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Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The extension of the tenure of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee (NWC) by 12 months is a pointer that the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s one-man reconciliation committee may be technically dead on arrival.
Before the shenanigans that culminated in the overwhelming vote of confidence on the party’s leadership, the letter from Tinubu accusing the party chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun of frustrating the reconciliation efforts and Oyegun’s reply had pressed the panic button on an imminent hurdle confronting the belated efforts to settle the gladiators within the party.
In its desperation to remain in power beyond 2019 and its determination to check factors that might lead to further erosion of the party’s cohesion, President Muhammadu Buhari had opted for peace pact, appointing Tinubu to spearhead the reconciliation efforts to bring the warring factions under the same roof.
But hardly has the committee resumed the daunting task did the same factors that have bedevilled the party shortly since emerging victorious in the 2015 general elections started rearing its ugly heads.
The doubts, praises, dusts and apprehensions setting up the reconciliation committee raised were yet to settle when it became engulfed in crisis that did not only take a new twist but also deteriorated.
The crisis was so disturbing that Senator Shehu Sani described APC as a ruling and opposition party, warning that disaster of monumental proportion awaits the party should the Asiwaju committee fail to restore peace in the party.
His words: “It is of concern that a party that came to power with so much goodwill and hope found itself in a civil war against itself. Right now, the APC is both the government and the opposition because most of the criticism and opposition that is going on in the country is within the APC itself.
“It is going to be a tragedy if Asiwaju fails. This is what I know and I can speak in parables. The pronouncement appointing Asiwaju to reconcile members averted the tragedy of people decamping from the APC to the other parties. It has been able to do so at least for now,” he argued.
However, the presidential pronouncement of Tinubu’s committee ostensibly triggered off fresh crisis at both the national and state levels. In Kaduna, the governor, Nasir El-rufai took opposition to a crass level when he rolled out bulldozer to demolish the property belonging to Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi for sheltering the newly unveiled office of a faction of the APC in the state.
The same week, the crisis in the APC Kogi state chapter degenerated, resulting in the controversy that trailed the opening of a new office complex by the party faction loyal to the governor, Yahaya Bello.
The perceived questionable role the national leadership of the party played in the crisis rocking the Kogi and Kaduna state chapters reverberated in the letter Tinubu wrote to President Buhari, and copied Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives; Yakubu Dogara, accusing Oyegun of frustrating the reconciliation effort.
He had particularly blamed the party boss for undermining the mandate given to him to reconcile aggrieved members and ensure party cohesion by engaging in dilatory tactics.
His words: “Drawing from your behaviour in Kogi, Kaduna and with regards to the state chapter assessment requested, I am led to the inference that you have no intention of actually supporting my assignment. Instead, you apparently seek to undermine my mandate by engaging in dilatory tactics for the most part.
“When forced to act, you do so in an arbitrary and capricious manner, without the counsel of other NWC members and without regard to our internal procedures,” Tinubu, who recalled that the APC was established as a party of internal democracy, lamented that its internal institutions have been actively undermined or allowed to atrophy.
The hurdles before the committee
Indications emerged shortly after the announcement of the committee that the move was a step in a wrong direction considering that it was a usurpation of the constitutional responsibility of the national leadership of the party.
On a larger scale, many political watchers believed that though the troubleshooting is better late than never especially if the APC must go into the 2019 general election as a united entity, however the cold war between Tinubu and Oyegun, which would be rekindled, might widen the crack in the party.
In manifestation of such, the former Lagos State governor did not however hide his feelings when he advised Oyegun in his letter not to allow the personal scores he has to settle with him affect the party’s fortune.
“You may have personal qualms with me. That is your right as a human being. However, you have no such right as the chairman of this party. This party belongs to all of its members. You have no greater claim on it than any of the rest of us. Whatever personal qualms you may have with me are secondary at this point.
“You have a moral and professional obligation as the party chairman to act in the party’s best interests. Your hurried and unilateral actions belie the important agency you hold for the party. I beg that you refrain from taking any more improper unilateral decisions with regard to the national and state chapters of the party,” he warned.
However, the challenges facing the reconciliation committee are beyond the hostilities between the two gladiators. Virtually all the state chapters of the APC are embroiled in one form of crisis or the other, although some may be described as ‘low-level’ conflicts; while others should not just be glossed over.
