The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has inaugurated a 12-member peace panel headed by former Interim National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande with a mandate to reconcile aggrieved members and ensure harmony and cohesion in the fold. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines issues involved in the affected chapters and how the reconciliation move would enhance the fortune of the ruling party in future elections
Almost a year after the general elections in which the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost some states to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ruling party has inaugurated a peace panel to look into the cases of aggrieved members and reconcile them. The reconciliation became imperative to restore peace and internal cohesion within the fold.
The APC’s fortune shrunk in the last general elections. In what observers described as a shocking development, the party lost some vital states, including Oyo, Bauchi, Adamawa and Zamfara, to the PDP as a result of internal squabbles and irreconcilable differences.
Former National Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mr Monday Ubani wondered why it has taken the APC almost a year to look into the crisis that led to its defeat in the states controlled by it before the elections. He said the resolution of the crisis will reposition the party for future elections.
Ubani observed that the problem of the APC, as far as the 2019 general elections is concerned, started when the party’s national secretariat refused to allow free and fair primaries to hold, to choose candidates for different elective positions.
He said: “When you don’t allow the people’s mandate to prevail, there would be internal squabbles.” He said the APC should not allow the national chairman to intervene in the affairs of state chapters, especially in the conduct of primaries to pick candidates.
He added that it is unfortunate that the APC is following the footsteps of the PDP, which allowed imposition of candidates and godfatherism to ruin it, prior to the 2015 general elections.
The legal practitioner hailed the party leadership for reviewing the list of reconciliation committee earlier announced, in order to be fair to all parties involved.
He said some aggrieved members will not listen to some people because they are biased. With the reconstituted panel, however, he is optimistic that most of the grievances will be resolved amicably.
A highly-placed source said President Muhammadu Buhari was prompted to review the membership of the reconciliation panel, following petitions from aggrieved party members.
For instance, Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki had faulted the constitution of Senator Ahmed Lawan-led reconciliation committee, saying some of the members were interested parties in the Edo crisis.
The APC National Publicity Secretary, Malam Lanre Onilu, said indiscipline was the reason why the party lost in a good number of the states in the last general elections.
He said lack of general discipline, coupled with the inability of the party to become a truly blended progressive political party were responsible for the setback recorded at the poll.
Onilu said if Oyo, Bauchi, Adamawa and Zamfara states, where the APC lost, were taken one by one, it will be discovered that there were peculiar issues in the respective states that accounted for the APC’s misfortune, and that it was not that the voters preferred the PDP.
Besides, the party leadership did not do much between 2015 and 2018 to move the party from being an amalgam of different political parties to become a truly blended progressive political party.
The APC spokesman said the next three years are very important as the APC under the National Chairman, Comrade Adam Oshiomhole, will continue to strengthen compliance with the rules, build support structures for democracy, ensure discipline across board, and deliver good governance for the benefits of Nigerians.
Adamawa
The crisis in Adamawa APC was a carryover from the disputed governorship primary of October 2018. The controversial shadow election was won by former Governor Muhammed Jibrilla Bindow.
In a desperate fight to retain the ticket, Bindow incurred petitions and court cases from aggrieved aspirants
The aggrieved aspirants, including Alhaji Mahmood Halilu Ahmed, the younger brother of President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, and Nuhu Ribadu, former chairman of the Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC) with their supporters resolved to work against Bindow’s re-election bid.
Ahmed, Ribadu and other APC stakeholders led by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir David Lawal, did not recover from the disputed primary plotted to unseat the former governor and remain in the party to ensure that Bindow did not return. They accused him of betrayal and vowed that they would stay back to pay him back in his coin.
Halilu Ahmed and Ribadu were bitter over the primary. The two aspirants rejected Bindow’s candidacy and were believed to have worked against Bindow at the election, a development that contributed largely to his defeat.
They alleged that Bindow pushed them into a primary, which he knew would not take place.
Before the elections, Lawal had on different occasions boasted that Bindow’s days in Government House were numbered and that there was no political magic that can change the minds of the people to re-elect him.
He said the former governor planted a political time bomb long before the congress and the disputed primary.
Lawal added: “The issue of factions within the Adamawa APC did not start with the congress; it started before the congresses.
It was during the launch of President Buhari’s re-election project, where the former governor and his group boycotted and organised a parallel meeting on the same day of the event.
“The Adamawa APC crisis started when Bindow came into office in 2015, when many members of the legacy parties that formed the APC did not get reasonable appointments.
Majority of those appointed were nPDP faithful where the former governor came from. That is what culminated and matured into two different groups at the congresses.”
But, the former Director-General of Bindow campaign organisation, Chief Felix Tanggwami, said the main problem in Adamawa APC was how the primary was conducted and Bindow’s team won a landslide, while others lost.
