- Loyalists regret the Buhari project
- APC boils, Oyegun under fire
By SUNDAY ODIBASHI
Since the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 General Elections, a frontline national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been encountering covert gang up from several party leaders and certain officials from the Presidency and the federal cabinet towards emasculating him, as a leader, or dismantling his political structure to further reduce his influence and political authority.
After series of cold war against the APC national leader, the perpetual gang up got to its climax in the political configurations over the governorship primary election in Ondo State. The emerging power reconfiguration phenomenon has precipitated open conflict in the ruling APC after about one and a half years of tolerance and patience by Tinubu. The APC national leader has been suffering silent protests from many of his loyalists who complain that he dragged them into the Buhari project, in the APC alliance, which has ruined their political careers.
Through the period of negotiating the new mega political party, mobilizing membership and the subsequent registration of the coalition of opposition political parties that metamorphosed into the APC, the electioneering campaigns, President Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, were two renowned leaders of the new political movement who demonstrated shared values and harmony of interests in providing rallying point and solidarity base for others. They were both prominent in the vanguard of the struggle to wrest power from the then hegemonic Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Since the victory of the party in the 2015 General Elections, there have been innuendoes that Tinubu is being subtly excluded from the political machine of both the APC and the federal government in the authoritative decisions of who gets what, when and how much from the commonwealth.
Subsequently, there have been reflections of covert intents to emasculate or possibly transplant the political structures of the APC national leader in the South West. The intents have been developing a hypothetical gulf between the Presidency and the APC national leader, Tinubu. This, according to some loyalists of the former Governor of Lagos State, led to subtle exclusion of their principal from major public activities of the APC-controlled Federal Government.
Some of the loyalists of the APC national leader who spoke to National Daily, on the condition of anonymity, expressed concerns that beyond the exclusion of the leader from mainstream activities of the Party-Government, some officials in the Presidency purportedly plot to emasculate Tinubu’s political structure to bring down his political empire.
At personal levels, there are no indications of any dispute between President Buhari and Tinubu both in the government and in the APC. However, some of the former Governor’s loyalists alleged that President Buhari is being surrounded by a strong cabal, members of who they said, are calling the shots in the seat of power; and using that opportunity to hijack the APC leadership to hunt Tinubu.
The latent agenda of the perceived cabal has thrown the APC into overt conflicts as Tinubu, at the weekend, resolved to fight back. The build up to the Ondo State Governorship Election has declared the battlefield open for leaders of the coalition political parties to fight for their shares of who gets what, when and how from the APC platform.
The Saturday, September 3 primary election for the APC governorship ticket for the November 26, 2016, governorship election in Ondo State, exposed the deepening gang up in the APC against Tinubu; the election in question, ended in controversies and threats of abandoning the party in the state. Chief Rotimi Akeredolu SAN, was declared winner of the primary election. Before the election, Segun Abraham was widely celebrated as the candidate sponsored by Asiwaju Tinubu. Akeredolu was alleged to be sponsored by a team referred to as Abuja Force.
Petitions from aspirants who spotted irregularities and malpractices in the primary election culminated into the inauguration of a three-member Election Appeal Committee which include Mrs. Helen Bendega, Chairperson, Alhaji Musa Umar, Secretary, and Nikky Ejezie, member, by the national Working Committee (NWC). The Committee had the mandate to look into the various petitions and make recommendations to the NWC.
Again, the power struggle started when APC leaders pre-empted the outcome of the inquiry, alleging that they received reports that the Committee members have been infiltrated and induced with money by some party leaders. The National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, was reported to have remarked that the NWC will look into that allegation ‘for appropriate action’.
Concluding its investigations, the three-member Ondo State Governorship Primary Appeals Committee under the Chairmanship of Helen Bendega, had recommended inter alia: “It is a matter of grave concern that the accreditation process appeared to have been manipulated. Thus, in consideration of the above observed irregularities and for the sake of fair play, it is, hereby, recommended that the election result should be cancelled while a rerun election should be ordered immediately in order to beat the INEC deadline.”
Members of the NWC at a meeting at the APC National Secretariat, Abuja, who included the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, two Deputy National Chairmen (South), Segun Oni and his counterpart from the North, Lawali Shuiabu, rejected the recommendation of the Appeal committee, upholding the election of Akeredolu by the delegates.
Governor Muhammed Abubakar of Jigawa State, who conducted the primary election at the International Cultural and Event Centre, Akure, had declared that Akeredolu had 669 votes to emerge winner; Abraham got 635 votes, Oke 583 votes and Senator Ajayi Boroface 471 votes. Abubakar also disclosed that 2,744 voters were accredited for the APC primary election.
Governor Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar led a five-member election committee that included Dr. Bruce Ugbode, Secretary, Hon. Hamma Adama Ali, Prince M. Martins and Engr. Mohammed Lawal.
