More trouble awaits President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2019 general election.
This is as the warring nPDP faction in APC has joined forces with some aggrieved members of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANNP and Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN to form the “Reformed All Progressives Congress”, rAPC.
The group said it is now the “authentic” faction of the party.
The newly formed rAPC has President Muhammadu Buhari’s political ally, Buba Galadima as National Chairman and Tinubu political associate, Fatai Atanda as National Secretary. rAPC also has Zonal, state, local government and ward officials across the Federation.
Addressing journalists in Abuja alongside the leader of the defunct nPDP, Abubakar Baraje, rAPC National Chairman, Galadima cited cases of injustice, harassment of other members of APC, failed campaign promises as the reason for their action.
He particularly alluded to the acrimonious Congresses and convention recently conducted by the APC which is at variance with the constitution and principles of a progressive party.
“You will recall that in the build up to the 2015 General elections, some political parties and groups came together, and formed a brand new political party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, a merger that was based on the strong belief that Nigeria had come of age, but was severely underperforming and unable to meet its potentials for good governance. The Nigerian people entrusted power to the APC based on its promises and potentials.
“We are sad to report that after more than three years of governance, our hopes have been betrayed, our expectations completely dashed. The APC has run a rudderless, inept and incompetent government that has failed to deliver good governance to the people. It has rather imposed dictatorship, impunity, abuse of power, complete abdication of constitutional and statutory responsibilities, infidelity to the rule of law and constitutionalism. It has failed to ensure the security and welfare of our people and elevated nepotism to unacceptable heights.”
“The last straw, was the Congresses and Convention of the APC held recently. The Congresses were intensely disputed as it was conducted with impunity, total disregard for due process, disregard for the party Constitution and naked display of power and practices that have no place in a party we all worked the very to put in place.
“There are countless cases in courts all over the country challenging the legality of congresses and even the National Convention itself. It is very likely that the judicial decisions on these cases will result in massive chaos, confusion and uncertainties. The fate of a party in this state with a few months to the elections is best left to the imagination, but it is not a fate we believe our millions of members should be abandoned to.”
BusinessDay reports that there were parallel congresses in 24 States namely: Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto and Zamfara.
The congresses in Wards, Local Areas and States all over the federation produced different sets of delegates leading to the party being factionalised and divided in not just 24 States but the 36 States and Abuja FCT.
“The so-called National Convention of the APC was even worse. The National Convention of the party was ridiculed with constitutional infirmities that were so glaring and obvious that no fair minded person can claim that a legitimate and lawful executive from that process.
“The Chairman of the organising Committee, Jigawa State Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, declared 18 seats unopposed and uncontested, since only one valid candidate stood at the end of the grossly manipulated nomination exercise for each of the offices. He therefore proceeded to declare them duly elected in flagrant abuse and violation to the Constitution of the APC,” the rAPC leader stated.
On his part, Baraje, leader of the defunct nPDP described the purported defection of Kwamkwaso to the PDP as a fallacy and figment of the imagination of the author of the report, and said membership of nPDP remains intact.
The announcement of the formation of the “Reformed APC” is said to be the first step in what would lead to a coalition of political parties and interests, to challenge Buhari.
This development is said to pose a serious threat to President Muhammadu Buhari’s bid to return to power in 2019.
Galadima told the press conference in Abuja that the Buhari administration is leading the Nigerian state into chaos and the rAPC is on a rescue mission to avert a disaster that may befall the nation if President Buhari realized his ambition of returning to power in 2019.
Some of the National Officers of the rAPC include: Buba Galadima (National Chairman) from Yobe state; Bala Muhd Gwagwarwa (National Deputy Chairman, North) from Kano state; Theo Nkire (National Deputy Chairman, South East) from Abia state; Eko Olakunle (National Vice Chairman South West) from Ondo state.
Others include: Hussaini Dambo (National Vice Chairman North West) from Kaduna state; Mahmud Mohammed Abubakar – (National Vice Chairman, North Central) from Kogi state;Godwin Akaan (Deputy National Secretary) from Benue state; Fatai Atanda (National Secretary) from Oyo state and Kazeem Afegbua (National Publicity Secretary) from Edo state among others.
Meanwhile, APC said it has received a report that a group of politicians (rAPC) described themselves as a faction of the party and it would react after getting the full details.
“We have report of a group of people who have puportedly described themselves as a faction of our party. We will be able to give our reaction as soon as we get the full details and have the opportunity to review it,” Bolaji Abdullahi, APC National Publicity Secretary said this in a post on an official online platform of the party.
