There are indications that nine governors under the platform of the APC are mulling the idea of exiting the party ahead of the 2019 elections. The report quoted an unnamed source in the party saying, unless President Muhammadu Buhari and the party leaders move fast to quell the crisis within the party, no fewer than nine governors and other party chieftains will dump the party.
The rumoured exit of the party stalwarts is expected to be more prominent in the South-west and North-central regions of the country. According to the report, nine out of the 23 APC governors in the country, have become disenchanted with the party and the government at the centre. Another source quoted in the report said some of the governors are reaching out to their colleagues in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for alliance in forming a new political party.
The perceived policy of exclusion unleashed on some chieftains of the APC by members from the top hierarchy of the party is said to be responsible for the ruling party’s crisis. The negative policy has manifested mostly in the alleged lopsided appointments made by President Buhari since he assumed office 16 months ago. The governors are also not happy with the non-fulfillment of many populist campaign promises upon which the APC rode to power in 2015. “Most of these governors are fed up with this style of leader ship where everything is done by the so-called cabal in Aso Rock without consultation with other stakeholders. “You know that since 1999, the governors have been major stakeholders in our democracy.
Some people may not like them, but they deserve some respect because they are the political leaders in their various states. “They do not just have control over the machinery of government in their states, they have their loyalists at the two chambers of the National Assembly and a President can only ignore them at his own peril,” another source was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, the National Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni has dismissed the report. According to Buni, President Buhari and the governors “are on the same page of providing democracy dividends to the electorate.