The political intrigues in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) continued last Thursday just as the National Executive Committee (NEC), based on the recommendation of President Muhammadu Buhari, dissolved the National Working Committee (NWC) while a caretaker and convention committee headed by Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni was inaugurated.
Recall that in the last few weeks the APC has been rocked by a leadership crisis which had aggravated and fragmented the party into two camps.
Judging from events in the last few days it had become apparent that the battle for the soul of the party by the two camps led by deputy national secretary of the party, Victor Giadom and the party’s vice-chairman (South-South), Hilliard Eta, who had been chosen to act as national chairman of the APC in the absence of now demised former governor of Oyo State Abiola Ajimobi was capable of scuttling the party’s chances in the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo States if not checked.
Giadom, apparently acting with the backing of some leaders in the APC, had kicked against the appointment of Eta, saying that he was the legally recognised national chairman of the APC.
He had moved swiftly to annul the screening process that disqualified the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki from the party’s primary and ordered for a fresh screening.
Lawyer to Giadom, Wole Afolabi had issued a statement to counter the announcement of the late Ajimobi as the acting national chairman.
Afolabi maintained that the judgment that was upheld which led to the suspension of Oshiomhole, said his client was to act as the National Chairman of the party.
The order according to Afolabi was issued by the FCT High Court, but his claim was disputed by leaders of the party disowning Giadom, and insisting that Giadom’s membership of the NWC ceased when he resigned to contest the Deputy Governorship position in Rivers State.
The same week, an Abuja High Court granted Giadom the right to act as the National Chairman of APC for two weeks.
In an ex-parte application, Giadom had sought the leave of the court to take-over the running of the secretariat of the party in acting capacity and chair meetings of the NWC until the determination of the motion on notice.
Giadom through his counsel, Afolabi, had said he was the authentic acting National chairman of the APC, because he was the highest ranking official following the ruling of the Court of Appeal which upheld Oshiomhole’s suspension and declared all his actions since his suspension, null and void.
According to him, “The order was given the same day that the Court of Appeal earlier gave Oshiomhole a temporary respite by staying the execution of the said order suspending Oshiomhole.
“Now that the Court of Appeal has affirmed the order of suspension, it is only proper that the Order recognising Chief Victor Giadom is implemented.
“Consequently, we have written to all law-enforcement agencies,” Afolabi had said.
Meanwhile, since the dissolution of the NWC and inauguration of the caretaker committee Thursday, there have been different interpretations on the implication for the party ahead of the coming gubernatorial elections.
It is believed that the decision of the President to dissolve the party’s NWC did not go down well with loyalists of the National Leader of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It is believed that caretaker committee chairman, Buni, Abubakar Bagudu, governor of Kebbi State, and Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State and Transport Minister, Chibuike Amaechi belong to the same political camp that allegedly opposed to Tinubu.
The move by President Buhari to attend the NEC meeting convened by Giadom and went ahead to dissolve the party’s NWC is seen to favour a certain power bloc in the APC.
However, it appears the members of the Eta-led dissolved NWC are not happy over the decision and are ready to fight, threatening to take legal advice before deciding the next line of action.
In a statement jointly signed by Eta, and Waziri Bulama issued over the weekend in Abuja after a meeting by 18 out of 21 dissolved NWC, just after the Giadom convened NEC meeting in Abuja on Thursday, reiterating its earlier position that Giadom has no authority whatsoever to convene a meeting of the NEC of the party.
According to the statement, “Article 25(B) of the Constitution of the APC is explicit that only the National Chairman or the National Working Committee (NWC) is given the prerogative of summoning meetings of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party either for statutory quarterly meetings or for emergency meetings.
The same provision of the constitution makes it compulsory for a notice of minimum of 14 days in respect statutory quarterly meetings and 7 days in respect of emergency meetings
“We note that Chief Victor Giadom had convened and conducted a virtual meeting purportedly to be a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of our party wherein certain far reaching resolutions were purportedly reached.
“While the National Working Committee is studying the unfolding drama, it will be consulting with stakeholders and a team of lawyers on the next line of action”.
Although the APC has been having some internal wrangling at the national level and some state chapters in recent times which culminated in the party’s dismay performances in some states in the 2019 general election.
Observers believed the party should have put its house in order and not allow the crisis to degenerate, especially at this time.
For example, the party lost all its elected public office holders in Zamfara State, after The Supreme Court ruled that the APC did not conduct valid primaries in the build up to the 2019 general election in the state.
The Supreme Court had upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division, which ruled that no valid primaries were conducted by the APC in Zamfara State.
The Court in a unanimous judgment by a seven-member panel decided that a party that had no valid candidate cannot be said to have emerged winner of the recently conducted general election.
Prior to the 2019 election, the APC in Zamfara State had been engulfed in internal crisis and factionalised into camps that Supreme Court judgment was just a confirmation.
Similar situation was witnessed in Imo State, where disagreements over the party’s gubernatorial candidate among leaders led to the dismal performance of the APC in the 2019 election in the state, although the party through what some observers described as a controversial Supreme Court judgment later reclaimed the governorship seat.
Also, a similar situation was witnessed in Rivers State last year where the Rotimi Amaechi and Magnus Abe-led APC camps could not agree on a gubernatorial candidate after staging two parallel primaries.
Opinions of political watchers are divided on the composition of the caretaker and convention committees in the APC, and the party’s chances in the forthcoming Edo and Ondo States gubernatorial elections?
“The party is in crisis; one would have thought they would apply wisdom in managing the crisis. They should have applied consensus in resolving the crisis rather than sectarian action to manage it. Beyond that the Tinubu camp has threatened to call the President’s bluff; but if they can do that, it remains to be seen.
“With the way it is going now, the crisis would only degenerate further and it would confirm what people are saying that the APC would not be there in 2023,” Silvester Odion, a political science lecturer in the Lagos State University (LASU), said.
Odion, however, added he could not say if the caretaker committee would be able to resolve the crisis among members in some states including Edo and Ondo State, to aid the party’s electoral success, stressing that elections in Nigeria were not easy to predict.
According to him, “Personally, it is not easy to say if this caretaker committee would help the party emerge victory in the gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo State, because we are not practising democracy, you cannot predict election here, it is hard, but based on what is on ground it seems Obaseki would win the election.
“Sections of the state have been ruling for 15 years now, now it seems Edo South and North would join force with the Governor,” Odion added.
Tinubu’s influence in APC from the formation of the party, and contribution toward its electoral success financially and otherwise have never been in doubt however, with the recent tune of events there are questions if he would be willing to continue to fund the party toward electoral success in the forthcoming elections.
With few weeks left to the gubernatorial election in Edo State, and as the candidates and political parties settle down to campaigns after the conclusion of parties’ primaries elections, observers say the Buni-led caretaker committee has a huge task in uniting the dissenting voices in the party to put their differences aside and work towards the party’s victory.
“I am not surprised, when political parties do not run on ideologies, but on interest, there are bound to be head-on collisions. Obviously, the merger which resulted in the carnation of the APC was oxygenated by one interest to grab power.
“But the brokers of the deal did not ask; after we took over power what next? How do we manage it? How do we manage the pool of interests? And how do we deliver good governance to Nigerians,” Fredrick Nwabufo, political analyst, said.
