From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings, successfully held last week, were evidently more of fanfare, glamour and self-glorification than display of any bitterness and rancour.

To many politically exposed persons, the convivial, peaceful and carnival-like atmosphere that pervaded the meetings was a clear testimony that they were mere formalities, apparently to diffuse the tension and agitations trailing the hitherto failure of the party to organise them, in clear violation of its statutory requirements which stipulated that it should happen on a quarterly basis for such organs.

Speaker after speaker, especially during the NEC meeting, left no one in doubt on the objective the stakeholders and leaders of the ruling party intended to achieve.

And for many analysts, the party members did not only send clear signals, particularly to doomsayers harbouring all manners of negative conjectures about the party, but were also deliberate in confirming that all was well with APC.

Expectedly, there was no half measure or attempt to compromise the standard of security deployments. It was a top-notch, impenetrable security network that grounded human and vehicular movements and a complete shutdown of activities along Blantyre Street, housing the APC national headquarters in Abuja, the venue of the NEC meeting.

The meeting was undoubtedly an assemblage of who is who in the ruling party. From President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Speaker House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, their deputies, Senator Barau Jibrin, and Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, respectively, to the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who presided over the meetings, it was a glamorous presence of almost all the very important personalities in the party.

Other notable statutory NEC members in attendance include all the members of the National Working Committee (NWC), past and present members of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) like Monday Okpebholo, Edo, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Ondo, Hyacinth Iormem Alia, Benue, Biodun Oyebanji, Ekiti, Uba Sani, Kaduna, Abdullahi Sule, Nasarawa, Mai Mala Buni, Yobe, Usman Ododo, Kogi, Dapo Abiodun, Ogun, Mohammed Umar Bago, Niger, and Mallam Umar Namadi, Jigawa, among others.

Former governors like the likes of Abdulaziz Yari, Zamfara, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Kebbi, Yahaya Bello, Kogi, Bello Matawalle Zamfara, George Akume, Benue and the current Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), in addition to former deputy Senate president, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, serving National Assembly members, and former interim National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande, also attended.

However, the conspicuous absence of notable founding members and former political officeholders like former President Muhammadu Buhari, his Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, former State governors like Rotimi Amaechi, Rivers, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Kaduna, Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti, former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, former party’s chairmen, John Odigie-Oyegun and Abdullahi Adamu, among others was also noticeable.

Inquisitively, the rather lengthy welcome address by the party’s chairman, Ganduje, may have clearly defined the mission of the NEC meeting, but the overwhelming endorsement and unanimous support given to President Tinubu to re-contest in 2027 was definitely the biggest takeaway of the meeting.

Right from when President Tinubu made a triumphant entry into the makeshift tent deliberately built for the meeting, and received with a welcoming shout of “no vacancy in Aso Rock” after singing the usual mantra song of “on your mandate we shall stand”, it was certain that the official announcement of his second term ambition was the main trust of the meeting.

The endorsement was so strong that it eclipsed the revelation from Ganduje that he inherited a litigation liabilities to the tune of N8,987 billion, the appeal to intervene over its garnished account, the continued harvest of heavyweight opposition politicians across the country populating the ruling party, the relative return of peace both at the national and state chapters of the party and the proposition to build a magnificent edifice in the heart of the FCT befitting of a ruling party among others.

And doubling down on the endorsement to send warning signals to other aspirants planning to contest against President Tinubu, the ruling party equally confirmed hatching and perfecting arrangements to organise an intimidating two-million-man march to compel him to re-contest and retain his position in 2027.

While eulogising President Tinubu for increasing FAAC allocations to the state governors, crushing insecurity to a tolerable extent and putting measures in place to reduce the harsh cost of living in the country, Governor Uzodimma had exuded confidence that the party is on the right trajectory to remain in power beyond 2027.

“I want to thank our party members who took all the blame at the beginning of the various reform policies of Mr. President. The cost of living is high, yes, food is expensive, yes, there is hunger in the land, yes, but we need a permanent solution to them.

“What we have for Nigerians is trust, having trusted and voted for us. Therefore, we should continue to celebrate and pray that there should not be divisions among us. But we want to encourage the party members to acknowledge the global economic factors that have made life so challenging.

“Nations are challenged, there is war in Ukraine, war between Israel and Gaza, and every country has fastened seatbelts to move towards home-grown solutions. In Nigeria, since President Tinubu assumed office in 2023, he was able to take the bull by the horns in doing so many things to make possible what seemed impossible,” Governor Uzodimma remarked, moving a formal motion for a vote of confidence in President Tinubu.