“If the governorship primary was conducted 20 times in 2018, Bindow would win 20 times because he had political structures more than hose that contested against him,” he said.
Bauchi
The power tussle between former Governor Mohammed Abubakar and those labelled ‘Abuja politicians’, headed by the former Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, led to the APC’s misfortune during the election.
Surprisingly, the APC won massively and state assembly elections, a situation which reflected the intrigues that played out within the party.
To some analysts, the electoral misfortune suffered by the APC was inevitable, given the crisis in the party that climaxed with the defection of most APC National Assembly members to the PDP over irreconcilable differences with the former governor. They included Dogara and Senator Suleiman Nazim
In the build-up to the elections, some members of the APC accused the former governor of breaching due process as to how party flag bearers should emerge. They accussed him of handpicking his stooges as the flag bearers for various positions.
A party chieftain said: “The aftermath of the party primary was glaring because some aggrieved members went to court to challenge the process that produced the party flag bearers”. The resentment, he added, manifested during and after the elections.
A year after the polls, the crisis in Bauchi APC seems to be deepening and assuming a different dimension. The warring factions have intensified the fight over the soul of the party ahead of 2023 general elections.
One of the camps is led by the APC State Chairman, Uba Nana, who is very loyal to the former governor. The other camp is led by Chairman of the APC Youth Parliament, Abdullahi Maifure.
The latter is made up of some aggrieved members who lost in the primaries in the build-up to the 2019 general elections. They were accused of working against the victory of the APC in the last elections, but they have denied the allegation.
Analysts said the battle for the soul of the party is in the light of projections that the APC remains the most viable opposition platform to wrestle power from the PDP in 2023.
Zamfara
Zamfara State is one of the strongholds of APC in the Northwest zone. But, the party conceded victory to the PDP for failing to resolve its crisis that polarised the state chapter.
The person who played the leading role in the loss of APC’s hold in the state was Senator Kabiru Marafa, who represented Zamfara Central in the 8th National Assembly.
Marafa had been at loggerhead with the former Governor Abdulaziz Yari in his bid to succeed him in office. Marafa lost his governorship aspiration during the controversial primary. He headed a faction of the party, prior to the elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had said it would not allow the APC in Zamfara State to field candidates because the party did not hold primaries within the stipulated time.
Internal wrangling among the leaders of the APC led to the inability to conduct the primaries within the stipulated time.
While the APC group loyal to Yari claimed it held congresses and had candidates, the faction led by Marafa insisted no primary was held.
Although the party headquarters said no primary was held, consensus candidates were adopted within the stipulated time. Thus, the Marafa group dragged the party to court. They were represented by Mike Ozekhome (SAN).
Two different courts in Zamfara and Abuja gave conflicting judgments on the position of INEC. A High Court sitting in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, ruled that the APC actually held primaries and that it should be allowed to present candidates for the elections.
But the Abuja High Court ruled otherwise. The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division set aside the judgment of Abuja High Court in favour of Yari’s group.
However, Marafa headed for the Supreme Court and eventually the apex court ruled against the elections of all the candidates of the APC in Zamfara during the 2019 general elections.
The court ruled that the party did not conduct valid primaries in the build-up to elections. It also decided that a party that had no valid candidates can be said to have emerged prior to the election.
The court also ordered that the candidates with the second-highest number of votes be declared winner of the election.
Thus, the PDP candidate, Bello Matawalle who came a distant second in the governorship election was issued with the Certificate of Return by INEC. It also confirmed other PDP candidates for national and state assembly seats.
Interestingly, majority of Marafa’s supporters have defected to the PDP. Many of them are serving in Matawalle’s administration. Marafa himself has equally pledged support for the PDP administration.
During a courtesy visit to Matawalle in Government House, Marafa said what is paramount is good governance in Zamfara, irrespective of the party in power.
Oyo
The Oyo APC performed woefully in the last general elections. It lost the presidential, governorship and state assembly poll to the PDP because of the unresolved internal squabbles.
The APC went into the election divided and weak. There was a group loyal to the former Governor Abiola Ajimobi and a rival group made up of aggrieved party members under the aegis of Unity Forum headed by former Communication Minister, Adebayo Shittu. He had the ambition to succeed Ajimobi as governor of Oyo State.
The emergence of Unity Forum in the build-up towards the last general elections opened a big crack in the wall of the state chapter.
The forum comprising of notable party chieftains across the state alleged Ajimobi of high handedness and dictatorial tendencies.
They gave conditions that would make them work and vote for APC in 2019. The party had parallel congresses and two state executives.
