Buhari and the long-awaited APC NEC

Deputy Editor, LEON USIGBE, reviews President Muhammadu Buhari’s history of attendance of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2019 elections.

Finally, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) could hold its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Tuesday for the first time in nearly years. President Muhammadu Buhari was in attendance. It was only the third of such since the administration came into being May 29, 2015.

The first one presided over by Buhari as President was in July 2015. As a freshly minted president, he had warned his party then, which even though had just emerged victorious was nonetheless fraught with  internal crisis, to quickly put aside their differences for the business of governing the country aright. He had warned that having won the battle of the last general elections, the APC ran the risk of losing the “war” for party unity and internal cohesion. The President had affirmed his belief in the supremacy of the APC’s change pact with Nigerians over the personal ambitions of its members. “As human beings, we are not perfect, but let us do our best to eventually win this ‘war’ so that we can get on with the urgent task of delivering on our electoral promises to the nation,” he declared during that first NEC.

The second NEC he presided over as president was to come in March 2016 which also had as its theme. The need for party unity. It provided him the opportunity to more clearly articulate the direction of his fledgling administration. Addressing the party chieftains, he recalled then that the legacy parties had since 2005 realised that to remove the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from power, “we must sink our differences, come together and form a party. God willing, that eventually happened and that is why we are where we are today, coming together despite our differences, both personal and ideological. We must not forget that.”

 

Buhari’s consistency

The president has been consistent on his motivations as the Nigerian leader – to deal with three fundamental issues of security, the economy and unemployment. He therefore laid emphasis on these at the second APC NEC, reminding the party that it campaigned and won election on those planks. By the time that second NEC held, there was noticeable progress in security as the nagging Boko Haram insurgency had been sufficiently degraded to the point of limiting the radical insurgents to occasional attacks on soft target.

“On security, we have made progress. It was a very courageous decision that the party took and executed by the Executive by removing most of the military hierarchy and appointing those to take over from them, acquiring some new hard and soft ware and raising the morale of the military to go secure the rest of the country which was then 14 out of 774 local state areas. I have said it often that as far as I know and the service chiefs who are on ground, they are not holding any local government.. But they still have some capability especially on soft targets by using technology,” he said.

The president had much to dwell upon then, from the efforts to convince the Niger Delta militants to join in nation building rather than sabotaging oil installations and discouraging investors “in that lucrative area of Nigeria,” through the repositioning of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to his wish to be remembered by Nigerians for the respect he has for them. “Of course, the leadership of INEC has been changed, but I appeal to the leadership of the military, security agents and INEC that what I want Nigerians to remember me for, even if I have to leave the Presidency tomorrow is that I respect them,” he had said.

He was honest enough to admit that he failed in his first test of superintending over the conduct of elections in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers states where polls were overshadowed by wanton violence, deaths and fraud. His words: “I am afraid I did not succeed in the election in Kogi, Bayelsa, Rivers. I think that more Nigerians are killed or killed themselves in Rivers than in any particular state. At this stage of our political development, to remain brutal is shameful and as a government, I promise we will do something by the next general election.”

 

No need to complain about economy

The president had also spoken to the issue of the economy, the fall of oil prices after observing that Nigeria had made itself a mono economy which he saw as a disaster. “I wonder why people could not believe that in Nigeria, about 27 out of 36 states have difficulty in paying basic salaries of their workers. If from 1999 to at least 2003, oil is above 100 dollars per barrel and an export of about two million barrels per day, how come Nigeria failed to make some arrangement to cushion the effect of a probably volatile oil market? Again, it shows failure of the last administration. But we are now to pick the pieces as an APC government and so, there is no need complaining, but let us concentrate and see how much we can do with whatever remains of the economy.”

His priority was therefore to harness the potentials of agriculture and solid minerals as a quick way for Nigeria to recover economically, with its attendant benefits particularly employment, self-sufficiency in food production and foreign exchange earnings.  That was the beginning of the implementation of the Single Treasury Account (TSA) inherited from the preceding administration. He rationalised this to party men and women by saying that “we insist that we have to know what comes in and what goes out for us to make a comprehensive amendment to the economy. If you go and see the Central Bank Governor, he will tell you that in the TSA, we have more than N3 trillion. Where would this money have been if TSA was not in vogue? I was made to understand that vouchers would have quickly been raised towards the end of the financial year and cheques made. Whether they are going into projects or private pockets, nobody can prove it to you. But that money is there, it is identified. It is quantified and when the budget comes back eventually, the Ministry of Finance will see how to allocate it to the rest of the country.”

 

Frustration about corruption

On corruption, Buhari voiced his frustration at seeing how those he perceived as corrupt officials or former officials of government flaunted their ill-gotten wealth, recalling that as a military leader, he would normally have such people behind bars until they proved themselves innocent. But now, he is constrained by democratic tenets which he must necessarily observe. “When I was in uniform, you took the perceived corrupt ones and put them in safe custody and quietly told them they were guilty until they can prove themselves innocent. But now under multi-party democratic system, I see some of them ride Rolls Royce, some of them have built estates here, but they are innocent until we can prove them guilty. This situation is true and you don’t need to stress your imagination to find out. If you can find out, you discover that a level eight officer has five houses, while you, as a Permanent Secretary or Commissioner is still living in a rented house. We have to get credible evidence to carry out successful prosecution and get judgement from the Judiciary,” he regretted.

