Babel of Voices in APC

For obvious reasons, the party is over for the All Progressives Congress, (APC).

Before the decision of the Supreme Court which finally put to rest the leadership crisis that threatened to tear the Peoples Democratic Party apart, APC had been enjoying a quiet moment. It even threw jabs at the party that promised to rule Nigeria for 60 years but managed to get sixteen years in office.

While the crisis lasted, APC, a party that was unable to (it still can’t) manage its own affairs indulged itself in teaching PDP how to be a good opposition party. Even when it (APC) had failed to learn how to be a governing party. Now PDP is coming together strongly while APC appears to be heading for an implosion.

Initially, many of the party’s members, for sentimental reasons kept quiet but complained in private. For one, President Muhammadu Buhari was ill and no one wanted to be accused of putting party’s politics above the president’s health. When the president was not on sick bed, many still kept quiet because they did not want to be seen to be working against the president. But that may be changing.

A member of the party in Ogun State, Chief Bode Mustapha once complained that statutory meetings of the party were not being held at both the state and the national level.

He said: “It is not only an issue at the national level. As per the constitution of this party, I am a member of the state exco, I am a member of the state caucus, having once been a member of the National Assembly, nobody has ever sent an invitation to me to meet. As far as we are concerned, when a governor calls a meeting that is exco, and that is not the exco, and the same time, at the national level.”

Asked who should take the blame for the inactivity in the party, the former member of the House of Representatives was very blunt: “I would say, that the presidency should take that blame as the leadership of the party and at the state levels, the governors should be blamed as the leadership of the party at the state level.”

 As if it was a move calculated to jolt the president to the reality that all was not well within the party, the recent gathering of the southwest leaders of the APC in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital sent a clear message to the national leadership of the party.

That the gathering was an open invitation was not in doubt. The National Working Committee of the party was well aware of the meeting, in fact many members were present.

As the meeting was progressing, then it was the turn of the former national chairman of the party Chief Bisi Akande to give his speech that was when all hell was let loose.

With his ready smile and affable manner, Chief Akande could be anyone’s favourite uncle. But this is not how the leadership of the APC now views its former leader. He started his speech by declaring that the party’s ticket for the 2019 presidential election remains open to contenders as Buhari was yet to indicate interest in a second term.

At the meeting which had governors, ministers and members of the National Assembly in attendance including Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State, Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi and Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba; former Governor of Ekiti State, Otunba Niyi Adebayo; former governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Lasun Yussuf ; Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila; Senator Sola Adeyeye, APC Deputy National Chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure, and Prof. Claudius Daramola he said the seat remains vacant to any member of the party.

He said: “President Buhari has not told us that. Anybody in our party is free to become the president of Nigeria. If anyone indicates interest and is ready to subject himself to the process through which a candidate is elected, and he is lucky to have the ticket, then, we will have no other thing to do than to present him as our candidate.”

The former governor of Osun State also said the party did not support restructuring but devolution of power which the federal government has to consider, adding that “restructuring is not our language. Go and ask the advocates of restructuring and they will be able to define it. Ours is devolution of function from the centre to the peripheral governments like the states and the local governments.

“Restructuring is the language of other body, other group of people. So, go and ask those advocating restructuring to define it whether restructuring in education, economy or whatever. That is not in the APC manifesto or constitution.”

Most people at that meeting believed that Akande’s declaration has more to it than meet the eyes. To most political observers, the declaration was the hand of Jacob but the voice of Esau.

Given his closeness to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, many went home thinking Akande spoke the mind of the national leader. They may be wrong.

The national leader of the party at the meeting in which such a far reaching declaration was made. However, Akande explained that Tinubu was absent at the meeting because he “suddenly took ill.”

He said: “Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had prepared for this meeting. He had prepared the helicopter line he wanted to use. But, he suddenly took ill.” Also corroborating Akande’s position, Tinubu’s media aide, Mr Tunde Rahmam said the “illness was not a serious one so it shouldn’t be given much concern.”