The APC National Secretariat recognised the executive that emerged from Ajimobi’s camp. Members of the Unity Forum cried foul and dumped the APC for the Obasanjo-led African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The frontline members that dumped the APC include the party leader in Oke-Ogun zone, Pa Michael Koleoso, former Secretary to the State government, Dr Busari Adebisi, former Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Mrs Monsurat Sunmonu, Senator Soji Akanbi, Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun, Alhaji Isiaka Alimi, Chief Adegoke Oyetunji, Alhaji Yunus Akintunde and six members of the House of Representatives, including Ladi the son of former governor, the late Lam Adesina.
Shittu lost out in the bid to contest for APC governorship ticket as he was screened out for not presenting his National Youth Service Corps discharged certificate.
In retaliation, he vowed to work against the success of the party’s candidate, Mr Adebayo Adelabu at the poll. His supporters said he was right to react in that manner considering “how he was disgraced out of the governorship primary that produced Adelabu”.
After the election, Ajimobi reflected on how the internal crisis affected the party’s performance in the last general elections and called for reconciliation. He said it became imperative in order to reposition the party and put it in good stead for the challenges ahead.
But Shittu has stepped up war of attrition. He has vowed that he and his supporters would have nothing to do with the Ajimobi group.
Rather, they would retrieve the party from the people he described as predators. He said the Unity Forum has gone to challenge the legality of the recognised executives of the party produced by the Ajimobi group.
Analysts recall that Shittu’s travail in the APC did not start with his ambition to govern the state. At the formation of the party in 2014, Shittu came from the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to join elements in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that was the ruling party in Oyo State then.
Since then Shittu has been in contest over the control of party machinery with Ajimobi who was the governor of the state then.
The APC crisis provided an opportunity for the opposition parties to form an alliance to wrestle power from the APC.
Almost a year after the election, Ajimobi’s supporters and Shittu’s group are still embroiled in hostilities. Shittu has rejected the olive branch from Ajimobi.
Edo
Few months to the governorship election in Edo State, the conflict between the National Chairman and former Governor Adams Oshiomhole and his successor Governor Godwin Obaseki has assumed dangerous twist with the deployment of leather weapons by some forces to settle the score with political opponents.
The APC chieftains are locked in the battle to control the legislative arm of government. The crisis has split the party into two camps.
The cold war between Oshiomhole and his estranged godson, Governor Obaseki, came to public notice during the inauguration of Edo State House of Assembly in June last year.
Only nine of the 22 members showed up for the inauguration, while the remaining 13 members loyal to Oshiomhole stayed away.
They argued that they were not informed and that the inauguration was done in the night. The governor rebuffed all entreaties made by the presidency and APC leaders that he should issue a new proclamation order for a new inauguration.
Although the gladiators have not made public the cause of disagreement between them, there were speculations that Oshiomhole was bitter that the governor had abandoned some projects he initiated while in office.
This development, sources said, made Oshiomhole to withdraw support for Obaseki’s second term. He advised the governor to concentrate on service delivery on his mandate in the belief that his work would speak for him during the electioneering campaign.
The governor said he called the bluff of his predecessor because there is no room for “godfather” in Edo under his administration.
He said it was Oshiomhole who taught them how to fight godfather and he was following his footstep. Obaseki has denied the claim that he was installed by the former governor.
Rather, he said he assisted the APC national Chairman to raise funds for his governorship campaign in 2006.
He denied allegations of ingratitude towards Oshiomhole and added that only God can claim responsibility for his emergence as governor. “I became governor by God’s grace with the support of many people,” he added.
Oshiomhole claimed he made numerous efforts to bring peace to the Edo State APC, and described as “bullshit” the allegation that he was playing godfather in Edo State.
He recalled how he was able to reconcile the governor with Charles Idahosa. He mentioned Reverend Eghrevba and Prince Eweka as other party stalwarts that had conflicts with the governor and had to intervene
Finding solutions to Edo APC crisis is very crucial because of the governorship election coming up on September 19, 2020. The party should not risk going to the poll as a divided house.
Ondo
There has been crisis in Ondo APC for a long time. The APC governorship primary of September 3, 2016 that produced Gover Rotimi Akeredolu as the flag bearer was the root cause of the crisis.
Aggrieved aspirants faulted the process through which Akeredolu emerged. One of them, Dr. Segun Abraham, who was the first runner-up, went to court to challenge the validity of the primary.
The matter is still pending in court. Another aspirant, Chief Olusola Oke, had dumped the APC to contest the 2016 election on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). But, he has since returned to the APC.
The first casualty of the post-primary election was the state chairman, Isaac Kekemeke, who was sacked, while his deputy, Ade Adetimehin, was elevated to the position of chairman.
While Oke has returned to the APC, those that followed him to AD are being rebuffed. They are seen as renegades that should be pardoned because they worked against the APC during the governorship election.
