From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The political development in the last few weeks certainly bore eloquent testimony that Nigeria is not only sliding gradually into a one-party state, but also indicates that the forthcoming 2027 presidential election is almost a fait accompli for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The signs are visible for even the blind to see and the deaf to hear. The state governors on the platform of the opposition parties, National Assembly members, notable political bigwigs and the ordinary Nigerian politicians, flocking into the ruling party in droves, the utterances by the leaders of the APC and their unrepentant postures, were enough to validate the apprehensions in the minds of many Nigerians that the 2027 presidential election may only be a mere formality.
Whether the defectors were intimidated into joining the APC as many claimed or they did it out of their own volition, the manner at which former notable leaders of the opposition parties’ defect to the ruling party, analysts posit, has become a shameful spectre to many political pundits.
For example, political watchers are still wondering how the immediate past vice presidential candidate of the main opposition party, the PDP, Ifeanyi Okowa, could contemplate, let alone brazenly joined the APC even when his boss, Atiku Abubakar, is still in deft struggles to maintain a political visibility and stability.
Expectedly, in defence of his defection at a grand reception to mark the presentation of APC flags to the Delta defectors in Asaba, Okowa had claimed that he did it for the people, driven by the desire to better connect the state to the federal network for crucial resources and goodwill.
Stressing that his defection has nothing to do with selfish political interest, Okowa said: “it was not about me or the governor, but about the people and the future of our state. We must defend our state above all else. This decision is in the best interest of Deltans, and we must embrace unity within the APC family, including those who have already joined and those who have just come aboard,” he said.
And at the last count, those notable political figures that queued with Okowa competing to decamp to the APC and perhaps remain politically relevant ahead of the 2027 major political season, cut across many of the political parties.
Those in the long list of defectors to the APC, from Delta and beyond include the governor of Delta State, Sheriff Francis Orohwedor Oborevwori and almost all his political office holders, Senators Kawu Sumaila, Kabiru Alhasan Rurmum, and other National Assembly members from Kano, and Senator Ned Nwoko, among many others.
The defections became such a gigantic harvest that the National Chairman of the APC, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, while ecstatically celebrating the capture of high-profile politicians into the APC, recently boasted that in its determination and stout resolve, they are bent on not only crumbling the opposition parties completely but to also ensuring the collapse of Nigeria into a one-party state structure.
Apparently eying retaining the 2027 presidential ticket, Ganduje has never failed to stir the hornets’ nest in announcing that the ruling party is unrepentantly on a mission to ultimately weaken the opposition parties ahead of the 2027 presidential election to the point of ensuring that they might not field candidates for the election.
To perfectly execute the plan, Ganduje revealed that there is also an arrangement to ensure that bigwig politicians standing as solid-rock support base for the opposition parties, “willingly and voluntarily decamp to the ruling party” to make the country an almost a one party-state and the 2027 presidential election a mere formality.
Part of the strategic game plan by the ruling party, according to Ganduje, is also to ensure the complete collapse or stoppage of the coalition of opposition parties from emerging into a strong force capable of posing any form of threat to APC’s determination to seamlessly clinch the 2027 presidential seat.
If he was not exact in his expectations of the impending tsunami in other states, Gandjue was very certain about the total and comprehensive defection of the chieftains of the dying New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Kano to the APC, boasting that from members of the state to the National Assemblies, party officials to the who-is-who in Kano politics, nobody will be left out in the defection exodus that will hit the NNPP soon.
In the intrigues that characterised the plot, Ganduje had jokingly said that he would not only watch the burial of NNPP but will also specifically receive its leader, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, into the APC.
Hear him: “You are aware that NNPP is dead and will soon be buried. The coffin that we will put its body has already been constructed. What remains now is to dig the grave. And we are already digging the grave. Actually, all the (members) of House of Representatives, Senators, State Assemblies and other party officials, timber and caterpillars are coming into the APC very soon. We learnt that even the so-called leader; after losing everywhere wants to come back to the APC and we will welcome him. When a General lost his commanders, what do you expect from him? We will receive him when he comes home,” he had joked.
