Akande Panel And Uphill Task of Reconciling Aggrieved Members By, John Alechenu
POLITICS DIGEST – Let’s take a look at the genesis of the crises in the governing All Progressives Congress, and latest attempt by the Chief Bisi Akande-led APC National Reconciliation Committee to resolve them.
Founding fathers of the All Progressives Congress perhaps never envisaged that the task of holding together the merger of separate political tendencies into one would be so much of an arduous task. When in 2013 merger negotiations between the then Action Congress of Nigeria, All Nigeria Peoples Party, the Congress for Progressive Change and factions of the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, sailed through, party leaders who made it happen had one goal: get President Goodluck Jonathan and his fractured PDP out of power. They, perhaps, thought every other rough edge would take care of itself when the occasion arose.
The party’s numerous internal problems which were buried during the scramble for power became pronounced as soon as its members kicked Jonathan out in 2015. Sharing the spoils of war became so acrimonious that it threatened the very foundations of the once formidable union.
Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Timi Frank, had this to say about the first signs of trouble. “The ACN block in the merger already had the position of National Chairman, with Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; the CPC block took the presidency with President Muhammadu Buhari, emerging as president, and those of us from the newPDP block were left with nothing. We had our destiny in our hands. The Senate Presidency and the Speakership position were opened. We took our chances and won. Instead of support, our members and leaders especially Senator Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara, were attacked from day one.”
A member of the party’s yet-to-be inaugurated Board of Trustees, Chief Audu Ogbe, who later became Minister of Agriculture during the first tenure of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), captured the scenario succinctly, when he said, “These (internal conflicts) are issues which ought to be dealt with by the BoT, I don’t know why it is yet to be inaugurated.” Chief Odigie-Oyegun did his bit to stabilise the party by trying to strike a balance between feuding power blocks.
However, his efforts hit a brick wall during the party’s ward and state congresses. The crisis which accompanied the process literally consumed him as party stakeholders such as Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and pioneer Interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, went public with calls for Odigie-Oyegun to step aside. In a move many are still trying to understand, the President gave Tinubu the task of reconciling aggrieved party members. With this move, party watchers knew that it was only a matter of time for Odigie-Oyegun to be shoved aside. His ouster led to the emergence of a former Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole. As soon as he assumed office, the former labour leader fired warning shots. He let party members know there was a new Sheriff in town.
He hounded the Saraki-led National Assembly so much that he gave indication that the party was prepared to force the then Senate President out of office, if necessary. This, to him, was the only way to enforce party supremacy. He threatened ministers with suspension for daring to ignore party directives. The greatest test to his chairmanship perhaps came during the party’s primaries preparatory to the 2019 general elections. The decision to allow state chapters choose their mode for the primaries meant to select candidates led to chaos in most states.
This, some argued, was largely responsible for the several setbacks the party suffered in some states during the general elections. National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Lanre Isa-Onilu, however, blamed the losses on the high level of indiscipline and sabotage by some members. He said, “If you look at what happened in some of the states we lost during the election, you will find that the people voted for the PDP not because they preferred it but because of indiscipline and the anti-party activities of some of our members.”
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He noted that the party under Oshiomhole’s leadership was doing its best to reposition by putting in place processes and procedures which will ensure party supremacy at all times. “No individual is bigger than the party” he argued. The party is, however, still ruing its losses in Bauchi, Oyo, Sokoto, Zamfara and Rivers states. In states where it did not lose on the field, it lost in the courtroom mostly because of its faulty candidate selection process. Oshiomhole is also still grappling with “home trouble” following his war of attrition with his political godson and successor, the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki. This was the situation before the party set up the Senator Ahmed Lawan-led reconciliation committee after the 2019 elections. Some analysts described the committee as “dead on arrival.” Aggrieved party members, especially the Edo State, Governor, Godwin Obaseki, faulted its composition. He argued that most members of the panel were there to do Oshiomhole’s bidding. Disciplinary measures taken by the party after the elections led to the suspension and later recall of some of the party’s stalwarts including former governors such as: Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and the Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, among others.
The Director General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Salihu Lukeman, had blamed Oshiomhole’s style of leadership for most of the party’s current problems. He had in a recent memo said, “The procedure for disciplinary actions has become so cheapened such that all the relevant provisions in the party’s constitution are violated. As a result, Comrade Oshiomhole is today the leading accuser, prosecutor and judge in almost all cases where disciplinary actions have been administered in the party.”
In a bid to seek a solution to the myriad of problems facing the party, the APC reconstituted the reconciliation committee increasing the number of members from 10 to 12. It also replaced Senator Ahmed Lawan with Chief Bisi Akande. Akande, a former governor of Osun State, is to lead the panel in a search for an amicable solution to the party’s abundant challenges.
The rancorous primaries in Adamawa saw the state holding the exercise twice. The then state governor, Jibrilla Bindow, was up against a combined team of the younger brother to the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, Mr Mahmood Ahmed; a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, as well as the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal. They fought Bindow so hard that the state chapter of the party was in tatters by the time they went into the elections. This and other factors made the battle for the governorship race an easy win for the opposition PDP candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri.
A different scenario played out in Zamfara State. The Oshiomhole-led NWC sent a team to conduct the state primaries. However, the primaries turned violent and a fresh one was ordered. The then state governor, Abdulaziz Yari, resisted the move and even said he could “not guarantee the safety’’ of members of the fresh panel. The Senator Kabir Marafa-led faction of the party went to court. The rest as they say is history. Today, the PDP is in charge of the executive and legislative arm of government in the state. Its members are also occupying the three senatorial seats constitutionally allocated to the state in the National Assembly and those of the House of Reps.
In Bauchi State, the infighting between the then governor, Mohammed Abubakar, and the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and several other “Abuja-based” politicians from the state was largely responsible for APC’s loss. Similar crisis engulfed its Ogun and Oyo State chapters as then incumbent governors fought other contenders in other to have their way. In response, aggrieved party members sabotaged the party by either going to court to scuttle the process, or simply working with the opposition to defeat their party.
Lukeman, while expressing his view on the way forward, said, “It is almost impossible to start any process of engagement to resolve our problems in the party without addressing the issue of intolerance that is today the main characteristic of the Comrade Oshiomhole-led NWC.”
A faction of the APC in Ondo State under the aegis of APC Unity Forum Alhaji Ali Olanusi, also expressed misgivings about the Akande-led peace panel. According to the group, the panel could not do justice because members argued that it was biased in favour of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.
In response to these allegations, the party’s National Vice Chairman (South-West), Mr Bankole Oluwajana, dismissed the group’s claims and restated the confidence of party members in the zone in the ability of Akande and his committee to give a good account of themselves.
He warned party members against making unguarded statements in contradiction of the committee, saying doing so would henceforth attract sanctions.
Speaking about the challenges of the party and the move towards reconciliation, the National Vice Chairman (South South), Hilliard Eta, is upbeat about the prospects of the party resolving its internal problems.
He said, “We are a political party and in a political party like every human organisation there are bound to be interests and where these interests don’t agree, you will have conflicts and these conflicts have to be resolved in order to make progress.
“I don’t think the issues we have in our party are any different from what other parties have. The (only) difference is because we are the ruling party. Therefore, ours attracts more attention because everybody wants to be associated with success.”
He expressed confidence that the Akande-led peace panel would do justice to its assignment because members were carefully selected based on their track record of service to the party and the nation.
This may be the party’s last chance to get it right or risk fulfilling the prophesy of those who believe the party will go into extinction once Buhari’s presidency ends in 2023.
Via: Punch
