Associate Editor; ‘Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor; and Ernest Nwokolo report on the current face-off over the leadership of Ogun State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC)
SINCE Justice Jude O. Okeke of the Federal High Court in Abuja on October 8, 2019 gave preliminary order on the leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State, the battle for the soul of the party in the state between groups loyal to Governor Dapo Abiodun and former Governor Ibikunle Amosun has received fresh impetus.
The court had ordered that “status quo” be maintained in respect to the subject matter of a suit filed by Chief Derin Adebiyi-led faction of APC in Ogun State, pending the hearing and determination of other applications. But the actual interpretation of this ruling has since then become a subject of intense controversy between the Derin Adebiyi-led faction and the others loyal to the governor.
While Amosun’s faction said the court’s order means recognition and reinstatement of the dissolved Derin Adebiyi-led executive, APC members loyal to Governor Abiodun, said the court never made such pronouncement.
The party leadership crisis
The power play between the supporters of the two political leaders can be traced to the intrigues that led to the emergence of Abiodun as the governorship candidate of the party in this year’s election. The manoeuvrings peaked when the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party reportedly dissolved the Derin Adebiyi-led State Working Committee and set up a Caretaker Committee. Since then, loyalists of the governor and the former governor have been on each other’s toes. The rivalry was revived in August when the caretaker committee, said to be loyal to the governor, actually took over the party’s secretariat in the state.
Reacting to the development, Amosun’s loyalists filed a motion before an Abuja High Court presided over by Honourable Justice Jude O. Okeke.
Controversy over the court’s order
Arguing that Adebiyi, by the court’s order, is now the authentic state chairman of the party, Wole Elegbede, as the faction’s Publicity Secretary, in statement, where he tried to interpret the court’s order said, “Based on the complaint by the claimants’ lawyer, Afolabi Afolarin of Kalu Agabi’s Chambers, that the defendants had been interfering with the subject matter of the case, the judge ruled that in the interim, the parties in the suit should maintain the “status quo” pending the hearing and determination of the case.
“Chief Adebiyi and nine others who are the claimants in the suit had applied to the court to declare the purported dissolution of the executives of the party in the state and the appointment of the Caretaker Committee by the National Working Committee (NWC) under the leadership of Adams Oshiomohle as illegal, null and void.
“The Defendants in the suit are the All Progressives Congress (APC), APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, Yemi Sanusi, Ayo Olubori, Comrade Tunde Oladunjoye, the purported Chairman, Secretary and Publicity Secretary of Ogun APC Care-taker Committee respectively, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“At the hearing on Tuesday, the claimants’ lawyer alleged that the defendants had been interfering with the subject matter of the case, warranting the filing of the motion for interlocutory and interim injunctions.
“Responding to the allegation, N. A. Ojile, who stood in for Habeeb A. Ajayi, for the defendants, objected to the hearing of the motion on notice on the ground that they had a motion of preliminary objection.
“In his interim ruling, the presiding judge maintained that “the settled position of the law is that a challenge to jurisdiction is a threshold issue which should be heard and determined promptly once raised. In this case however, the claimant has complained that the defendants are interfering with the subject matter of the suit and on account therefore seeks to restrain them vide a Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction to this proceeding. In the light of this, the court is minded to consolidate the hearing of both applications. It is so ordered.”
He added that Justice Okeke also ruled: “In the interim, parties are directed to maintain the status quo as at today with respect to the subject matter of the suit pending the hearing and determination of the above applications.”
This interpretation of the court order has been faulted by the members of the caretaker committee. Spokesperson for the APC caretaker committee in Ogun State, Tunde Oladunjoye, in his reaction said “court did not reinstate Derin Adebiyi as APC Chairman in Ogun.”
As he puts it, “This is to remind the authentic APC members in Ogun State that the lies being spread by the Allied People’s Movement (APM) members claiming an unknown Court has reinstated Chief Derin Adebiyi and others who have been lawfully suspended by the APC national body for their disloyal anti-party activities, is nothing but “goat in its usual deed formula’.”
Oladunjoye said, “In fact, the preliminary objection of the Defendants was adjourned till 26th November 2019 and not October. They should produce records of proceedings. May be they got the Order at Asipa Amosun’s court Ita iyalode.
“It’s their established brain-washed pattern: they celebrated victory before the announcements of the governorship election results. They celebrated victory before the tribunal judgment. Now, they are celebrating a case that has not even been heard by the judge. If not that one should not flog people that are already down, their deliberate social media misrepresentation of court proceedings is enough to put them behind bars.
“Therefore, any re-instatement rumour should be disregarded as their characteristic pattern of telling lies,” he said.
Osoba, others intervene
This weekend, stakeholders held a crucial close-door meeting with Governor Abiodun in Abeokuta, which according to Abiodun was a state APC caucus meeting. Sources however hinted that the meeting, which also have in attendance the state Deputy Governor, Eng. Mrs. Noimot Salako-Oyedele; Speaker, Ogun State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Olakunle Oluomo; former National Assembly members under the party; former State Assembly members under the APC; principal officers of the State House of Assembly, among others, was presided over by a former governor of the state, Chief Olusegun Osoba. Although it was not immediately confirmed, a source said the meeting also deliberated on the confusion arising from the court order and the various interpretations given to it by the politicians in the state.
