A couple of months ago, all efforts were geared towards preserving the status quo in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Any move, no matter how well-intentioned in the direction of injecting new blood into the structure of the party at all levels, was perceived as persecutory and designed to upset the apple cart. The tenacity of purpose by the antagonists of tenure elongation for members of the national executive of the party culminated in ward congress coming up about 72 hours from now across the country.
Though an intra-party election, it has a semblance of a make-or-mar contest among the power blocs at different layers within the party’s hierarchy, and the import of the congress and attendant intrigues are not eluding the party faithful, especially in the state chapters of the APC, where variegated forces seem poised for a battle to the finish.
Lagos: As pro, anti-Tinubu forces lock horns
The APC will, on May 2, 2018, commence its series of congresses leading finally to the National Convention that will take place in Abuja. The exercises at the end of the day are expected to produce new executive leadership at the ward, local government, state and national levels that would be put in charge of the party for another four years.
Ahead of the ward congress, every measure has been put in place in Lagos by the Chief Henry Ajomale leadership to ensure a hitch-free exercise. Ajomale said this much recently when he spoke with the newsmen, stating that the party had no serious problem with its members.
But he quickly added that “but when election is coming like this, you will see a lot of things coming out.”
One of those things, which Ajomale could have been referring to, was seen with the development that occurred last week when the National Leader of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu went to the party’s secretariat at ACME Road with shocking news that has continued to generate serious discussions among leaders and members.
At the ACME parley meant for the stakeholders, Tinubu dropped a bombshell when he told the audience that officers of the party that must have spent two terms of eight years in office were barred from seeking a re-election. These officers, from the look of things, include the party chairman, Ajomale; his deputy, Chief Ologunde; the APC spokesperson in the state, Mr Joe Igbokwe, among others.
According to Tinubu, the decision was to allow fresh people to occupy party offices at ward, local government and state levels with a view to taking the APC to the next level in the state.
“Some of you who have spent two, three, four terms as ward, local government and state executive members, it is time to go. We thank you, we appreciate you. But we want you to step aside. It is time for those who have been crawling for years to walk. It is time for the youth to take over. I mean if you have spent eight years, twelve years, you have tried. You should give us chance, let us now have other people,” Tinubu said, clarifying, however, that party executive members who had only spent one term were free to seek re-election provided they did not have records of misconduct in office.
But analysts are saying that the ban placed on Ajomale and others by Tinubu could not have been done without a clear reason, as they are drawing a connection with the earlier act alleged to have been committed by the Lagos APC chairman, who was said to have, as chairman of the chairmen of APC chapters in the country, signed the document on the elongation of the tenure of the APC National Chairman, Chief john Odigie-Oyegun. The elongation has since been quashed.
While announcing the ban at the APC Secretariat in Lagos, Tinubu, who was a former governor of the state, recalled the instance, expressing satisfactions that the attempts to elongate Oyegun’s tenure was finally defeated, a development that had ensured that the party could now hold its congresses and national convention.
“We fought hard against tenure elongation and now we are going to have our congresses,” Tinubu said.
Reacting, the APC Deputy Publicity Secretary in the state, Hon. Abiodun Salami, said that nobody should read meaning to the directive given by Tinubu, maintaining that the party in Lagos “remains one and a united family.”
According to Salami, nothing is wrong with the directive issued by Tinubu that those who must have spent eight years as party executives should not seek re-election, declaring that APC was not anybody’s enterprise.
“Nothing is wrong with the directive, it (APC) is not anybody’s enterprise, everything is in order,” the party chieftain simply said.
On the planned congresses, Salami said the coast was not yet clear whether the exercises would hold as scheduled as the APC National Headquarters was trying to find reasons why they could not hold for now.
He, however, assured that the Lagos chapter of the party was pretty prepared any time the national headquarters of APC gave a go- ahead.
With the ban placed on Ajomale and others, the coast is now clear for the young breed within the fold to aspire to party positions, with expectations that the home-based politicians led by Tinubu and Abuja-based party chieftains headed by former Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, who is currently serving as Minister of Works, Power and Housing, would engage each other to prove who is in control of Lagos APC and to what extent.