Following the Akande declaration, as move to douse the tension created, the chairman of the northwest zone of the party and former Minister of Youth Development, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, concurred with the former chairman that there would be no automatic ticket for Buhari come 2019.

The ex-minister said there would be contest and a level playing ground for all, and that due process would take its course, adding that the party’s rule was that every member would be giving a chance to contest in the primaries.

He said, “2017 that we are in now, there is no vacancy. There could be vacancy any moment, anytime either in 2019, 2020.

“In 2019 the vacancy that exists is that whether you like Buhari or not, whether he wants to run or not, there will be a contest.

“What I mean is that the APC as a party is not a draconian party. We will allow the due process to take its course in terms of whoever wants to contest for the presidency.

“I am not a soothsayer, but I know that the rules and laws of the APC is that every member would be given chance. If you want to run for the presidency, you are welcome. When you say there is a vacancy it means there is nobody there.”

People have given different interpretations to the statement made by Akande. However, whichever way one looks at it, it has further widened the fault lines within the party.

Others felt that the statement was to remind the president that the south-west’s support for his re-election should not be taken for granted.The president will have to earn it.

Before the Akande’s bombshell, the impression was that there was a consensus to support Buhari for 2019 even though as Akande rightly pointed out, the president had not indicated he was going to run.

In September, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, said he was working with fellow governors and ministers to rally support for Buhari if he chose to re-contest for the presidency in 2019.

El-Rufai said the party stalwarts operating under the name “Buharists” strongly believed in his ideologies and would rest at nothing in throwing their weight behind him anytime he declared interest to serve another term.

He said:“We are Buharists. Our political ideology is to support whatever President Buhari wants to support, and that has not changed.

“We have Buharists among the governors and ministers. Our group wants to ensure that he runs in 2019. If he chooses not to run, he will tell us which direction to go.”

Majority of the party chieftains, who attended the Ibadan meeting were dismayed that Akande would go completely off the thrust of the meeting and created an avoidable controversy for the party in the region.

A governor at the meeting was quoted as saying that party members at the meeting felt “thoroughly embarrassed” by the development, adding that they might come out to set the record straight as far as the essence of the meeting was concerned.

The unnamed governor said: “That didn’t come up at our meeting at all. It was just a question asked by a journalist and he answered off-the-curve. Everyone is angry now. The only thing we discussed was what was in the communiqué read by Governor Ajimobi and essentially the meeting was about restructuring.

“What we said at the meeting was that the word restructuring is not in our manifesto. What is there is that we would initiate a process that would lead to a bill or an act that will define the governance structure of the country. So, basically, we insisted we never used the word restructuring.

“So, that should be it as far as the meeting was concerned. But he really embarrassed us and we didn’t expect it from him, although it must have been inadvertently, because when he was asked after the interview, he said the question was on the spot and that he just gave an on-the-spot answer. Everybody is really angry now and sadly, he is President Buhari’s number one fan. So, I don’t know where this came from.

“He has a lot of respect for Akande and they get along really well. But as it is, we may have to salvage this situation with one of us coming out to address the issue more pointedly.

“Akande is one of the most respected and revered leaders in Nigeria today. He has worked hard to earn that uncommon reputation. If you want someone who can bring about a consensus where it seems strife is inevitable, then Baba Akande is your man.  He is very honest and remarkably frank. He is also a man of fairness, justice and peace. Most people I know see him as an icon and treat him as one.”

But rather than crucify Akande for his boldness to save the party, he should be commended. Had former President Goodluck Jonathan listened to members of his party, he would perhaps had allowed someone from the north to run as president and would have saved himself the humiliating defeat he suffered.

When people like El-rufai creates the impression that only Buhari or nobody else, APC will be toeing the same path that led to PDP’s defeat in 2015. Any party that ignores the feelings of its members and the voters generally will eventually have itself to blame.

As much as the leadership of the party may wish to despise Akande, APC can not afford to ignore the south-west. The party has already lost the south-east and the south-south. So it needs the south-west.

