From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

Perhaps, in the history of intra-party administration in Nigeria, no political issue has generated tension, confusion,  intrigues and uncertainty in recent times like the much-awaited National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

From the ordinary members of the party, the leaders, the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) to the presidency, the crisis in the APC has remained a source of concern.

Before now, protests were organised, ultimatums of sack and resignations threats were issued, countless litigations were instituted at various law courts across the country, lobbying and dialogues were equally deployed in addition to other measures to douse tension, persuade or subtly force the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) into picking a convenient date to conduct the convention with little or no success.

Threatening fire and brimstone, the Director General of the PGF, Salihu Moh Lukman, had repeatedly called for the resignation of the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Committee should the leadership adamantly refuse to organise the convention next month February.

The PGF DG warned that the fate that befell the sacked Comrade Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) wiould be a child’s play to the disgraceful humiliation the Caretaker Committee will suffer should they still remain adamant.

Lukman was however, not alone in the warnings and attacks on the Caretaker Committee as self-acclaimed factional Caretaker Committee led by hitherto coordinator of the APC Progressives Youths Movement (PYM), Mustapha Audu, did not only announce the dissolution of the Governor Buni-led CECPC but also threatened to conduct its own national convention specifically next month February 26.

“There is actually nowhere to give the Buni-led Caretaker Committee pass mark. They have failed totally and that is the reality. If you are given a task for six months and you could not do anything in 20 months, it is an F9 rating. Violating the constitution left, right and centre is another F9. If in the face of these failures, you cannot resign, it is another F9”, he said.

The situation of anomie perhaps came to the head when President Muhammadu Buhari warned of the grave consequences that await the APC in the event that the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wrests power from the ruling party.

Speaking on the confusion surrounding the APC national convention, President Buhari had cautioned that the party must work within the timeframe available, determine a substantive leadership, and chart its course ahead of the 2023 elections or risk being displaced by the opposition.

His words: “We have a time frame; we have to work around it because the four-year cycle is constitutional. It cannot be interfered with by anybody. So, if the party cannot agree, then the opposition will take over. What did the PDP do? They thought that the opposition could not come together. But when ACN, ANPP, CPC, APGA came together, before PDP realised it, they were off. They are still off.”

Perhaps, yet unperturbed about the warnings, the APC national leadership has maintained that its major concerns currently would be to manage the fallout of the rancorous congresses it conducted by resolving the escalating crises ragging in almost all the states and possibly dispense the various litigations against the party before picking an acceptable date for the convention.

The Caretaker Committee seems to have continued to hang on everything and every reason to consolidate its hold and continue with the running of the party regardless of the legal and practical implications of its continuity in office.

Apparently, the continued extension of the tenure of the Caretaker Committee had not only emboldened the members, created mutual suspicion of perpetuity plans but had also caused cracks, division, protests, unending animosity and criticisms among major and minor stakeholders within the party.

Unruffled, in a statement signed recently by the CECPC Secretary, Sen John James Akpanudoedehe, the party leadership had noted that; “dates for party activities such as meetings, primaries, congresses, and national conventions are communicated through well-known official channels and not through sources.

“As a focus-driven, process-oriented political party, the APC Caretaker Committee under Governor Buni will not be distracted by self-serving antics of the sponsors of fake news. The APC Caretaker Committee is already embarking on nationwide consultations with party stakeholders to prepare the ground for a rancour-free national convention. To this effect, the sub-committee on budgeting and other substructures will be set up in due course.

“Finally, the party notes and appreciates the continued support of well-meaning members and leaders as the APC Caretaker Committee undertakes the immediate task of addressing contestations within the party, litigations, fallouts of recently-conducted congresses and generally reposition the party ahead of the national convention,” the statement had read.

To most political observers, the volume of threats, litigations and attacks that came from genuinely concerned party members and alleged sponsored pseudo groups over allegations of perpetuity plan by the APC Caretaker Committee, confirmed that the party really lacks a rallying point to provide the needed leadership to redirect its seeming sinking ship.

Apart from the absence of Board of Trustees (BoT) that would have provided the moral compass and stabilising force for the party, the apparently disturbing division among members of the Progressive governors, the chieftains and members, feasting on the interpretations or misinterpretations of the body language of President Buhari to the detriment of the party, widened the crack.

The bone of contention obviously has been the perception that the Governor Buni-led Caretaker Committee has treacherously continued to manipulate things to selfishly remain in power as long as it can.

Again, what delayed the conduct of the national convention, according to bookmakers, has been the anticipated backlash of balancing the delicate zoning arrangements capable of derailing or even crumbling the ruling party if it is not properly and sensitively handled.

