefully, be attended by our Governors and the leaders of the National Assembly,” Shehu said.
Tinubu, Oshiomhole in the lurch
Many see the position by the president as heavy blow on Tinubu in particular and Oshiomhole to some extent. Oshiomhole, to analysts, is relatively a small fry that can be dispensed with in the emerging battle. It is the former Lagos governor that may bear the brunt. None of the officials of the party in Lagos state, agreed to comment on the unfolding drama on record. A former aide to Tinubu, however explained the President’s stance on the matter as amounting to betrayal on his principal. “You will recall that shortly after the President’s election in 2015, he turned his back on Asiwaju till the time he needed him to mobilise support for him for his second term. The same thing he is doing now was what he did in the Ondo election when he dumped Segun Abraham, Asiwaju’s candidate in the primary and took sides with Rotimi Akeredolu. He was also on the verge of extending the same unprincipled support to John Odigie-Oyegun, the former National Chairman for another term in 2018 when he suddenly realized that he needed Tinubu for his second term. That was when he pretended to support Oshiomhole. Now, there is nothing at stake for him (Buhari) hence he is backing Tinubu’s opponents. But I can assure you that Oga (Tinubu) will not take it lightly. Something will give in”, he vowed.
The fear is that if the Giadom camp succeeds in having upper hand against Oshiomhole, Tinubu’s 2023 presidential ambition will be in jeopardy. For one, it will keep him out of the strategic decision making levers of the party. He will be like any other member. In that case, he will not be in the right position to push his candidacy.
For Oshiomhole, that may mark his sudden retirement from active politics. In 2018 when Tinubu threw him up as national chairman, he attained the position in a flash, not adjudged to possess the carriage and temperament for the office. It was more of a quick-fix arrangement. By current developments in the party, he seems to be on his way out, in a splash.
How far will APC go?
The unfolding developments in APC are casting huge question marks on how far the party can go. Even as the party enthused at coming to power in 2015, many had dismissed it as a mere assemblage of strange bedfellows that would fizzle out in a matter of time. For these critics, though APC had accessed power on the crest of blistering media hype and exaggerated claim to progressive politics, leaders of the party were mere power-seeking politicians, interested more in office than service delivery.
The party, has not incidentally, put a lie to these insinuations. If anything, it has always stumbled from one crisis to another even on such simple issues as allocation of positions to its chieftains. The current impasse in the party is not limited to the national level. The states are not spared. In Lagos state, the two major blocs in its fold – the mandate and unity groups, headed by Tinubu and Rauf Aregbesola, the Internal Affairs Minister, are at opposing ends. The dissolution of both camps by Tinubu, has not halted the impending cracks among the followers. In Ekiti, the camps loyal to the governor, Kayode Fayemi and Political Adviser to the President, Senator Babfemi Ojodu, are slugging it out in a battle of supremacy. Governor Akeredolu is also having issues with some chieftains of the party in Ondo.
Incidentally, the disquiet in APC is not on strategies and agenda at delivering good governance and democracy dividends to the people. It is rather centred on ego and interests of the leaders.