Following Chief Bisi Akande-led National Reconciliation Committee of All Progressives Congress’ announcement of its readiness to commence the much awaited peace moves within the party, Assistant Editor, ‘Dare Odufowokan, reports that it is still uncertain how far the committee can go in ending the chaos within the ruling party.
EARLIER in the week, National Reconciliation Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the chairmanship of a pioneer chairman of the party and former governor of Osun state, Chief Bisi Akande, announced that it is now ready to start sitting and receiving memorandum from members of the party as part of the reconciliatory assignment it is saddled with. The new peace panel was recently set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to reconcile feuding party members and chieftains across the country.
Before the latest peace move being spearheaded by Akande, the APC had last year set up a committee headed by the President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, to resolve crises in its state chapters including Edo, Ondo, Rivers and Zamfara. But the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, among other dissatisfied concerned chieftains and members, across the country, had kicked against the composition of the reconciliation committee, particularly the fact that it was headed by Senator Lawan.
The Edo State Governor had argued that the National Assembly was sympathetic to the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, because the federal lawmakers had attempted to take over the Edo State House of Assembly. The crisis in the state APC had divided the party with one faction loyal to Obaseki and the other sympathetic to Oshiomhole. The Lawan peace committee failed to take off at all as its neutrality and ability to be free and fair in its assignment became a subject of fierce debates. Akande was Vice-Chairman of the Lawan-led committee.
Determined to find solutions to the many intra party squabbles within its chapters across the country, the APC dropped Senator Lawan as head of its National Reconciliation Committee and asked Chief Akande to head the reconstituted 12-man committee, which was inaugurated early this month. Members of the Bisi Akande committee are governors Abubakar Bello of Niger State in the Northcentral geo-political zone of the country and Gboyega Oyetola of Osun state in the Southwest geo-political zone.
Others are Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Ahmed Wase; ex-Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Al-Makura; Senator Kashim Shettima; and the Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor. The rest are Alhaji Nasiru Koki, Senator Khairat Gwadabe-Abdulrazak, Senator Binta Garba and Senator John Enoh (Secretary). The national leadership of the panel announced that the panel was reconstituted after a review by President Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and the leadership of the APC.
Announcing the readiness of the new committee to progress with its assignment, the Secretary of the committee, Senator John Enoh, who was responding to inquiries from reporters in Abuja during the week, said “We are at the set-up stage, when we conclude maybe by next week, we will call for memoranda, we will make it public, then we will meet to agree on the next stage.” He added that the committee would soon announce the date it will begin sitting and the method it would adopt in handling complaints from aggrieved party members.
Enoh’s revelation came at a time when some observers of the happenings within the ruling party are wondering how far the Akande panel can go to bring peace to the troubled APC. The expectations remained mixed as some are of the opinion that the committee’s acceptance by the feuding gladiators remains debatable. But others are optimistic that given the many votes of confidence Akande has garnered since being named as the new head of the peace move, the committee is poised to achieve success where many had failed in the past. But the question on most lips remains; can Akande’s panel end the chaos in APC?
Optimism
Last week, the Southwest APC moved swiftly to condemn alleged plans by some members of the party in Ondo State to discredit the committee. The APC National Vice Chairman (Southwest), Pastor Bankole Oluwajana, said allegations making the rounds against Akande and the committee were frivolous and uncharitable and “can only come from members who joined APC midway and had not been indoctrinated to the ethos and tradition of the progressives, especially in the South West, where we hold our leaders in high esteem.”
“Chief Bisi Akande is the foundation and pioneer National Chairman of APC and one of the best in the Southwest going by his track records and spotless character. He deserves respect from all at all times. The Southwest APC leaders hereby pass a vote of confidence on Chief Bisi Akande and its newly inaugurated National Reconciliation Committee,” the party’s leadership in the Southwest geo-political zone said as it gave unflinching support to Akande and other members of the reconciliation committee.
Members of the National Executive Council of the APC Aspirants’ Forum are also hopeful that the reconciliation committee would allow itself to be guided by justice and fairness in the discharge of its crucial assignment. The Forum has been at the forefront of the call for reconciliation within the party after the 2019 general elections. National Coordinator of the forum, Lt. Col. Abdulaziz Musa Yar’adua (retd.), said the decision of President Buhari to set up the committee was in recognition of the fact that the party was in need of reforms.
He said, “Everybody knows what happened in 2019. The primaries conducted by the APC had a lot of challenges. In our own case, because of the respect and the loyalty we have for the President, we decided to come together to calm ourselves and do the needful. You can see what the President did a few months ago. He directed the party to form a national reconciliation committee now headed by Chief Bisi Akande, and I believe very soon they will start going to states to engage party members so that we can collate all those challenges and see how to move forward.”
Also, Kunle Oyatomi, Osun State APC’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, while speaking on the issue, said the new committee put in place by President Muhammadu Buhari composed of eminent political personalities that command respect from and within politicians especially of progressive extraction in the country. He expressed confidence in the ability of the panel to move round the country and bring peace to the various state chapters of the ruling party given the pedigree and experience of the members.