While the image of the APC National Leader still looms large within the state chapter of the party, those regarded as dissenters have not given up in their battle against perceived marginalisation by the APC powerbrokers in the state. Attempts to suppress the aggrieved members by the godfathers through their foot-soldiers only forced the former to take a tactical retreat, with the hope of using more auspicious time and moment to possible seek total overhaul of the existing party structures. A few of the dissenters formed the so-called the Broom United Movement (BUM) in Lagos APC because of alleged “illegalities, manipulation and marginalisation.”
The convener of BUM, Mr Faud Oki, had warned that the APC faced serious misfortune if it failed to do the needful: genuine reconciliation in the Lagos APC.
“Our party suffers from low organisational capacity and lack of internal democracy. The resultant effect of this has been its incapacity to support our democracy as expected. Today, our party in Lagos State is fading into insignificance. Massive membership exclusion is becoming the order of the day with members withdrawing from the political space and constituting themselves into internal opposition,” he said.
Ironically, Oki was the Man Friday for all the governors of the state since 1999: Tinubu, Babatunde Fashola and the incumbent, Akinwunmi Ambode, at some points in time. However, in a preemptive move against whatever plan by the aggrieved members for a paradigm shift, Tinubu slammed a ban on members of the executives of the party at all levels who have spent at least eight years as ward, council and state executive members in the forthcoming congresses.
In acquiescing to the proposition of Tinubu, the state APC chairman, Chief Ajomole, said whoever had spent more than eight years as party executive ought to have done whatever he needed to do.
“People like us have been around since the AD days to now that we are APC, so it is time to move on. I am fulfilled, as I have done my best for the party,” he said.
Congresses: APC opposition forces take on Ajimobi
As Oyo APC gears up for new congresses that will usher in new party officers across the 351 wards, 33 local government councils and the state working committee, cleavages that have long defined the make-up of the governing party since inception have become more pronounced.
A group loyal to the progressive ideals of the late former governor, Alhaji Lam Adesina, is in diametric opposition to another group called the SENACO group, which is loyal to the incumbent Governor Abiola Ajimobi. The former group is said to be composed of about 70 per cent of the party structure as presently constituted.
It is for this reason, it was gathered, that Governor Abiola was accused of peopling the list of councillorship and chairmanship candidates for the party’s May 12 council election with 100 per cent of his loyalists, in order to whittle down the influence of the Lamists.
Ahead of the May 3 ward congress in the state, the Lamist group met in Ibadan on Friday and declared that they would not condone imposition of party officers at any level. Supporting the group are two Senators, nine out of the 14 House of Representatives members, 26 former caretaker chairmen, a number of governorship aspirants, former commissioners and many more.
The group called President Muhammadu Buhari and the national leadership of the party to wade in and monitor the development in the party in the state.
According to the group, should the national leadership fail to save internal democracy from being eroded in the party, the fortune of the party going into the 2019 elections will suffer terribly for it.
A communiqué read by one of the chieftains of the APC in Oyo State, Alhaji Abu Gbadamosi, at the end of the Ibadan meeting, insisted on a transparent congress that is devoid of imposition, noting that there might be a repeat of disquiet and rancour that greeted the alleged imposition of local government chairmanship and councillorship candidates recently.
While speaking at the meeting held by the group known as the APC Unity Forum, which had in attendance leading party leaders from the 33 local governments of the state, the member representing Ibadan North-East/Ibadan South-East Federal Constituency, Honourable Adedapo Lam-Adesina, called on President Buhari, Senator Tinubu and the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to wade into the situation in Oyo State ahead of the congress or the party would face greater challenges.
Also speaking, a governorship aspirant of the party, Professor Adeolu Akande, called on party members to stand firm during the congresses to ensure that their votes counted, even as advocated a high-power delegation from the APC to pay a visit to the APC leadership with a view to intimating them of the developments in the Oyo APC ahead of the all-important congresses.
The ranks of those in opposition to the constituted authority in the Oyo APC, however, appeared to have been swollen, with the deputy governor of the state, Chief Moses Adeyemo reportedly sending a representative, Mr Bayo Yusuff, to the gathering while several local government party chairmen and state executive members were in attendance.