Party chieftains, including Senator Borroffice, Oke, Abraham, and many others are not in speaking terms with the governor. They and the party elders in the state have distanced themselves from Akeredolu’s administration.
They accused Akeredolu of anti-party activities during the last general elections. The governor was accused of sponsoring candidates from the opposition against the APC. Akeredolu denied the claim.
The intra-party squabble affected the performance of the APC in Ondo in the last general elections. The APC lost the presidential election, two senatorial seats and many House of Representatives seats.
The governorship primary may be a repeat of 2016 exercise with a crowd of aspirants jostling for the party ticket. Akeredolu has boasted that the APC will lose Ondo, if he was not allowed to go for second term. His opponents have warned APC not to field Akeredolu because of imminent defeat at the poll.
A member of APC Board of Trustees (BoT) and former deputy governor of Ondo State, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, insists that for peace to prevail in the chapter, the APC executive council must be dissolved.
Kekemeke blamed Akeredolu for the rumpus in the chapter. He explained that, since the emergence of Akeredolu as governor, he has not been able to bring together and unite the various factions within the party.
He added: “The governor as leader of the party ought to have initiated the move by extending an olive branch to mend the cracks among his group, members of the State Working Committee (SWC), as well as party stalwarts with formidable political structures in the state.”
The reconciliation panel should give priority to the Ondo crisis, if the party must retain power in the Sunshine State, in view of the governorship election holding on October 10.
Ogun
The APC in Ogun State is polarised into two groups: the Olusegun Osoba/Dapo Abiodun group and Ibikunle Amosun faction.
A year after the general elections in Ogun State, which was won by the Osoba group, supporters of Governor Abiodun and those of his predecessor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, have renewed their rivalry as they battle for who controls the chapter.
In the build-up to the 2019 general elections, former Governor Amosun had allocated elective offices to his supporters. He sent the list to the APC national secretariat and was rejected.
He conducted fresh primaries that produced another set of candidates. He was overruled by the APC National Working Committee (NWC).
The NWC deployed electoral committee to conduct fresh primaries which were boycotted by the Amosun group.
Abiodun eventually emerged as the governorship candidate from the primary conducted by the Abuja Election Committee. Amosun resorted to Plan B.
He directed his supporters to join Allied Peoples Movement (APM). His protégée Adekunle Akinlade was offered automatic governorship ticket. But Amosun stayed back in APC. He contested and won a senatorial seat on the platform of APC.
This resulted in a situation where Amosun and his supporters campaigned for APM in Ogun State. He was suspended by the APC’s NWC for anti-party activities, but the suspension has since been lifted.
His lackey, Akinlade failed to win the governorship election. He challenged the election results at the election petition tribunal, he lost.
He went to Appeal Court, where his case was struck out for lack of merit. He took the matter to the Supreme Court where it was finally buried.
After the series of judicial contests, Akinlade announced that he and his supporters have returned to the APC. But the APC recognised executives said they are not aware of their return. They told Akinlade to return through the front door and not the back door.
The APC had before election last year dissolved the Derin-Adebiyi-led executive loyal to Amosun group and replaced it with a caretaker committee. The Amosun group has filed a suit to challenge the dissolution.
Imo
The dictatorial tendencies of former Governor Rochas Okorocha fuelled crisis in Imo APC. He ran the party as a personal estate.
He took unilateral decisions without consulting party leaders. The climax of his antics was the imposition of his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, as the governorship candidate.
The party was factionalised. The national secretariat dissolved the state executive and also appointed a caretaker committee.
When it dawned on him that his son-in-law would not get APC ticket, Okorocha asked his supporters to join Action Alliance (AA) that offered Nwosu automatic ticket.
But, Okorocha remained in the APC to contest for his senatorial election, which he won. He was suspended by the APC NWC for anti-party activities, but it has since been lifted.
The APC governorship candidate, Senator Hope Uzodinma lost the election. Okorocha’s son also failed to win. However, the Supreme Court has declared Uzodinma winner and he has assumed office.
Despite the fact that the APC has reclaimed the governorship seat in Imo and Okorocha has declared support for Uzodinma, analysts say the two factions still have to be reconciled for peace to reign.
Osun
The crisis in Osun APC stemmed from the emergence of Gboyega Oyetola as the APC governorship candidate for the September 22, 2018 poll.
His nomination had forced the former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, to defect to the African Democratic Party (ADP) with his supporters.
Adeoti’s defection nearly cost APC victory in the election. He polled 49, 000 votes, which could have made APC to win in the first ballot, if he had remained in the fold.
It was reported that the APC elders in the state have been making frantic moves to bring Adeoti back. A party chieftain said the issue has almost been resolved by the party elders.