Governor Abiodun however told newsmen after the parley that “The purpose of the meeting was to afford me the opportunity as governor of the state to brief the state caucus formally on our activities over the last three and half months, within which we have not held the caucus meeting as defined by the constitution since we assumed office.
“Having done that, I needed to also deliberate with the party over certain range of issues. The tenure of our local government council chairmen is up. I needed to inform the party officially that we need to begin to plan on those that will be in capacity as caretaker chairmen and so on.
“There are things that have been on the minds of the party leaders; we also brought them to the fore at meeting
“Generally, it was an opportunity for leadership at the caucus level to ventilate and for us as governor to pass information to them. At the end of the day, we had a very fruitful deliberation.”
A source said one of the issues discussed included how the members of Abiodun’s cabinet would emerge considering the ongoing power play in the state APC. The source claimed that in a bid to douse the current tension, some party elders at the meeting wanted Abiodun’s political family to give the others some appointments in the cabinet, suggesting that such level of inclusiveness may engender peace in the state APC.
Although, it was not certain if the governor accepted the proposal, what is certain is that he owned up to the fact that the issue of appointments in his cabinet was discussed at the caucus meeting. He told newsmen that he informed the caucus “that very soon, our cabinet will be formed and to share with them the process that will take. I shared with them the process that would require them to also contribute to the nomination of candidates for commissioners.”
Our investigation in Ogun State during the week shows that some loyalists of Abiodun have complained that most of the federal appointments from Ogun State were given to loyalists of Amosun. But an insider told The Nation that some top APC members in support of the governor said they are not bothered by the development. Attributing the development to the cordial relationship between the former governor, Amosun and President Muhammadu Buhari, one of the loyalists said, “Ogun APC and supporters of Vice President Yomi Osinbajo are adopting siddon look attitude to President Buhari and Amosun. They knew that Amosun had always planned to leverage on his personal relationship with the president to have his way with appointments.”
Amosun’s uppercuts
It is no gainsaying that the former governor is dictating the pace as far as federal appointments accruing to Ogun state is concerned. More embarrassing is the fact that some of these appointments have been given to some of his allies who openly worked against the ruling party and or contested on the platform of the opposition APM during the last general election. This, sources within the APC in Ogun state revealed, remains a source of embarrassment to the government of the state and the leadership of the party.
“Forget the hard faces we are all carrying on as if we are not bothered about the developments. That’s politics. We must not show the extent of our discomfort with the situation for our followers to see. The people are drawing strength from us at this crucial time and we cannot afford to let them down. It is baffling that it is the people who worked against the party that are now being patronized by the presidency when it comes to federal appointments. We have not been able to explain what is happening and I tell you, we are not happy about it.
“Take a look at all the appointments that have been made since, you will not need any divinity to understand and agree with the fact that former governor Amosun, who worked against the ruling party here in Ogun state and is currently suspended from the party is dictating who get what. That is not encouraging to the teeming party members who risked it all to ensure that we came out victorious during the last general election,” our source, a former federal legislator from Ogun central senatorial district lamented.
A quick look at the federal appointments cornered by the Amosun faction since the beginning of President Buhari’s second term revealed that his personal friend, who also served as his Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure during his eight-year term, Olamilekan Adegbite, emerged the Minister of Mine and Steel Development in the new Federal Executive Council (FEC), against popular expectations within the ruling party in Ogun state.
“It is important for everybody to know that these appointments appear like encouragement for anti-party activities. When you reward people for being deviant, you are encouraging others within the system to become deviant too. These persons worked against the party. Today, they are being rewarded by the party. So, we must all expect more deviance within the party. This is the state of Vice President Yemi Osibajo. These things speak volume,” our source added.
Adeleke Adewolu, another ally of the former governor was also recently appointed as the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Engagement, at the Nigerian Communications Commission. He took the position held by Sunday Dare, who is now the Minister of Youths and Sports Development. Not a few devoted member of the party in the state had angled form the position. Prominent party leaders, including Governor Abioudun, former governor Osoba and others reportedly made move to have one of their own in the position but failed.
More annoying to many party chieftains is the fact that Adewolu had contested and lost the House of Representatives seat in Ifo/Ewekoro Federal Constituency on the platform of APM, but with open support from Amosun who was running for senate on the platform of APC at the time. “For me as an APC chieftain in Ogun state, Adewolu’s appointment came as the last straw that broke the camel’s back. After he was compensated for defying the party and contesting on the platform of an opposition party, I stopped commenting on these sorry developments,” our source added.
Amosun’s former Commissioner for Agric and Urban and Physical Planning, Mrs. Ronke Sokefun, got appointed as the chairman of the Governing Board of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation. His die-hard supporter, Bisi Adegbuyi, is the Post-Master General of the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) and his former spokesperson, Funmi Wakama, is holding sway as the General Manager of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Abeokuta, to mention but a few of the uppercuts the former governor had delivered on the jaws of those opposed to him within the ruling party in Ogun state.