Permutations ahead of APC congresses in Delta
With the assassination attempt on an All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmanship aspirant, Mr Silas Buowe, from Umeh in Isoko axis of Delta State last Wednesday by unknown gunmen, the tone of the postponed Ward, local government and state congresses earlier scheduled for May 2, 5 and 9 in the oil-rich state has been set.
Ahead of the congresses, however, it is still left to be seen whether the Senator Bola Tinubu-led Reconciliation Committee has really done much in reconciling the numerous warring factions of the APC in Delta State given the magnitude of factionalisation.
Among numerous factions, there are two major ones craving to outwit each other for recognition and acceptance both in the state and Abuja and had the Tinubu committee done much, the hatchet would have been buried by now and the camps fused together with a view to restrategising the party in the state ahead of the 2019 general elections. But today, the party is divided against itself, with many factions exerting many tendencies not necessarily to turn the table against the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, but more of trying to outwit and undo one another for selfish political interests.
APC, as an opposition party in the state, has been in an ugly state in the past four years, basically worsened by a weak leadership said to be much more preoccupied with pecks of office and hence has been unable to win elections, including the lesser, local government election that was held in January 2018. Before and after the 2015 general elections, it will be recalled that the party suffered and is still suffering from the lack of grassroots base and cohesion and even with the entrance of the man known as the People’s General, Chief Great Ogboru, into the party, a strong or significant show may elude the party in the coming 2019 general elections.
With three days to the postponed congresses in the state, one can only envisage more divisive tendencies and political subterfuge among contenders for the soul of the party structure in the state as already shown in the case of Mr Buowe, the recuperating APC chairmanship aspirant who’s still lying critically in the hospital after the dastardly attempt on his life.
There are two major factions controlling or attempting to control the tardy structures of the opposition party. One is believed to have an upper hand in grassroots’ strength base and at the national level and is led by the 2015 governorship candidate of the party in the state, Chief O’tega Emerhor, from Delta Central who is adjudged as the overall head of the party even though he’s not the party’s chairman.
Overseeing Delta North under the faction of Emerhor is the party chieftain, Chief Hyacinth Enuoha. This faction, with a larger scope and number as generally believed, exudes more cohesiveness and is in alignment with the outgoing chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. Emerhor’s group has sympathy for Delta North to produce the governorship candidate (rather than chairman) that could wrest power from the PDP in the state come 2019. Believed to be working hand-in-hand with this faction are the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, Professor Pat Utomi, PDP defector, Dr Cairo Ojuogboh and former speaker of Delta State, Chief Victor Ochei, and other APC leaders in the Delta North, Isoko and Itsekiri.
The second major faction is led by the duo of revolutionary, Chief Ogboru and embattled maverick senator representing Delta Central at the red chamber, Chief Ovie Omo-Agege. Both defected from the Labour Party (LP) under which platform they contested for governorship and senatorial seat in 2015 general elections respectively. Also prominent in this faction, as gathered, is the wife of former PDP national chairman, Chief Amadu Alli, but who hails from Delta North and plotting to clinch the APC ticket to dislodge embattled Peter Nwaoboshi from the Senate. Mrs Alli probably ranks as the most prominent personality from Delta North that belongs to the Ogboru/Omo-Agege camp. Ogboru, adjudged a perennial loser in about four governorship elections, seeks to leverage on his time-honoured popularity to clinch the APC governorship ticket while suspended Omo-Agege desires a return to the red chamber against all odds.
Feelers have it that Ogboru and his political lineage are yet to be fully integrated into the APC family in the state after defecting from the LP, making them a non-card carrying member of some sort. Chief Ogboru, who enjoys undying goodwill from his people, is said to be impecuniously banking on the political structure of the former Governor Adams Oshiomhole nay Senator Tinubu, where his faction has pitched its tent with at the national level. How far Ogboru and Omo-Agege would go in wriggling themselves out of the quagmire of fractionalisation to actualise their dreams this time round remains a puzzle to be solved.
Political observers are yet to conclude on how the ward, local government and state congresses would go between the two factions, but it is believed that with the stormy situation of Omo-Agege, the refusal to inaugurate Chief Frank Kokori, a strong supporter of Ogboru, as chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), the Emerhor camp might have an upper hand given its level of grassroots penetration. But the question remains how the national body will manage the crisis, especially as it concerns electing new executives at ward, local government and state levels ahead of the national convention to elect new national leaders for the ruling party.