The recommendation of the Appeal Committee was widely accepted by the aspirants who lost at the primary poll as the way forward for the APC in Ondo. The rejection of the recommendation by the NWC generated distrust over the neutrality of the APC leadership in the administration of the party. They are percieved to have become partisan in their duties, compelling Tinubu to demand the resignation of john Oyegun, the national chairman. Oyegun was nominated by Tinubu for the national chairman after Chief Bisi Akande was removed as Interim National Chairman of the party.
Tinubu, in a statement on Sunday, called on Odigie-Oyegun to resign, accusing him of working with anti-democratic forces within the party to scuttle the will of party members in Ondo State.
The APC national leader decried that Oyegun is unilaterally overriding the majority vote of the party’s NWC members who voted to uphold the cancellation of the governorship primary election in Ondo State by the appeal committee.
“The APC, a party born of the quest for democratic good governance, is under critical threat by those who managed to be in the party but never of it. From the party’s inception, the principles of democratic fairness and justice were to guide APC internal deliberations. Party founders realized that only by intramural fair dealing could the party remain faithful to the progressive ideals that we presented to the Nigerian electorate as our governing creed. If the party could not justly govern itself, it will find it difficult to establish and maintain just government throughout the nation,”
Tinubu declared.
He maintained that, “In essence, the party was the embodiment of a democratic promise made between its members as well as a democratic vow made to the public. Evidently, some errant members believe promises and vows are mere words to be easily spoken and more easily broken. Chairman John Oyegun has breached these good pledges in a most overt and brazen display. In doing so, Oyegun has dealt a heavy blow to the very party he professes to lead. It is an awful parent who suffocates his own child for the sake of a few naira. The party was supposed to buttress APC members elected to government at all levels. Because of Oyegun’s conduct of our affairs, the party is rapidly becoming an albatross to those it was meant to help.”
Tinubu further narrated that, “Oyegun’s comportment regarding the Ondo State primary will become the textbook definition of political treachery and malfeasance of the basest order. In early September, the state primary was held. A purported winner was named. Having faith in the ways of the party, Tinubu publicly accepted what he assumed to be a verdict honestly derived. As a democrat, one must face the possibility of defeat and accept such as outcome with as much grace as one would embrace victory. One of the few bright spots during the conduct of the primaries was Jigawa Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar. He chaired the primary convention with decorum and impartiality. He was unaware that a tampered list had been slipped into the process.”
He revealed that, “Indeed, within hours of the announcement, news began to filter in that gravely disturbed me. Credible allegations of fraud troubled the waters. The delegate list had been materially altered by someone in a strategic position to so do. The names of over 150 valid delegates were excised to make room for an equal number of impostors. This was not a clerical error. The alteration was wilfully executed that the primary would be directed toward a chosen end that bore nothing in common with the will of most state party members. A cunning few had tried to deceive the many into believing they were outnumbered.”
He continued: “A conspiracy to steal the Ondo primary had been uncovered. Fortunately, the grand deception afoot had been unable to cover its tracks fast enough. Truth began to cry for justice. “Several candidates filed petitions contesting the result. The party established an investigative board to review the evidence. In a two to one decision, the panel found the delegate roster had suffered tampering. The panel recommended that a new primary should be held using the valid delegate list. This recommendation was tabled before the National Working Committee (NWC).”
“After many hours of deliberations spanning several days, a final vote was held by the NWC. Beforehand, NWC members agreed that the decision of the majority would become the stance of the party. Such is the way of democracy. The NWC voted six against five to cancel the fraudulent results and hold an honest primary. For a moment, it seemed the party would restore its integrity by giving democracy a chance. However, those who sought to scam an entire state would not let the vote of 11 people spoil their enterprise. After the NWC vote, a noticeably agitated Chairman Oyegun proposed the NWC engage in prayer before concluding the meeting. Adhering to this chairman’s request, NWC members began to pray. Seeing that the others had taken his bait, Oyegun used the prayerful interlude to secretly excuse himself from the meeting. Contravening the NWC decision and in violation of all rules of fundamental decency, Oyegun decided to safeguard the fraud done in Ondo by perpetrating a greater fraud. Oyegun arrogated to himself the right to submit the name of Rotimi Akeredolu to INEC as the candidate of the party,” Tinubu complained.
The former Lagos State Governor was of the view that, “Truth has finally come to light. There exists a regressive element in the party that cares nothing for the progressive ideas upon which this party was founded. They joined the APC because it was the best ride available at the time. Now, they want to guide the party into the ditch. They want to turn the party into a soulless entity incapable of doing good, just like they are. When such a person tastes power, they shed all good restraint. They come to abuse the trust given them as if they are the owners of that trust and not its mere custodians. These people did little to build the party but now will do much to wreck it.” He added:
“Our party was to stand for change. Oyegun and his fellows seem to be on a different wave length. They are the cohort of Unchange. The APC wants to guide Nigeria into a better tomorrow. Oyegun and the cohort of unchange want to pull Nigeria back into the past where rigging and vote stealing were the old and new testaments of politics. They want the people to think that there is no alternative to their reactionary system of skewed politics and imperious government. Thus, they seek to turn the APC into a factory of the very political malpractices the people soundly rejected in the past election. To choke the APC in this manner is to kill the chance for progressive reform for the foreseeable future. Much more than the Ondo primary is at stake. Oyegun has revealed his team’s game plan: It is the destruction of progressive politics and governance on behalf of the people.”
