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APC Crisis: How 11 govs stand against 4 out of 18 on Oshiomhole removal
As legal fireworks and politicking wax stronger in the APC following the conspiracy to kick out its national chairman Adams Oshiomhole, groups and power blocs within the party are now taking position—publicly.
Obviously, the party national leader Bola Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari aren’t going to turn their back on their Man Friday.
Tinubu’s public statement on Sunday came down hard on the rebels in the APC who sponsored Victor Giadom, an ex-national secretary, to scramble for Oshiomhole’s job when there are vice chairmen.
Buhari’s decision to put off the Tuesday NEC meeting, a decision which allowed Oshiomhole to swing back to action after a period of suspension by an FCT court, also indicated the president has a soft spot for Oshiomhole. The suspension was upturned yesterday by the Appeal Court in Abuja.
For Buhari’s decision, the embattled chairman has Tinubu to thank .
A source within the Villa told a newspaper how Buhari decided to listen to Tinubu’s voice of reason over the matter.
All of that happened in Abuja on Monday, including the near-violent meeting the APC governors had with Buhari before they all decided to call off the NEC meeting. An anti-Oshiomhole Kebbi Gov. Atiku Bagudu, who is also chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, was going to outsmart his colleagues by reading a cooked-up communique. Then freshman Gov Hope Uzodinma, ever grateful to Oshiomhole, stood up to Bagudu, calling that action fraudulent.
So Buhari asked them to shelf the NEC meeting.
However, the governors’ positions became clearer.
On Oshiomhole’s side are most of the first timers and Tinubu’s boys in the southwest: Lagos Babjide Sanwo Olu, Osuns Oyetola Gboyega, and Ogun’s Dapo Abiodun. Likewise in the southeast: Hope Uzodinma. Ditto for the northeast: Babagana Zulum.
Against him are Gov. Bagudu, his Ondo counterpart Rotimi Akeredolu, Jigawa Gov. Abubakar Badaru, and Oshiomhole’s godson and archenemy Godwin Obaseki.
The outgoing APC governors—Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Katsina, Gombe, and others in their second term—are trying to play elders by not showing where they stand yesterday—though they have their positions.
Certainly, Kano Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, an ally of Tinubu and Buhari, belongs to the Oshiomhole camp. The pre-NEC meeting of the pro-Oshiomhole group held in Kano’s governor’s lodge in Abuja. Most of the northwestern governors actually align this way, including Gombe’s Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya.
Mid-north, Kogi Gov. Yahaya Bello has publicly declared he doesn’t belong in the Oshiomhole-must-go camp. His north-central counterpart Kwara Gov. AbdulRahaman Abdul Razaq is also pro-Oshiomhole.
Govs Kayode Fayemi and Nasir el Rufai are some sorts of wild cards in the party. But for their closeness to Aso Rock and Buhari, both of them may sympathize with Oshiomhole. Again, looking at their ambition, real or imagined, for the 2023 presidency, these two may want to turf Oshiomhole out of the national secretariat in Abuja. He’s believed to be working for the biggest of the 2023 dreamers: Tinubu.
Other Buhari’s diehards that align with Oshiomhole are Katsina Gov. Aminu Masari, and Plateau’s Simon Lalong.
Members of the non-alignment group include Niger Gov. Abubakar Sani Bello, Nasarawa’s Abdulahi Sule, and Gov. Mai Bala Buni of Yobe.
As things stand now, Oshiomhole has 11 of the 19 APC governors forming a phalanx around him. The anti-Oshiomhole group has four. Three others are perching on the fence while two can swing either way.
Governors, especially in their forums are most ruthless when it comes to hard tackles. If they decide what happens to the APC chairmanship, then Oshiomhole is almost home and dry.