According to Osun State APC spokesperson, “Those who are to be involved are eminent political personalities who command respect from and within politicians, especially of progressive extraction in the country. So it is a body that is capable of resolving any political crisis wherever.” Oyatomi declared that Chief Adebisi Akande would not fail in the assignment even where it involved the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, adding that the committee would deliver on its mandate.
Echoes from the state
The swift move by the Southwest APC became necessary following the rejection of the choice of Chief Akande as Chairman of the party’s National Reconciliation Committee of the party by a group in the Ondo State chapter of the APC. The Ondo APC Unity Forum rejected Akande’s appointment on the grounds that he has close ties with Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN). In a communiqué issued at the end of the forum’s meeting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, leader of the forum, Ali Olanusi, said the composition of the committee was equally unacceptable.
The former deputy governor of the state added that some members were interested parties and could not be judges in their own case. The communiqué read, “The meeting reviewed the replacement of the Senate President with His Excellency, Chief Bisi Akande, as the Chairman of the APC National Reconciliation Committee and pass a vote of no confidence in Chief Akande as the Chairman of the committee. Chief Akande was part of the reconciliation committee that met with the party leadership in Ondo State in July 2019 in Akure.
“Then, it was agreed that the party executive in the state be dissolved, but up till this moment, the governor, through some of our leaders, have been blocking the dissolution that was jointly agreed on in the presence of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Segun Osoba, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Pius Akinyelure, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and Pastor Oluwajana, the South-West Chairman of the APC.”
The rejection by Unity Forum appears contrary to the position of the government of the state and the leadership of the party in the state. Checks by The Nation revealed that both Governor Akeredolu and the chairman of the party in the state, Engr. Ade Adetimehin, as well as all their supporters, are firmly in support of Akande’s choice as the chairman of the peace committee. “For us, the most important thing is peace and we are ready to work with Baba Akande in achieving peace,’ an aide of the governor said.
Meanwhile, Isaac Kekemeke, a governorship aspirant of the APC in Ondo State, has promised to accept the decision of the reconciliation committee led by Akande. The aspirant, who passed a vote of confidence on the leadership of Akande, said he was optimistic that the panel would take care of the interest of every member of the party in the state. He said the speculation on social media that the committee would be biased in handling the crisis rocking the party in the state was baseless. “Whoever made such comment does not represent our own feelings or what we think as members,” he said.
The Edo State Government, which wasted no time in rejecting the Lawan-committee and a few others before it, surprisingly applauded the new panel. In a statement, Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, said the state government was “grateful to Buhari for putting together a committee of persons with proven integrity and the forthrightness needed to deliver on this very sensitive national assignment.” The APC in Edo State has been heavily factionalised as groups loyal to Governor Godwin Obaseki and Adams Oshiomhole continue to battle for the control of the soul of the party ahead of the 2020 gubernatorial election in the state.
But it appears the committee may not achieve much going by the mindset of the gladiators in the state. Speaking on the Bisi Akande-led committee, former Political Adviser to Oshiomhole, Charles Idahosa, said: “We have accepted the reconciliation committee, but there is nothing to reconcile because Oshiomhole is the problem of the APC in the 36 states. The easiest way to accomplish the job of the reconciliation committee is for Oshiomhole to resign or let them fire him. That will bring peace in the 36 states of the federation as far as APC is concerned.”
A chieftain of the Edo Peoples Movement (EPM) and a close ally of Oshiomhole’s, also told The Nation that the group will work with the Akande panel to return Edo APC to peace provided Governor Obaseki is not given a soft landing by the committee. “We have no objection to the committee. The only thing is that the committee must act in accordance with what the majority of party leaders and members in Edo State want at the end of the day. And I can assure you that we all want Obaseki to forget second term,” he said.
In Delta State, the panel will have to reconcile factions led by Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, on one hand and APC gubernatorial candidate in the 2019 general election, Great Ogboru, on the other hand. While neither of the factions have come out to accept or reject the reconciliation committee, statements from some prominent chieftains of the party have shown that some of the leading gladiators have their reservations towards Akande and his committee.
Former State Chairman of the party in the state, Chief Cyril Ogodo, described the committee as a charade, stressing that he had no confidence in the committee. “I have no confidence in any reconciliation committee set up by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. He is the cause of the whole trouble in APC and he cannot moderate any reconciliation within the party. He is just fooling us. Nothing good will come out of the efforts,” he added. Ogodo is a prominent member of the Ogboru camp within the party.
But contrary to the position of Ogodo and some other leaders of the APC in the state, Chief Francis Atanomeyovwi, a Commissioner in the National Assembly Service Commission, and an ally of Omo-Agege, maintains that there is hope that the committee could achieve results. “I believe strongly that with the cooperation of all parties to the dispute, the reconciliation effort would yield results. I believe in the ability of Chief Akande to guide the process towards peace in APC because with God, all things are possible,” he said.