Saturday LetterÂ
The emergence of Reformed- All Progressives Congress is not strange to Nigeria’s political game. It has happened before and it will happen in the future and that’s the beauty of representative democracy. In fact, opposition within a political party in power especially at the centre and from the National Assembly has been with us since 2003. However, students of politics know that the intense horse-trading and ploys that led to the emergence of R-APC have left the All Progressives Congress (APC) more fractured than united. Though, no political party can be crisis free, especially when in power. As elections approach, internal squabbles and scrabble for ‘who gets what’ are normal in political parties and most common in expensive democracies like Nigeria’s.
The Reformed- APC may on paper appear a threat to President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term ambition, but in substance it is not. This is because the R-APC doesn’t have a single APC governor that is in support of the group nor presented something new to Nigerians. The fight is still about who gets what though at its infant stage – anything is possible. Apart from this, other oppositions are yet to pose a threat to Buhari because they are still disunited due to diverse personal ambitions. Furthermore, most of the opposition have centered their thinking and planning to ‘Abuja only’- Buhari. They have forgotten local units where the politics and voting takes place. However, the R-APC is still a beautiful bride, depending on how the play the game.
The truth is, the APC has failed and is still struggling to effectively manage sudden fame and enormous power in the hands of different interests groups with diverse world views. The APC as a party is a victim of its formation, composition and destiny – suddenly the party became very strong but with little or weak respect for party supremacy and control. In fact, R-APC is the offshoot of the crisis that followed the just concluded national convention, local and states congresses including other six major issues which are governors who want to control everything and everyone; second, ex-governors who want to control incumbent governors; third, second-term governors fighting senators for senate-seat tickets; fourth, senators who want to become governors; fifth, parliamentarians unsure of a return ticket and finally, party faithful and stakeholders who feel side-lined by state government .
President Buhari is not a typical Nigerian politician, but a responsibility of behaving as one has fallen on him. The president has options; however, with a new life coming into the APC, and to ensure the party is most unified ahead of the 2019 elections, a presidential flair is needed in dealing with R-APC and the New-PDP- though some elements in the R-APC and New-PDP have taken advantage of the issues for just personal gains. Nevertheless, the best thing is one thing – the “R” in the R-APC. They should take the path of ‘reconciliation’ and employ the spirit of give and take.
Zayyad I. Muhammad, Jimeta, Adamawa State