The tremor created by the speech will continue to reverberates within the party. Rather than see Akande as an enemy of the party, the president should accept the fact that he had either deliberately or inadvertently alienated his allies in the south-west and should embark on fence-mending.

Just like the allied and supporters of Jonathan in the south-south and south-east edged him on to ignore other regions, a decision that would later come back to hunt him, Buhari’s kinsmen an appointees have started behaving in similar manner.

The body language of the leadership of the APC in the south-west shows that the alliance at the centre may be about to collapse. If that happens, the ruling party may splinter into many parts. A rebellion of monumental proportion may be ibrewing even if it has not yet exploded into smithereens. The cookie is about to crumble and the bubble is about to bust.

What Baba Akande did not say is simply that the president will have to earn the support of other zones. That the party’s ticket would be automatic. If APC wants to save itself, Akande’s admonition should be heeded.

According to Chief Dele Momodu, a close observer of the Yoruba political trend, to Akande, zoning has never worked anyway, as some presidential candidates left their original parties for other parties in defiance of the zoning formula of their own party.

“Without mincing words, it is obvious that the Yoruba leadership has decided it would no longer support other tribes, zones or regions to attain to power to the exclusion of their tribe”, he said.

According to him, the nation as the situation looks right now would rather work hard, reach out, and join hands with like minds to get power.

He said: “Their decision is borne out of the acute frustration and disappointment that makes them feel cheated about the Nigerian configuration which does not throw up the best but regularly favours the dregs of society who have only contributed to drawing Nigeria backward, in most cases.

“The campaign has probably started in earnest, culminating in the search for a Yoruba Presidency. Though the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Peter Ayodele Fayose has controversially but ceremoniously thrown his hat into the ring, it is the fact that the capo di tutti capi, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, may be warming up for his turn to take a major shot at the race of his life that is most significant.

“One of the greatest political strategists in Nigeria, Tinubu is tired of being a kingmaker and he would rather be the king. Indeed, that has always been his ambition but this has been largely curtailed by circumstances.

“Like many of those who supported Major General Muhammadu Buhari to attain power, after so many attempts, the former Senator and former Governor of Lagos State, feels he’s not gotten the respect and relevance he deserves for his monumental effort. Accordingly, he seems determined to make a personal push.”

He argued that Tinubu might be forced to contest the 2019 Presidential election. “Clearly, such an audacious attempt would be in a party other than APC which going by recent events and noises, is likely to insist on fielding a miraculously rejuvenated President Buhari”, he added.

Continuing, he said: “This is obviously Asiwaju’s preferred move, but again the present dynamics and the dark clouds which hover ominously over him may mean that he is better suited to hide behind another person as President. Remember, age and health are going to be strong factors in the coming election and at 65 now, Tinubu is seen as having crossed the threshold.

“The second option is to realise his limitations and pressurise APC into submission to the extent that he would have to be appeased and rewarded. BAT’s former protégé and current Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo may be cajoled into stepping down for his political mentor.  It is not known if President Buhari would agree to this fiasco, which would mean, not only a Muslim Muslim ticket but also one without the benefit and refreshing vigour of vibrant youth, out of desperation for a second term.

“No matter what you think, these are not the easiest of times for APC. It is very clear that there are no easy options ahead with the number of hardened and resolute aspirants on parade, including the flighty former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku who seems on the way out of APC. Some are also suggesting an Atiku/Tinubu ticket but there won’t be much difference between that pair and that of Buhari/Tinubu on account of age and religion. This is why many feel Tinubu just wants to rattle Buhari to bring him to the negotiating table but I thing he’s very determined about being the president himself after helping a few African Presidents to power.

“Sadly, it is not just about elections and ambitions; even the presidential team is rapidly falling apart. Everyone is fighting everybody and it is so disheartening and distressing! What we envisaged to be a change is fast becoming a mirage and turning out to be a riotous calamity!”

As the saying goes, when two elephants fight, the grass suffers. But who suffers when many elephants are up in battle with each other? Who will count the cost? This is the mythical situation in the APC right now as the party gets set to implode as the race towards 2019 election gets hotter.