From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
If feelers from the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are anything to go by, then the ruling party may soon implode following the discrepancies surrounding the disbursement of the funds the party generated to prosecute its recently concluded National Summit held at the Banquet Hall of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The APC National Summit, organised primarily to officially adopt and endorse President Bola Tinubu as the party’s sole candidate for the forthcoming 2027 presidential election, was a gathering of heavy and lightweight party chieftains at the national, state and grassroots levels.
A source close to the party told Sunday Sun in confidence that some aggrieved members of the National Working Committee (NWC) have already registered their disappointment by demanding explanations from certain eggheads in the party’s national leadership on how the generated funds were expended.
Our source explained that the funds, which came majorly from certain chieftains of the party, particularly a former state governor and current National Assembly member, who gifted the party a whopping N2 billion in two tranches of N1 billion each, could not be adequately and transparently accounted for to the satisfaction of the other members of the NWC.
Explaining the reason for the fresh crack, our visibly angry source said: “The concept about the National Summit was rather ridiculously unnecessary. Everyone knows that most incumbent presidents, even in the USA, naturally enjoy offer of first refusal and automatic sole candidate tickets. Former President Goodluck Jonathan enjoyed it even though he was of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) extraction, Muhammadu Buhari also enjoyed it under our party. Most of the first term state governors across the country are equally beneficiaries too.
“So, why organising that sham called National Summit and expending huge amount of fund in a country many citizens are struggling to survive by eating from the dustbin, just to endorse an incumbent who already has the automatic ticket?
“Did you see any semblance of summit in what transpired that day? And by the way, do they even need to organise such programme just to endorse and adopt President Tinubu as the party’s sole candidate? For me, the summit was absolutely needless.”
However, our source added, “the main issue threatening to tear the party apart was lack of accountability for the fund released for the summit. Already, some aggrieved members of the NWC are threatening fire and brimstone, demanding an accountability of how the funds generated were expended. And unless the issue is handled with care, the ruling party may soon implode.”
Similarly, a fresh wave of tension is not only brewing within the party, but also threatening to worsen its already fragile peace.
There is an impending serious showdown between the party’s national leadership and members of the National Assembly over the decision of the party to deny the latter automatic return ticket in the 2027 general elections.
The APC NWC had recently issued a statement through its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, announcing that the party’s national leadership has decided against giving automatic tickets to the legislators despite extending such gesture to President Tinubu.
The statement from the party reads: “The attention of the APC has been drawn to a purported breaking news report tagged ‘APC grants automatic tickets to All National Assembly Members’ in viral circulation.
“The report is fake news and should be disregarded in its entirety as it did not emanate from our great party. We urge all party members and the general public to disregard the report as fake and of mischievous origin.”
However, expressing disgust and disappointment, a member of the National Assembly told Sunday Sun in confidence that the party’s leadership was not only very unfair in taking such decision, but also unjust in bringing it to the attention of the general public, warning that the leadership will not contain them by the time they confront the party.
“We were shocked to read the decision of the leadership of our party announcing to the general public that there will not be automatic tickets for us. That decision was too harsh and insensitive, judging by the contributions we have made in stabilising the party and by extension the APC-led Federal Government.
“We want to believe that they did not mean it because we cannot understand why they should grant such offer to Mr. President and refused to extend it to us, the National Assembly members that have supported this administration through thick and thin.
“We will ignore the decision for now that the Assembly is not in session until we reconvene very soon. But what is certain is that the party’s national leadership will not get away with this inconsiderate decision,” the Assembly member warned.