Beyond all these shenanigans, what could be the real reasons for the escalated tension in the party can be directly attributed to selfish interests, the intrigues and politics of the 2023 presidential ticket and the desperation of the contending power blocs to outsmart one another in deciding who emerges the party’s candidate. Bearing in mind that the battle is going to be a winner takes all, all the power blocs have left nothing to chance in manipulating the party to their advantages, including sponsoring pseudo groups to achieve that.

However, with the yet to be officially confirmed information that the party’s leadership has finally settled for next month February as date for the conduct of the national convention, after the marching order from Mr President, the chicken seems to have come home to roost.

Expectedly, the raging storm may now die down gradually to possibly create room for solving the zoning conundrum in clear terms of which geopolitical zone gets what and ultimately resolve the criteria aspirants must possess to emerge leaders of the party.

In suggesting the criteria for the candidates and warning against electing an emperor again as the national chairman, Lukman had advocated they have good relations with the party leaders at national level, especially President Buhari and the governors, where there is an APC government.

“It should be a strong advantage when the aspiring person has played any role during the merger negotiation that produced APC and has been consistent in the party since 2013. This means such a person would have the needed institutional memory to recognise and respect sacrifices made by party leaders and members to make the merger that produced the APC successful.

“It should be a strong disadvantage when any aspiring candidate has records of defection from the party or any of the legacy parties that merged to form the APC. Finally, public service experience will not only be an advantage but a measure of determining the democratic credentials of the candidate.

“APC needs a national chairman who is humble, with very good relations and respect among both party leaders and members. Steps must be taken to ensure that APC national chairman and other members of the NWC do not reduce themselves into extorting parting leaders, especially aspirants. APC leaders must take every step to avoid vesting the responsibility of the national chairman of the party on another ‘emperor’ who will end up conducting affairs of the party with absolute disrespect and contempt for decisions taken.

“APC needs a national chairman who can provide every level playing field for the internal party electoral contest for 2023. Any new national chairman of APC who can lead the party to electoral victory in 2023 must not be a surrogate to any aspirant for the 2023 Presidential contest.

“Similarly, such a person must be ready to control other members of the NWC from demonstrating bias in favour of any candidate for the 2023 Presidential contest within the party. Being a humble national chairman, such a person must be ready to subordinate himself/herself to party leaders at local levels,” he suggested.

Ordinarily, zoning would have been another hurdle the party will have to face and cross to brighten its 2023 election chances but for a party like the APC who derives its power from the body language of Mr President, zoning may be the least of the challenges that would confront the ruling party.

Confirming the assertion that the decision of zoning will be an exclusive reserve of Mr President, a chieftain of the party told Daily Sun in confidence that the progressive governors will avoid like plague accommodating it among all the suggestions they will take to Mr President after their Sunday meeting.

“The governors will not deliberate the issue of zoning because they have to get a clear signal of who Mr President wants. It is an issue anybody can just dabble into because its sensitive nature has necessitated that Mr President handles it by wielding a certain level of influence.

“However, let me inform you that the zoning arrangement seems to have been sorted out because it is almost certain who will be the party chairman because majority of the stakeholders, including the presidency, are favourably disposed to North Central candidate from the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) stock as one of the legacy parties that has not produced the chairmanship of our party. I can tell you for free that the consensus candidate for the position of chairman will emerge on Monday or latest Tuesday,” our source noted.

From all indications, however, conducting the national convention will not be a stroll in the park, considering certain factors like lingering litigations, unresolved crises in many states threatening the possibility of conducting the outstanding congresses in Anambra State and resolving the backlash it will generate.

More importantly, is the possibility of a Caretaker Committee with a history of incapability to resolve a myriad of crises rocking the party since assumption of office close to two years and settling the quantum of confusion it created in the recently conducted congresses before the February convention.

The leadership of the party should know that failure to organise the convention beyond February apparently means giving room to anarchy and toying with the future of the party in both Ekiti and Osun states as the candidates and governorship electoral victories may likely be a source of legal battle to test the validity of the Caretaker Committee that signed their nomination forms.

In the event that the party organises a successful convention, monumental tasks will await the new national leadership. Apart from exploring the possibility of retaining its electoral value beyond the 2023 general elections without President Buhari on the ballot box, it will be confronted with the daunting task of resolving several aggrieved gladiators and warring factions in almost all the states of the federation for the overall benefits of the party.

Again and more importantly, deliberate efforts must be made to eschew a repeat of the incidences that culminated in the sacking of the Oshiomhole-led NWC especially cases of high-handedness and deliberate relocation of the party to the personal office of the national chairman outside the secretariat of the ruling party.