From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
In the calculation and conclusion of doomsayers, the All Progressives Congress (APC) may, pretentiously, be sitting on a keg of high-magnitude explosive devices capable of imploding in no distant time, a development that is likely to pose a serious threat to its chances of winning the 2027 presidential election.
Ironically, the anticipated implosion has nothing to do with the political theatrics and dynamics of the APC’s plans to win the forthcoming presidential poll and even that of the National Assembly to enable the ruling party to control an overwhelming majority at both chambers of the Assembly.
Again, it, perhaps, may have nothing to do with the delicate balancing nature of the positions currently occupied by the national leadership of the ruling party, the National Working Committee (NWC), despite the recent rising hostilities against its National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
More curiously, the possible impending implosion is equally unconnected with the apparently anticipated threats from the Nigeria National Coalition Group (NNCG), bent on not only bringing the ruling party on its knees, but to also strategically wrest power from it in 2027.
Of course, the recent resurrection of the coalition of the opposition parties, especially in formally applying to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register a new political party, the All Democratic Alliance (ADA), may have changed the political optics, but that may not still pose the real threat, especially as sources say the party may not be registered due to technicalities.
Regardless of how favourable the situation might be for the ruling party, it is, however, not leaving anything to chance in its determination to crush any real and or imaginary threat from the opposition coalition.
Apart from showing impression of dominant posture to the general public to convince them that the coalition has been quietened and perhaps destabilised through deployment of counterforce measures to make it difficult for the actors to continue speaking with one voice in plotting and executing the plans against the APC in the build-up to the poll, the ruling party has continued to tighten its grip.
And in the words of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, the President Bola Tinubu-led APC may have perfectly sealed the death sentence passed on the coalition.
Only recently, while commissioning a project in Abuja, Wike, former Rivers State governor, had taunted the opposition coalition, pronouncing it as completely dead following the good works President Tinubu has done so far.
Hear him: “Your good work has killed the coalition,” he mockingly told President Tinubu during the project commissioning, adding: “I was thinking that truly there will be a coalition, but when they see what is happening every day, I told my people to ensure that every national television must hook in, so if they tune to any of them, they are watching Mr President. Everywhere they tune to it will be Mr President. So, they have no choice, they must watch it for 17 days, there is nothing they can do.
“Abuja people say I should tell you that they are happy, please continue to help us so that the BP of these people who are not happy will keep rising. The coalition is bound to fail and it has failed,” the former Rivers State governor added.
Despite the anticipated opposition threats, lines seem to still be falling in pleasant places for the ruling party, even two years away to the next general elections, judging by Mr President’s renewed visits across the country and the loud voices of hired praise singers.
Again, going by the dummies presented by the praise singers so far, the deaf could hear, and the blind could even see the Eldorado status and height the APC-led administration may have taken the country to.
Many pundits are in sync that part of the landmark achievements are all pointers to the fact that the ruling party would easily coast to victory even before the electoral umpire, INEC, could blow the whistle for the commencement of the rumble in the jungle electoral battle.
However, certain optics and ominous indicators have shown that the internal reverberations within the ruling party across the country could be the biggest impediment angling to scuttle the possibility of the APC winning the election, like a walk in the park through the near-perfect arrangements it has already put in place.
As the presidential election approaches, the cracks within the rank and file of the ruling party across the country have continued to widen. The missiles, with the capacity to destabilise the party, waiting to be launched, may apparently come from within the party. After all, there is this popular saying that the most dangerous enemy is the one within.
Already, there is a cloud of uncertainty and palpable anxiety over the future of Vice President Kashim Shettima, a development already posing a potential threat to the unity of the ruling party.
Another was the unending battle among party’s stakeholders over who controls the structures of the party across the states between the increasing number of defectors and the suppressed voices of the old loyal members, chieftains and leaders of the party, in addition to the eventual outcome of the push and pull over who decides the choices of party’s candidates in the forthcoming general elections.
Again, the increasingly hostile actions and inactions of the disgruntled party members are fast becoming another potential threat to the party’s dream and aspirations to retain the status of administering the country beyond the 2027.