An APC chieftain, who declined being identified in print for not being authorised to speak on issues affecting the party, said it’s still shrouded in secrecy those who’ll make the delegates list. “It’s not clear if things have changed within the last one week,” he added.
With the Ogboru-Omo-Agege faction already licking its wounds after the disgraceful saga that followed the election reordering battle in the Senate, it’s crystal clear that the O’tega group will likely carry the day during the Congresses because, as earlier stated, most of Ogboru followers have not been fully registered in the party since they defected and so most of them may not be able to vote at the Ward level for their candidates to emerge at the Ward, local government and state levels.
There’s also the case of the Ogboru’s faction’s inability to muster enough financial strength like the O’tega group.
Unlike Lagos, most of the executive members of the party at both ward and local government levels may likely be returned during the congress in Delta as a way of compensation for their forthrightness and perseverance in spite of not enjoying any pecuniary gain.
Invariably, while all efforts will be exerted to oust the out-of-favour Erue-led state executive for alleged under performance, grandstanding and other germane considerations, executives of the party at the Ward and local government levels are billed to retain their positions and then work towards possible victory for the party in the coming 2019 general elections.
APC ward congress: The battle for supremacy in Enugu
In Enugu State, the APC is in the opposition and was not a dominant political party until the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s president in 2015, a development that has now changed the political landscape of the state.
Enugu State, being the heartbeat of the Igbo nation, makes it imperative for the political party that controls the centre to move towards capturing the Coal City State to feel the pulse of the Ndigbo. Consequently, Enugu has become a cynosure of all eyes ahead of 2019 general polls.
As the campaign for the APC ward congress reaches its climax, the loyalists of the state vice chairman of the party, Chief Adolphus Udeh and supporters of Dr Ben Nwonye, the founding chairman of the party in the state are at daggers drawn, thereby reenacting their rivalries.
While the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Justice Reforms, Juliet Ibekaku and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama are alleged to be behind Udeh’s group, Dr Nwoye seems to be in command of the majority of party members, especially the home-based members of the party.
Indeed, the internal squabble between the two groups did not start today as both parties had begun to lay claims to the leadership of the party shortly after Mrs. Ibekaku was appointed as an aide to President Buhari, leading to accusations and counter-accusations between them.
Investigation revealed that the imbroglio led to the suspension of Udeh from office by Nwonye’s group which had held grip of the party structure since 2014.
A source said that the recent invitation of Nwonye to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) over the alleged misappropriation of the 2015 campaign fund might not be unconnected with the internal feud in the party.
Nwoye had, in 2017, urged President Buhari to remove the Foreign Affairs Minister, Onyeama, over alleged anti-party activities, insisting that Onyeama was not a member of the APC.
But with the coming congresses, different permutations have begun in the APC, with each side trying to outdo the other. For Nwonye, the rumoured coming of the former governor of the state, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani, is being said to be a booster, as some prominent APC leaders in the state are said to be backing that development that would see the former governor take over political structure of the party.
Incidentally, Nwonye and Nnamani are from Nkanu land, making the entry of the founder of “Ebeano” political dynasty to favour the incumbent chairman of the party. Already, the 17 chairmanship candidates of APC, in the 2017 local government council election in the state have endorsed Nwoye for a re-election into office. To match their words with action, the party chieftains also presented Nwoye with a cash of N100,000 to enable him purchase the nomination form for the state congress of the party
Speaking during the brief event, which took place at the chairman’s Enugu residence, leader of the delegation, and the publicity secretary of the group, Honourable Chiedozie Nwafor, said “we decided to take this decision, because to whom much is given, much is expected. Going by the quality leadership style of our able chairman, and the mature manner he has piloted the affairs of our great party in the state in the last few years, we are appealing to him to seek for a re-election so as to enable him further nurture and consolidate on the gains made by the party.”
Congresses: Can the fractured A’Ibom APC get it right?
Ahead of the crucial 2019 general election, the main opposition party in Akwa Ibom State, APC, is yet to mend the cracks that have perennially worked against the fortunes of the party in every election.
For instance, the party has remained factionalised, with no end in sight, especially since the run-up to the 2015 polls, which saw aggrieved members of the ruling PDP in the state leave in droves to pitch their tents with the opposition.