Former Governor of Edo State and ex-chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, in seconding the motion, confirmed that the two-million-man march will soon be organised where Nigerians will assemble to beg President Tinubu to re-contest.

Senator Oshiomhole said: “I am now able to go to my constituency and say that the worst is over. It is no longer an endless price increase because what you pay for a bag of ric e in December is much better now. If things continue to go down, I can assure you, Mr. President, that Nigerians will beg you to re-contest and there will be a two-million march to plead that Asiwaju should re-contest for our national interest.”

“We are also the ambassadors and spokesmen of the party, and we must tell Nigerians of what we do. The opposition parties’ business is to de-market the ruling party. We have to promote what we are doing right and remind them what they did wrong. We have to remind them that the people are not comfortable but you are working on it,” Oshiomhole noted.

In what looked like gavelling the endorsement, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, told newsmen after the meeting that, “as a result of all these improvements in all the sectors, members highlighted that we are witnessing a very quiet revolution in the country. An absolute vote of confidence was passed on President Tinubu in recognition of his bold and unprecedented programme of economic reform which clearly now, indisputably are beginning to bear fruits and require all of us to support, so that our country can continue to develop and be assured of our future,” Morka said.

While also passing similar confidence vote in the Ganduje-led NWC, President Tinubu, in his keynote speech said: “The NWC is doing a good job and I am happy with them. In all the various states, let us set up reconciliatory committees to liaise with these aggrieved leaders. I am appealing to them, please calm down.”

To clear those still doubting the unity and peace in the party’s fold, the comments from the embattled President of the Senate, Akpabio, were handy and reassuring, when he noted that; “there are clear indications that our party is doing well. Our governors are doing well because we have been going to commission laudable projects in our various states.

“If you don’t win the election, then win the people through good governance, if you don’t win through good governance, then win the people through love and performances. What is certain is that we have won the majority of the people of Nigerians through good governance,” he argued.

But, no matter how the stakeholders tried to circumvent the truth, what was incontrovertible to many critics, is that many Nigerians are still collapsing under the heavyweights of economic hardship just as the ruling party is facing obvious threats from the opposition parties.

Aware that APC NEC is passing through a familiar root with the endorsement, Speaker of the House of Representatives did not only remind party members but also took time to warn the leaders of a glaring impending danger beyond concluding that it is El Dorado for the ruling party ahead of the 2027 general elections.

He warned: “Let us remain vigilant because the opposition may try to regroup and strategise to displace our government, but their plans will undoubtedly fail because the ordinary Nigerians can now differentiate between substance and mere noise.

“This is a clarion call for every member of our party that we must be united, proactive and committed towards ensuring that the dividends of democracy continue to get to every corner of the country. Our determination and resilience will ensure we get to the Promised Land,” he said.

His warnings came on the heels of the stark realities on the myriads of challenges confronting the party as chronicled by the National Chairman, Ganduje.

In itemising them, he listed the disturbing, unprecedented humongous N8.987 billion legal liabilities he inherited on assumption of office, the party’s garnished accounts and lack of an edifice befitting of a ruling party.

Although he noted that the National Legal Adviser, Abdul Kareem Kana (SAN), has been working to reduce the debt burden through dialogue and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, Ganduje, however, appealed for the intervention of the presidency, stressing that; “some of the party’s accounts have remained garnished. We still appeal passionately to the NEC to intervene accordingly.”

While passionate appealing to the presidency to authorise the allocation for the building of the new national secretariat, Ganduje said: “As part of the commitment to secure and own a national secretariat complex befitting of a ruling party and one that would conveniently accommodate our national officers, the newly established The Progressive Institute (TPI) as well as the three wings of the party, we have formally applied for a land at the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) that will drive this project. May I therefore appeal for the kind intervention of Mr. President for this project to materialise.”

However, the meetings expectedly did not end in absolute praises from every Nigerian as opposition parties’ chieftains lampooned the ruling party over what they described as the inappropriateness of hosting the APC meeting inside the Presidential Villa.

Expressing anger, a Labour Party (LP) chieftain, Peter Ameh, lamented that instead of preserving the State House as where important national decisions are made, and where the president receives visiting dignitaries, it has been misused for partisan purposes.

“The use of the Presidential Villa for partisan activities is a clear violation of the principles of democracy and fairness. The Villa belongs to all Nigerians, regardless of party affiliation. By hosting APC functions there, the ruling party essentially uses state resources for its political gain, excluding other registered political parties from accessing the same facilities,” Ameh said.