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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Former spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yekini Nabena, has written off the current national leadership of the ruling party, urging the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to scrutinise the financial transactions of the National Working Committee (NWC).
Nabena equally argued that the party’s national leadership lacks the rectitude to decide who emerges the principal officers of the National Assembly.
He hinged his anger on the role the National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, played in endorsing Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, as the presidential candidate of the party last year.
The former spokesperson of the ruling party also argued that apart from such endorsement dividing members of the NWC, it was in clear violation of the party’s zoning arrangement.
He also highlighted the reasons members of the ruling party did not celebrate the party winning in the February 25 presidential election. Excerpt:
How will you assess the performances of APC in the just concluded 2023 general elections?
Our party, the APC, performed very well because we lost some and won some. But the crowning moment of the party’s performances was that APC won the presidential election. However, if you ask me, I will say that the outing has confirmed the strength and input of every party member. The election has shown that the people have taken over the party, not the governors or so-called leaders that are claiming ownership of the party. We have seen the unimpressive performances of the governors and the leaders during the election. Most of them, including the governors, don’t believe in the party.
Why has it become difficult for your party members to celebrate the victory they won during the presidential election?
There was no celebration because the governors realised after the election that they are not the owners of the party after all. Since the governors have nothing to celebrate, they could not make resources available for the people to celebrate. You know that they are the big spenders and if they refuse to open the vault it becomes very difficult for the poor masses to get the means to celebrate. The ordinary party members are celebrating in our own little way, but Nigerians are not feeling it because money is not involved. Why is it that the governors of Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi among others, making the whole noise and displaying in-charge mentality before the presidential election are not celebrating? They cannot celebrate because they have failed the party and the people have taken ownership of the party. The election really demystified all of the governors and party leaders. People came out to inform them that they are not actually in charge of the party.
What could be responsible for APC lose in some states like Zamfara, Kano, Plateau among others?
The good thing is that we lost in some states, but also won in some others. Politics is a game and competition of winning and losing. And like I said earlier, the most important thing is that APC won the presidential ticket. The significant thing in this election is that the people have proved their importance in elections by voting the candidate they feel can deliver the dividend of democracy to them.
We won in Sokoto, Benue, but lost in Zamfara, Kano because the people did not want them. The Kano situation is understandable because the governor did not do much to them. Can you imagine a man like Umar Ganduje talking against President Buhari who made him? If not because of Buhari, would Ganduje have won his election in the first place? He benefitted from Buhari’s APC popularity and wave to become the governor in 2015. The Peter Obi wave in the Southeast in the 2023 election was a repeat of the Buhari wave in the North in 2015. So, Ganduje loss was a payback for the insult he gave Buhari during the last election.
Why is crisis still rocking the party even after winning the presidential election?
The crisis rocking the national leadership of the party, the National Working Committee (NWC) ought not to come to anybody as a surprise. The foundation upon which the leadership is laid is faulty, wrong and weak. The fact that the National Chairman endorsed a presidential aspirant should be enough reason for crisis to fester within the NWC. It has never been done for a party’s National Chairman to openly endorse an aspirant before the primary. It is even more worrisome when such endorsement altered the zoning arrangement of rotation between the North and South. I don’t blame the APC National Chairman because he is not even elected in the first place. He is a product of endorsement. There will continue to be problems in the NWC because all of them are selected not elected. They don’t know the ideology of the party and what the party stands for. They came with the mission of making money from the party. I have said it before and I am repeating the appeal that the EFCC should come and investigate the financial transactions of the current leadership of the party. We know how much the party made especially in the sales of forms for the presidential election that many aspirants bought for N100 million each. Governorship went for N50 million apart from the National and State Assembly. EFCC must investigate the party’s financial dealings.
What should the President-elect be doing now to win the confidence of Nigerians?
Tinubu is a core politician. He knows what to do and how to do it. He is not the talking or boastful type. I know he will return to the drawing board and strategise on how to deal with the governors, including his own governor in Lagos who could not deliver him in his state. The era of allowing the governors to take charge is over. He must make the people the centre of his policy and dealings. He is very much aware that the anger over the outcome of the election is still very high and will take time to heal. I am sure that after swearing in, aggrieved Nigerians will align with his government.
What is your take on the controversial issue of zoning in the National Assembly?
I have made it clear to every ear that cares to listen that the day the National Chairman violated the agreement on zoning arrangements by endorsing the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, he has created a faulty foundation in the party. Nobody is going to listen or honour whatever arrangement the national leadership is making about zoning concerning the principal officers at the National Assembly because the National Chairman has already set a bad precedent.
We should bear in mind that the National Assembly is a different arm of government. The legislators should be allowed to handle their affairs by themselves. The party made mistakes in zoning positions in the current dispensation endorsing two positions to officials from the same state. The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and the Speaker House of Representatives, Femi Ghajabiala both came from Lagos State. It is only recently that Vice President Osinbajo moved his polling unit to Ogun State. I can tell you that no elected Assembly member is going to respect any zoning arrangement coming from the party’s leadership. What is certain is that the party will not have total control of the legislators because the party’s chairman bungled the initial zoning arrangements on the eve of the presidential primary. What is also clear is that the party’s leadership will find it difficult to wriggle out of the situation before the members of the National Assembly take their destiny into their hands. For me, therefore, the party should not dabble into the sensitive issue of determining who emerges the principal officers of the National Assembly. I am sure that the legislators will not even listen to the party.
Bayelsa governorship election is around the corner, but there is no peace in the state chapter of the APC…?
There can never be peace in any party in any state. In politics, external forces and selfish interests usually clash. The end will justify the means as far as the Bayelsa election is concerned. You talked about what David Lyon said or did not say, but do your investigation to find out if he won his polling unit in the recently concluded presidential election, let alone his ward. Who sponsored the election for his candidate during the State Assembly election? Ask him if he has ever made any contribution to the state chapter of the party since he lost out in the last governorship election. Timipre Sylva delivered his own House of Assembly candidate, but did Lyon deliver his? How can Lyon contest for governorship when he lacked the capacity to make any impact during the presidential and State Assembly election? When they brought the money to contest the governorship in 2019 did he bring a dime? Since he is desperate to contest, the die is cast and we will all try our strengths and popularity during the party primary. The people will decide who their candidate becomes after the primary, which comes up this month April.
What is your advice to Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar on what to do after losing the presidential election?
If they really love this country, what I expect from both of them is to imitate what my brother Goodluck Jonathan did after the 2015 presidential election by congratulating the President-elect, Bola Tinubu. Four years is already around the corner. They should return to the drawing board and start preparing for the 2027 presidential election. But my concern is that both of them have never been in a political party for four or eight years consistently. We want to see whether they can remain to build and nurture their parties. Atiku should not run to Dubai while Obi should not go and produce beer only to look for the party to join and get a platform. If they had built the parties they would have grown. Therefore, Obi should stay and build Labour Party that has produced one governor and over 40 National Assembly members and several State Assembly members. This is his first attempt. Buhari did it more than three times before winning. I don’t expect them to be running to court.
