JOHN ALECHENU takes a look at the decision of the National Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress to dissolve the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee and some of the issues currently threatening the soul of Nigeria’s first successful merger of opposition political parties
After a botched attempt and several months of speculations, the National Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress, on Thursday, dissolved the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee.
The President, Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), announced the decision after deliberations by the 120-member NEC. According to the APC Constitution of 2014 (as amended), the party’s NEC is only second to the convention which is the highest decision/policymaking organ of the party.
Article 13. 3 (iii) of the party’s constitution empowers the NEC to: “Exercise control and take disciplinary actions on all organs, officers and members of the party and determine appeals brought before it by any member or organ of the party.”
At the Thursday’s meeting, while setting the tone for what was to come, Buhari said, “The issues currently confronting our party at this time are such that should worry every party member. At the moment, our great party is faced with internal wrangling; there are ongoing litigation among some party members and we cannot clearly ascertain the status of certain National Working Committee members.
“There are also other associated disputes as to the legitimacy or otherwise of holders of certain national offices of the party. The party is also contending with judicial claims and counter-claims, orders and counter-orders and indeed judgments and counter-judgments that are predominantly at cross-purposes.
“What we see clearly emerging is that we are beginning to self-destruct. This, my dear party members, is not just regrettable but utterly gut-wrenching.”
After some of the issues were deliberated upon, the President recommended the dissolution of the NWC and in its place, a caretaker/convention planning committee be set up. His motion was adopted. Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, who was the immediate past National Secretary of the APC, was named chairman of the committee, while Senator John Akpanudoede was named national secretary.
A few hours after the NEC meeting and the dissolution of the NWC, members of the body met and resolved to reject their unceremonious removal from office. A statement jointly signed by Hilliard Eta and Waziri Bulama, the Acting National Chairman and Secretary respectively, read in part, “We note that Chief Victor Giadom had convened and conducted a virtual meeting purportedly to be a National Executive Committee meeting of our party wherein certain far-reaching resolutions were purportedly reached. While the National Working Committee is studying the unfolding drama, it will be consulting with stakeholders and a team of lawyers on the next line of action.”
This came after Buhari had asked party members who had taken the party or its members to court to withdraw them.
At the heart of the crisis is the jostle for control of the party structure to achieve political goals. The Secretary of the NWC during the Oshiomhole-era, Waziri Bulama, gave the indication in a recent interview.
He explained that since the President had made it clear that he would not interfere in the process of who succeeds him, the fight within the party for the control of its structure was at the heart of the crisis.
He said, “Some elements within the Nigerian political elite see the political party as only within the limited scope of a function of a party as a special purpose vehicle for elections; thinking that if they seize control of the party and without Buhari, they can steer the party in one direction or the other. And this, actually and truly is one of the philosophical and political issues and tensions we are facing in the party. There is no doubt about that.” He expressed optimism that the party would emerge stronger.
Political pundits are of the opinion that Thursday’s decision which was taken by the President as leader of the party, working together with a majority of party stakeholders, doused the tension and set the stage for the party to begin afresh.
Others, however, argued that those who pushed for and succeeded in sacking the Oshiomhole-led NWC, “only won a battle”, and that “many more battles are just beginning.”
A public affairs commentator, Mallam Ya’u Sani, noted, “For all intents and purposes, it has to be agreed at one point or another that a new chapter has been opened in the crisis-ridden APC. The setting up of a caretaker committee which Buni was named as the chairman may be what the party needs to reposition itself because the party was definitely heading south under (Adams) Oshiomhole.”
He noted that the decision of the President to recognise Giadom, whose membership of the NWC was as controversial as the court injunction he obtained to act as the national chairman, was a matter for discussion “another day.”
Sani explained that the manner the NEC was convened outside of the constitutionally recognised procedure which required seven or 14 days’ notice, was also a matter that required members of the party to embark on introspection.
He further said, “Buhari may not be a politician in the real sense of it, but this decision which obviously was one based on some sound advice, will, to my mind go a long way in dousing tension. This may be his own way of telling the power blocs to sheath their swords while efforts are being made to resolve other issues.”
Not everyone agreed. A political scientist, Emmanuel Adoba, highlighted the initial position taken by members of the Oshiomhole-led NWC who argued that the President was blackmailed into agreeing to be part of the “illegal NEC” in the first place.
He said, “We need to call a spade by its proper name. Like we say in this part of the world, the witch cries in the night and the child dies in the morning. Why look far for a suspect? Before the NEC meeting became an issue, the significance of the visit of three governors: Simon Lalong (Plateau), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) and Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi) appeared lost to most analysts.
“These governors represent three dimensions of a single power bloc within the APC. These are chairmen of the Northern States Governors Forum, the Nigerian Governors Forum and the Progressives Governors Forum or APC Governors’ Forum if you like, in that order.
“They must have pressured the president one way or the other to accede to this travesty. Giadom was simply not in a position to convene a NEC meeting. Let’s put it this way: the governors have taken over.”
A pioneer member of the party, who is currently the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, Mr Osita Okechukwu, sees things a little differently. He said, “All genuine members of this party should be grateful to Mr President for this act of bravery; he saved our party from implosion. There are a lot of issues, so many ‘ifs’; if the Oshiomhole-led NWC had taken the preemptive step of convening the NEC to ratify the appointment of the late Senator Abiola Ajimobi and Waziri Bulama, as members of the NWC, Victor Giadom would not have claimed to be the acting chairman. We were clearly going downhill, we had 24 governors when Oshiomhole took office in 2018 but today, we are moving dangerously down towards 18. I wonder if anyone can call that progress.
“There is also the question of accountability. We have yet to see the audited accounts of our party since the 2019 elections ended. What happened to the billions collected as fees for the purchase of forms and other sundry charges?”
There are other public affairs commentators who consider the sacking of the NWC as a direct attack on the 2023 alleged presidential ambition of the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. One of such commentators, a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, even wrote an open letter that went viral soon after the NEC decision.
While addressing Tinubu in the letter, he said among other things, “You dreamed of being Vice President in 2015 and you failed. You are dreaming of being President in 2023 and you will fail.
“In all your plans, what you failed to appreciate is that God alone rules in the affairs of men. You refused to acknowledge or accept the fact that the Presidency of Nigeria can only be given by God and He gives it to whom He deems fit by prophecy and divine decree.”
However, a top-ranking member of the party who pleaded anonymity for personal reasons, said, “As Muslims, we believe in destiny. If Allah wills that Jagaban becomes president of Nigeria, no conspiracy can stop him. It is not a crime to have an ambition, this is simply what it is, a temporary setback. You may not know how close Tinubu is to Governor Buni.”
What remains clear is that the Buni-led committee has its job cut out. All the contending forces within the party have been given another chance to return to the drawing table and revisit their strategies.