Apparently, across all six geopolitical zones in the country, the unity and peaceful coexistence among the members of the ruling party seem to be hanging precariously in the balance. Superiority and inferiority complex dispositions among the loyal members and the new entrants into the party are competing over who should control the party’s structure. Similarly, the undue favour and advantage conferred on the new defectors to the detriment of the old loyal members, have continued to constitute and breed constant bile, frictions and animosity among the two sharply divided camps.
In Abuja, the events of last week where protesters, in their hundreds, swooped and grounded activities at the headquarters of the ruling party over complaint of bias and unfavourable treatment against old members could apparently be the anticipated warning signal to the party’s national leadership that the impending implosion may be very catastrophic and cataclysmic, sources say.
The protesters, while lamenting the sidelining treatment melted down on the committed old members in the forthcoming FCT Area Council elections, warned that they could wreak havoc that could sink the ship of the party during the 2027 presidential poll.
Their anger and resentment reflected on their posters with various inscriptions like ‘We don’t want Aduda’, ‘We don’t want PDP members’, ‘We say no to PDP agents in FCT APC’, ‘Stop PDP agents from hijacking APC FCT election’, among many others.
The group in their petition to the party’s leadership, said “we write as loyal, concerned, and committed stakeholders of our great party, the APC, under the banner of the APC Consolidation Group. This petition is borne out of deep concern over the dangerous infiltration of the FCT APC by individuals who reflect the values of the party or meet the constitutional requirements for nomination, yet are positioned as candidates in a brazen attempt to hijack our internal processes.
“These actions, if left unchecked, will set a dangerous precedent, one that allows political turncoats and saboteurs to undermine our platform, frustrate long-serving loyal members, and turn APC into a safe haven for rejected opposition elements.”
Similarly, the balkanisation of the party in most states across the country between the new entrants and loyal, committed old members is also another issue of concern that may be a potential threat capable of destabilising APC ahead of the 2027 polls.
In Benue State, for instance, the implication of the alleged frosty relationship between Governor Hyacinth Alia and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, both APC members, has gradually snowballed into turning the state into a killing field capable of denying the ruling party an overwhelming victory in 2027 general elections, is another potential threat.
In Delta, Akwa-Ibom and many other states where the incumbent governors and other top elective and appointive government officials defected to the APC in this administration, the party has started experiencing the same unending crises over who becomes the leader or who takes control of the party’s structure ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
In Anambra State, there was insinuation that members of the APC are furious and at daggers drawn over President Tinubu’s recent visit to the state governor, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo.
The visit came with multi-dimensional interpretations and misinterpretations concerning Mr President’s real intention for the visit. For many, through his body language, it was an endorsement of Soludo’s second-term aspiration for the November off-cycle governorship election in the state.
All these signals are very insignificant to the more dangerous type that happened in Gombe State during the North-East APC stakeholders meeting for the zone to align with the unnecessary bandwagon endorsements of President Tinubu as the party’s sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election.
All manner of weapons were freely hauled at the party’s leaders and chieftains on the podium to protest the allegations of sabotage and conspiracy to intentionally sideline Vice President Kashim Shettima. The development clearly derailed and scuttled the main mission for the meeting.
And ever since the ill-fated outing in Gombe State, the party chieftains, aware of the potential threat to the party, have spent enormous time and resources to correct what they termed a wrong impression which emanated from the meeting.
Like Nostradamus, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Adolphus Wabara, aligned himself with the thought of many doomsayers to predict an imminent implosion of the ruling party as a result of the defections of PDP members.
“I have earlier warned against Tinubu turning Nigeria into a one-party state, and it’s all coming to pass now. He has no apologies for that, and this is not good for our democracy,” Wabara once said, adding that, “the development will be a blessing in disguise.”
He further said “APC will soon implode as a result of the defection of PDP members, coming to displace loyal APC faithful who have laboured to build their party. The PDP will laugh last because very soon, there will be an implosion in the APC. Those people joining the APC will soon want to displace the party members who have built the APC over the years. The displaced APC members will look for where to go, and they will come over to the PDP. Those people defecting know that in 2027, the outcome of the election may not reflect the true will of the people. They may be afraid that the results of the elections may be compromised, but Nigerians will not allow such broad-day robbery again,” Wabara added.
For every defector, words of encouragement and assurances have come from President Tinubu that their decision will not be an effort in futility, dismissing the possible implosion of the APC and insinuation of turning Nigeria into a one-party state.