Summing the long statement, he declared inter alia: “If Tinubu is to choose between John Oyegun and progress toward a better Nigeria, the choice has already been made. For those who care about the party, who care about Nigeria and its chance for a better tomorrow, now is the time to stand against this brewing evil before it grows to encompass all we have built and all we hold dear.” He affirmed that “As party chairman, Oyegun was supposed to protect our internal processes and be an impartial arbiter, a person in whom all had confidence. Instead, he donned the garment of a confident man, duping the NWC, the party, and INEC in one fell blow. He has robbed APC members in Ondo State of the chance to pick in a fair manner who they believe is the best candidate;” and accordingly called for his immediate resignation.
Beginning with the appointment of ministers, there were symptoms of discontentment that the President did not consider Tinubu’s nominees in appointing people from the South West into the federal cabinet. One of the loyalists of the former Governor, who was a former federal lawmaker, complained that none of the nominees by their political godfather from the South West made the appointment in the federal cabinet.
Thus, he alleged that the President has been trying to groom new leaders in the South West, thereby, relegating Tinubu to the outskirt of leadership structure in the zone. He maintained that the President, through the new leaders being groomed in his administration, is dividing the South West. The perceived new leaders were said to have constituted what is now known as “Abuja Force” attempting to control the allocation of opportunities in the component states of the South West.
Many of the loyalists lamented that the alliance of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) which formed bulk of the membership and support base of the APC, have not favoured the ACN faction since the inauguration of the present administration. They had protested that their leader (Tinubu) took them into the alliance that is now destroying their political careers. Though, the ACN occupies the office of the Vice President as the CPC occupies the President, the loyalists lamented that never in the history of Nigeria does the North occupy the head of the three arms of government – the legislature, executive and judiciary in the country’s power structure of North/South dichotomy.
It was gathered that of the three senators representing Lagos State in the National Assembly. As well as the APC lawmakers in the House of Representatives, are highly bitter, in conjunction with some other stakeholders from the South West, most of whom include both present and former state lawmakers, as well as commissioners, over what they construed as deep exclusion of core ACN members from federal appointments after they worked assiduously for the victory of the party. Some of them threatened to review the direction of their populist support in subsequent elections within the region.
What has become of utmost dismay to the loyalists of Tinubu is what they described as collaborative agenda of the perceived new leaders being created by the Buhari administration to demystify and displace the political hegemony and overwhelming influence of their principal in the South West.
This foregoing compendium was said to have played out in the emergence of the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly. All the candidates speculated to be sponsored by Tinubu were roundly beaten amidst controversy over the election of the Presiding officers and the appointment of the principal officers of both chambers of the National Assembly. The intervention of APC leaders and late intervention of the President saved Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, who was later made Leader of the House of Representatives. The Senate was a total loss for the APC national leader.
Some of the neo-leaders were fingered to have cooperated with other competing interests to frustrate the leader from the South West in that power struggle.
In the controversial governorship election in Kogi State, the same forces were alleged to have aggregated to frustrate Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, from inheriting the majority joint votes of over 200,000 won in the inconclusive election before the death of Abubakar Audu, APC governorship candidate in that election in which Faleke was the deputy governorship candidate.
The political machine of the APC was mobilised to enthrone Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello, as replacement for Audu for the subsequent supplementary governorship election, retaining Faleke as deputy governorship candidate, which the federal lawmaker rejected. Bello was later inaugurated Governor of Kogi State on January 27, 2016 while Faleke insisted on not being deputy governor.
Again, many stakeholders in the ruling party perceived Tinubu to have sponsored Faleke, who represents Ikeja Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, in that election.
Then, came the Ondo governorship primary election; Tinubu was widely speculated to have sponsored Segun Abraham for the APC ticket. The speculation, thereafter, influenced two governorship aspirants to step down for Abraham, while some other aspirants criticised the godfather with vow to resist any imposition of a candidate.
As the power game progressed, there were insinuations of counter political force from Abuja. Sources alleged that the force include ministers appointed from the South West and some governors also from the South West who sponsored another candidate for the APC ticket. A covert battle of supremacy took the centre stage in Ondo.
A strong loyalist of Tinubu, a former lawmaker in Lagos, told National Daily that the APC has not been on the same path with their principal since the 2015 victory. He was of the view that in 2019, APC may split into three political parties. According to him, ACN may seek fresh alliance to establish another mega political party, nPDP may return to their original platform and the CPC will take over the APC.