There are emerging indicators of apprehension in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over the subtle hijack of the ruling party government by one of the legacy party that formed the broader APC, the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) a coalition in the alliance led by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu appears to be the weeping dog and the victim of the creeping inequality in federal appointments by the orchestrated by President Buhari of the CPC in the APC government.
There would appear to be the resumption of cold war between President Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu. The symptoms of such cold war were gaining momentum and attracting public cognizance in Buhari’s first tenure. Though, there were denials of any frictions between the two-party leaders.
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) have little to say in the APC alliance since the party has been emasculated by the dominance of the CPC and ACN. However, the ANPP has notable reward in the emergence of the Ahmad Lawan as the President of the Senate, extended to the appointment of Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu as Minster of Science and Tech. the APGA molecule has been exterminated for long.
A supporter of the ACN coalition, Femi Orebe, a loyalist of the APC national Leader, Bola Tinubu, in an article on Sunday in The Nation, titled: Buhari what is happening,” protested the emerging trend in the ruling party.
He decried: “The Fulani think 50 years ahead, but we (Yoruba) think and romanticise with yesterday.
“We celebrate achievements of yesterday, as if they are more important than the future. What is going on is an organised sub-regional plan to establish a Nigeria that fits into their own dream.”
Orebe lamented: “Finance, Customs, Immigration, FIRS, NPA, NNPC, AMCON, NDIC, Federal Mortgage Bank, are now firmly in the hands of Northerners!
“Executive, Legislature, the Judiciary, Police, DSS, Armed Forces, minus the CDS, Oil, Airports, and Seaports, are all in the hands of Northerners.
“Chief of Army Staff tenure is over. He is still in Office. Chief of Naval Staff tenure is over. He is still in Office. EFCC Acting Chairman’s tenure is over. He is still in Office. But FIRS boss, Tunde Fowler’s tenure expired today, and he is already replaced.”
The protest reflected the urgency in the removal of two Yoruba appointees from the AMCON and FIRS within 24 hours and their immediate replacement with two northern Muslims by President Buhari.
The emerging rhythm of disquiet is being deepened by latent discontentment in the Presidency over the extra judicial detention of Omoyele Sowore, leader of the Revolution Now Movement, despite court order granting him bail and directing his release from the State Security Service (SSS) detention. Though, Sowore does not belong to the APC but he is beginning to draw sympathy from his identity of being from the southwest Nigeria and being persecuted by the northern leaders in the ruling party.
However, all the events are being monitored in the ruling APC on their effects on the social relations between the party leaders and stakeholders.