In Ondo State, it is Borrofice versus the governor, Rotimi Akeredolu. In Kogi State, it is Hon James Faleke versus Governor Yahaya Bello; Senator Dino Melaye/APC state executive against Governor Bello. In Bauchi State, it is a battle between Speaker Yakubu Dogara and Governor Mohammed Abubakar and in Kaduna State, Senators Shehu Sani and Suleiman Hunkuyi are at dagger drawn with Governor El-Rufai.
The situation is same in Oyo State where the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu is fighting dirty with Governor Abiola Ajimobi, while in Ogun State, it is Senator Adeola-Yayi squaring up with Governor Ibikunle Amosun. In Kano State, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso is in battle with Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
In Zamfara State, it is between Senator Marafa and Governor Abdul’aziz Yari, in Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi is in supremacy battle with Senator Magnus Abe while in Imo State, Governor Rochas Okorocha and Senator Ifeanyi Ararume are at each other’s throat. In Edo State, it is clannish battle between Oyegun and the immediate past governor, Adams Oshiomhole.
Then in Bayelsa, Timipre Sylva declared war against the APC State Exco and in Abia, the APC elders are digging it out with the Minister of Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelama. Gombe is not left out as Senator Danjuma Goje has scores to settle with the ‘disbanded’ State APC executive.
The list is endless with Segun Oni battling Kayode Fayemi on the Ekiti chapter while in Osun, it is war between Governor Rauf Aregbesola versus Lasun while in Lagos, it is Governor Akiwunmi Ambode and the APC National Legal Adviser, Muiz Banire.
Delta state chapter is not left out as the Erue Jones-led Exco fights some party bigwigs. In Adamawa, Governor Jubrilla Bindow and ex-Governor Murtala Nyako don’t see eye to eye, just same with Sen. Nyako and Nuhu Ribadu. In Cross River, the State executive and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Nguru are at each other’s jugular.
Ultimately, considering the fact that Tinubu is equally an aggrieved person especially as his failed attempts to instal the National Assembly leadership pitched him against principal officers like senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and senators like Dino Melaye, he may have embarked on an impossible mission.
It was also speculated that he has fallen out with some party chiefs in the South-west like governors Amosun, Akereduolu, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola among others. Perhaps, it may be a case of appointing an aggrieved-in-chief on a reconciliation assignment.
The intrigue of tenure extension
Another hurdle before the reconciliation committee was the manoeuvring over the future of the NWC in general and Oyegun in particular. The several campaigns, protests and horse-trading over Oyegun’s future, faced the real litmus test during the party’s last NEC meeting when an overwhelming vote of confidence was passed on the extension of the tenure of the national officers.
However, hardly has the joy of the extension been consummated fully did it hit the brick wall with the threat of litigations looming large.
Although Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello had announced after the NEC meeting that the Oyegun-led NWC has been granted extension of tenure, however the claim was debunked by the chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Zamfara State governor, Abdul’aziz Yari.
Yari had insisted that such an extension could only be effective with a constitutional amendment, which only a National Convention could do. He stressed that: “Article 30 of the APC constitution states that the constitution and the schedules hereto can be amended only by the National Convention of the party.
“The process of amending the constitution is also expressly provided in Article 30 sub section 2. This states that: Notice of any proposed amendment by any member or organ of the party shall be given to the National Secretary at least 14 days before the date of the National Convention.
“The Notice shall be in writing, shall contain a clear statement of the proposed amendment and reasons for it. What was done during NEC meeting is only an expression of a desire to extend the tenure of Chief Oyegun-led National Executive,” Yari insisted.
Aware of the fact that the ultimate plan of the reconciliation committee would be to shove him aside, Oyegun in his reaction noted: “Well, I don’t want to talk on this sensitive political issue. Suffice it to say that whatever happens, there will naturally be contrary view. So, it will be so difficult if you come out with total, one hundred per cent unanimity.
“But I think the reasons for not wanting to hold some of these elective congresses this year is very clear; we have such a mighty work to do this year and each one has the potential of causing crisis. It has always been that once there is an election, it always creates its own issue,” he said.
From the huggermuggers, it is becoming obvious that judging from the unhealthy rivalry and rancour between the party leadership and the reconciliation committee, the latter would face an uphill task of restoring peace within the ruling party fold.
On the other hand, the backing of the greater number of the state governors to the national leadership may also complicate the reconciliation efforts at the state levels.
The dangers of APC going into a major election in 2019 as a divided house are humongous. The overwhelming crisis obviously portends doom for the party in the next year’s poll. In the words of Sen Shehu Sani: “The crisis has defiled solution for years and we hope that Asiwaju will be able to achieve much because if he fails, it is going to be doom for the party in 2019.”
