As the 2015 general election looms, it appears that the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is facing a serious challenge of survival.
Formed in 2013 in an alliance that involved four political parties- the Action congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).
But since assuming power after emerging the ruling party in a historic general election in 2015, the party has been plagued by internal crisis which has spread to several state chapters. Today, all is not wll with the party in Imo, Kano, Kaduna, Ondo, Ekiti, Rivers, Adamawa, and many others.
This crisis has pitched several chieftains and leaders of the party against one another, resulting in factionalisation in these states.
Resolving the crises necessitated the setting up of a reconciliation committee headed by Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State and the national leader of the party, by President Muhammadu Buhari saddling it with the task of reconciling aggrieved members of the party across the troubled state chapters.
However, months after the committee was set up it appears it has not really taken off or Tinubu seems to have lost the vigour to actualise the task, particularly as he, himself is being accused of precipitating the crises.
In the last one month, the crises in several state chapters have deepened and escalated with little or no effort by the committee, Tinubu or the leadership of the party to resolve them.
The infighting and divisions have continued in the on-going state congresses of the party. Last week, an ultimatum by former nPDP members who are in the APC, led by former People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), Abubakar Kawu Baraje and former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola accusing the party of marginalising its members in the current administration, while threatening to quit the party if the group was not approached for dialogue within a week.
“In the constitution of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) the nPDP block was generally sidelined as virtually no position was conceded to it. The only member of FEC that belonged to former new PDP block comes from a state that contributed virtually no vote to the APC in the 2015 presidential election.
There has been no significant patronage and appointments to executive positions in various government agencies such as Chief Executives and Executive Directors of government agencies and parastatals as members of our block of the party continue to helplessly watch as these positions are shared by the erstwhile CPC, ACN, ANPP and even APGA blocks of the party and those who have no party at all.
“Given the constraining factor of available time and in the interest of our great party; it is strongly advised that the said urgent meeting be held not later than Seven (7) days from the date of the receipt of this letter,” the letter said.
Political observers have even questioned if Tinubu was no longer interested in the assignment.
It is also believed that the extent to which the Tinubu reconciliation committee would go, will not only determine the success of the party in the 2019 general election, but its survival thereafter.
Iniobong Iwok