The trend of migration into the opposition party, it was gathered, started with the protest by the former Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator John
In the buildp-up to the 2015 governorship election, the former minister was heavily favoured as the arrowhead of APC in the state to again lead the opposition against Akpabio’s successor and current governor Udom Emmanuel. But with the defection of ex-PDP moneybags in Akpabio’s government such as the former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief Umana Okon Umana, Akpanudoedehe, who had the original structure of the party was muscled out of the contest.
This development, seen as a big affront on the former minister, who was seen as the face of the party in Akwa Ibom, generated bad blood between him and Umana, with lot of nasty altercations between the duo before, during and after the elections.
However, with the party preparing to hold its ward, local government and state congresses, different political interests have been angling to control the party. One of them is a youth wing of the party known as the Real APC Movement led by Comrade Thomas Thomas as the Director General and his friend.
Although findings revealed that this movement remains loyal to Akpanudoedehe’s cause to contest for the 2019 governorship polls on the APC platform, the current factional state executive led by Dr. Amadu Atai, has been at loggerhead with such disposition, declaring the former minister’s faction as “illegal and illegitimate group of noise makers.”
In time for the polls, the former minister had recently conducted a mock campaign across the 31 Local Government Areas in a familiarisation visits to service APC structures and, to meet his hordes of supporters where he reminded them of his intention to again throw his hat into the ring in the upcoming contest.
But the opposition to Akpanudoedehe’s action from the other big faction consisting of Ekere, Umana, former Petroleum Minister, Don Etiebet and other party bigwigs, remained stiff that “the former minister is an impostor”.
According to the factional APC Publicity Secretary, Mr. Edet Bassey, the antics of the former minister was just a self-serving campaign aimed at drawing empty publicity to a cause not sanctioned by the National Working Committee (NWC).
Kano: Gandujiyya, Kwankwasiyya’s test of might at APC congresses
AS members of the APC prepare for ward, local government and state congresses across the country, it has been revealed that the congresses might end up with members adopting consensus candidated to avert unnecessary rancour and acrimony.
Party sources maintained that the move may have secured the blessing of most of the stakeholders of the party.
It was hinted that the party has resolved not to allow members who are loyal to the opposition faction led by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso from being elected during the congresses, a development that is said to have informed the move for consensus candidates.
According to a group loyal to the state governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, known as the Gandujiyya group, any attempt to go through full blown congresses might lead to the Kwankwasiyya group of Senator Kwankwanso hijacking the party structures.
It was, however, revealed that at the series of meetings held by the elected members of the party across the 44 local government council areas of the state, the game plan was to adopt a consensus formula whereby delegate members would have been picked through members of the party.
A member of the Gandujiyya movement, Malam Muhammad Saliu, disclosed that for now, since those the party regarded as “enemies” of the incumbent governor are no longer given a breathing space, it would be in tandem with the prevailing peace within the party not to allow any negative move to cause disorders among the rank and file of members.
He, however, added that though the consensus option had been supported, the party still would give room for member who wanted to test their popularity.
While speaking with a member of the Kwankwasiyya group on the plan to adopt the consensus formula to elect party executives, however, Alhaji Ibrahim Sunmaila said the group was not in support of the idea.
According to him, “the party does not belong to an individual or an organisation.” He, however, said the Kwankwasiyya group would not disclose its game plan towards the forthcoming ward congress.
In his words: “We in the Kwankwasiyya group are ever ready for any move to elect the delegates for the ward congress and just wait and see; any negative plan by whoever would be thwarted. “
Congresses: Anambra APC, the people, the politics
Ahead of the APC in Anambra State slated for May 2, 2018 by the national leadership of the party, only two chairmanship aspirants have reportedly declared their interest to contest the position.
But the politics of APC in Anambra State in the moment split into two factions.
The national leadership of the party was alleged to have stated that no fresh zoning arrangement will be used in the forthcoming congress, thus giving the incumbent chairman, Mr Emeka Ibe, the clearance to recontest from Anambra south senatorial district. The gladiators from the Anambra central senatorial district are, however, content that should the south produce the next chairman of the party it would automatically loss the chance of producing the 2022 governorship candidate to Anambra central.
and then