 

Lack of immediate results

He had also signaled at the time that his administration would soon make public the names of treasury looters, but has not managed to do that nearly two years later. Some cynics think this is symptomatic of the sluggish style that has come to be associated with his government. This was not lost in him when he told party chieftains at that NEC that he was aware that they were being harassed because government has been unable to put anything on ground at that point. “For the party, I will like you to continue to make sacrifice. I know you are being harassed since the election that they haven’t seen anything on the ground. Well, if you have any explanation that could be accepted, is that you have three more years to go,” he said, adding: “I don’t envy you on the harassment you are going through from your constituencies. Take it with a lot of determination and we will be all right, God willing.”

 

APC’s relief 

But nearly two years after that declaration, observers are yet to be convinced.  Party leaders and supporters were frustrated that APC was barely able to convene party organs’ meetings as it looked to be embroiled in suppressed internal warfare. President Buhari’s long standing ill-health and sustained absence from the country did not help matters. It was therefore a huge relief to the party that he recovered, and the APC found itself able to hold leadership meetings.

The president set these off with a meeting with Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and the National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, followed by another one on the same day with APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu before a meeting of the party’s National Caucus. The party still has issues with its Board of Trustees (BoT) which was therefore not involved in the run up to the latest NEC.

After his meeting with Buhari, Tinubu was keen to stress that he had no problem with the president, describing any such talk as “fake news” just as he dismissed as a myth, the notion of the existence of a presidency cabal thought to be dictating the affairs of the president. But in some quarters, his blunt refusal to speak to the possibility of a President Buhari second tenure when requested by State House correspondents, was ominous. “Don’t discuss that one with me,” he blurted.

Tinubu stressed though: “I have confidence in this President. There is no doubt about that. We worked hard to bring about the government. There are certain things that are unpredictable and those are things that can lend themselves to gossips, insinuations and all of that. But once you create leadership and is functioning, you don’t have to babysit that leadership unless there is a loss of confidence and I don’t have that.

“You know me. I’m not known to shy away from talking my mind and rebelling if it is necessary and taking charge of things that I believe are necessary. What is the myth in this leadership thing? What is cabal? Is a myth. We are the party of the people for the people and by the people and this is democratic environment. Each of us have our roles to play and that is why we are playing it. I don’t believe in the myth, I believe in confidence building, the trust that we have in the president. In the journey of democracy, you are going to have twists and turns, you are going to have conflicts. Conflicts resolution mechanisms is inbuilt on how you handle your party and the governance, and the party are joined by the hips.”

He also would not want to say whether last Tuesday’s NEC was a fence-mending session as he retorted to the question: “Did I tell you that? Why do you want to know? Are you a member of our party?”

 

Buhari’s gratitude

Buhari used the occasion though to thank party faithful for their prayers and supplications for him during his ill-health induced prolonged absence before proceeding to pass what looked like a vote of confidence on both the Odigie-Oyegun-led leadership of the APC and the National Assembly leadership under Senate Saraki and Hon. Dogara. “I want to thank Chief Oyegun and his staff for steering the party in the last two and a half years.  Sometimes it is easier to manage failure than to manage success – and a big success such as that we have achieved,” he said concerning Odigie-Oyegun. “I must also commend the leadership of the National Assembly led by Senate President His Excellency, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Rt. Hon. Speaker Mr. Yakubu Dogara.  I must place on record the cooperation and understanding of the National Assembly including some non-APC members who rose above petty party interests and acted in the national interest,” he remarked too before thanking all state governors irrespective of their political affiliation.

The president harped on the progress his administration had made in implementing the APC’s manifesto in the last two and half years noting: “We can be proud of our achievements in the last two years; Boko Haram, Niger Delta, regular fuel, improved power, TSA, agriculture and fertilizer, above all, the knowledge that corruption will not be tolerated in this government. We all know there is change.”  He also observed that “Nigeria’s prestige has gone up, Nigeria is now credit –worthy, a clear testimony of which was the over-subscription of the Euro-Bond by four times.”

 

Daunting challenges

However, he recognised the daunting challenges facing the administration and pointed out his inability to constitute the Boards of Parastatals two and half years after. He explained: “I must regret the fact that we have not done so, for many reasons. Some of us in this meeting may know I had given instructions since October 2015 for this exercise to start. But there have been inordinate delays through several committees in an attempt to get the balance right and to make sure all parts of the country are equitably represented. On the other hand, I am keenly aware that our supporters are very eager for these appointments to be announced. By the Grace of God, these appointments will be announced soon. Especially now that the economy is improving, we will have the resources to cater for the appointees.”

President Buhari announced the reversal of his policy of compressing his cabinet which had been hailed as a way of promoting leaner government. Now he says, the cabinet would be expanded to accommodate more party supporters with fresh ideas. “By the same token the compressed Federal Executive Council will be expanded to bring in more supporters at Federal Level, with fresh ideas to be injected into the government,” he declared.

While thanking the party members “for the commitment and dedicated service to our party,” he reminded them that there was so much more required of them in the coming months and hoped that he could continue to depend on them. “If we keep united and rise above petty or personal quarrels, we will surely achieve the desired change in the country,” President Buhari admonished the APC chieftains.

Even though an attempt to move a motion to present him as the sole candidate was deferred as premature, observers believe that this NEC signals the takeoff of the politics of 2019 especially given Buhari’s new willingness to bring more party members on board his administration to assuage perceived discontent within the ruling party in the run up to the general elections.