And while confirming the undercurrent mission of the ruling party further, Ganduje recently said; “In APC, we believe in our President, Bola Tinubu, we believe in his economic reforms, we believe in his Renewed Hope Agenda and part of the political agenda is trying to canvass for more followership into the party.
“We started with democratically electing governors, especially in Edo State, which was in PDP, we succeeded in winning the election, it is now an APC state. There is another channel that has been opened through advocacy, through dialogue, through convincing some highly and even elected governors to come into the party. And you can see what has happened now. The governor of Delta State is now in APC, including his cabinet, including all the members of the State Assembly and House of Representatives, and the timber and calibre of the PDP, are now in APC, even the former Vice Presidential candidate coming into our party. So, you can see that we are expanding. I don’t want to reveal our secret, but what I am telling you is that (for) APC 2027 is a done deal,” he declared.
But, despite the celebration trailing the glamorous defections into the APC, many political pundits are already nursing the fears that managing the ego and personalities of the defectors might certainly be the greatest challenge to confront the ruling party, especially over who becomes the leaders of the party at the state chapters.
Already, the signs are beginning to manifest in many ways. From Kano to Delta and other states, the anxiety over who controls the party is palpable. With Kwankwaso and Kano State governor, speculated to be defecting to APC, what would be the kind of relationship between them and the Ganduje-led national leadership of the party?
Apparently expressing uncertainty over what becomes of the APC National Chairman when the state governor, Abba Yusuf takes over as the leader of the party in Kano, Kano State APC chairman, Abdullahi Abbas, had cautioned that the “factional leader of the NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso” and associates would not be welcomed as a group or a cult–like political association in the party.
Among many other litanies of demanding conditions, the state chapter chairman had specifically suggested that: “the prospective defectors who had earlier made derogatory statements against our leaders, President Tinubu and Vice President, Kashim Shettima, must offer a public apology to the party and to its leaders as a sign of remorse and a respect for future relationships.
“In line with the specification, the APC as a political organisation has directed their ward chapters to open registers for new defectors irrespective of their political and social status. We advise all those desirous of joining our esteemed party to visit their respective wards to register,” he stated.
To confirm the apprehension in Delta State for example, in his speech at the ceremony to formally receive him into the party, the state governor declared himself the leader of the party in the state, warning the Ovie Omo-Agege, Festus Keyamo factions that he would not tolerate any of such factions in the state.
But the coalition of the opposition political parties have dismissed the possibility of the defections into APC, affecting their plans to wrest power from President Tinubu in the 2027 election.
Aligning with the views that the ruling party is using coercive instruments to force many opposition party members into the APC, spokesperson to the coalition, Salihu Mohammed Lukman, also insisted that the defection was clearly understandable and did not come as a surprise to any politically conscious Nigerian.
According to Lukman; “anybody who will say this is not unexpected will only be deceiving himself. The signals have been there, that some governors are going to decamp. It’s not just one but some governors. You also know that the situation in PDP. The party is clearly a shadow of its own self. Although we acknowledge there are people, there are leaders in PDP who are optimistic they can rescue the party, I can tell you for certain, we are not going to produce a new political structure that will be blind or ignorant of the character of politicians. “Anybody coming in will be related to, based on their own past trajectory. So, if truly we want to rescue the country, we are not talking of rescuing the country as just defeating Asiwaju and APC. We want to correct all the mistakes and shortcomings from the Buhari to the Asiwaju administrations. And we want to restore the aspiration of Nigerians to produce a stronger and greater country. Produce leaders that they will be proud of. That is what the coalition is all about. And if anybody sees it differently, we are going to correct all of that,” Lukman noted.
As the political intrigue enters advance stage, many Nigerians will wait patiently to see how President Tinubu manages the relationship between the old party members and the new entrants into the party to maximise the advantage, so as to ensure his party wins the 2027 presidential election.
“We will wait to see how President Tinubu will ensure that Kwankwaso and the Kano governor work harmoniously with Ganduje to win Kano State. With what is already playing out in Rivers, I just hope that President Tinubu will harness the egos of the party leaders and maximise them into advantage, otherwise it will be counterproductive” an APC chieftain told the Daily Sun.