The commotion in the APC and the states under its watch forms the kernel of this piece by ABDULRAHMAN A. ABDULRAUF
Registration
Amidst hope and anxiety, the All Progressives Congress(APC), a mega party was born August last year, following an announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC). To some Nigerians, the party appeared look good to take over from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) which it variously describes as drab, colourless and bereft of ideas. Indeed never does any action, inaction or policy of the PDP-led government goes un-attacked by the opposition APC.
Watchers of political developments within the country praised the coalition or better put an amalgam of political parties that came together to form the APC. For the record, the parties that coalesced into APC were; the All Nigeria Peoples Political Party(ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change(CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) and of course a fraction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA). All of these political parties gave up their registration for the sake of what has come to be known by many as mega party.
Announcing the commission’s position in a statement on Wednesday, the 30th of September, , the immediate past INEC Secretary, Abdullahi A. Kaugama said: “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approved the application by three political parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) – to merge into one, to be known as the All Progressives Congress.
“On considering the application, the commission found that the applicant-parties have met all statutory requirements for the merger, and has accordingly granted their request.
“Consequently, the commission has approved the withdrawal of the individual certificates of the applicant-parties, and the issuance of a single certificate to the All Progressives Congress.”
Mission statement
And in a jiffy, the APC hit the ground running with a very strong mission statement bordering on its readiness to take over power from the ruling PDP. The party, in a statement by its then interim national publicity secretary, Lai Mohamed declared: ‘’With the approval of our merger by INEC and the emergence of APC, today marks the beginning of a new dawn for our country and her long-suffering people.
“We thank Nigerians both here and in the Diaspora for standing by us. We thank the media for their fairness, and we commend INEC for doing the right thing and for not succumbing to pressures from phantom political associations that sought to force it to circumvent the law.
‘’We promise not to disappoint Nigerians who have reposed much confidence in us. We say that contrary to the lies being peddled by the naysayers, we are not seeking political power for the sake of getting it, but in order to use it to empower our people and allow their long-nursed hopes and dreams to become a reality. And to those who have vowed to change their names if APC survives for a year, we hope they will live up to their words,’’ it said.
The APC said Nigerians would now look forward to a truly democratic party in the best traditions of what the world considers as the best form of government. It promised to give all Nigerians, especially those who have become disenchanted with the way things are going in the country, the much-awaited opportunity to be part of the country’s democratic process in the true sense of the word.
Early boost
With that INEC’s announcement and the follow-up mission statement by the APC , the political environment became charged with the new born heralding its arrival in very many ways. From the nationwide membership drive to the first manifestoes summit held sometimes this year, the party never left anybody in doubt that it was set to take over the nation’s affairs from the ruling PDP. More significant was its aggressive membership drive which took the APC train across the length and breadth of the country.
The intra-party rancour within the ruling party arising from the PDP national convention was what the mega opposition feasted on to boost its acceptability. Seven PDP governors under the aegis of G-7 including those of Rivers(Rotimi Amaechi), Adamawa(Murtala Nyako), Kwara(Abdulfattah Ahmed) and Sule Lamido of Jigawa state stormed out of the party’s convention in protest of certain alleged anomalies. The rest are; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano, Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako of Sokoto and that of Niger, Aliyu Babangda Mua’zu who led the team. With a lot of pressure coupled with myriad of factors, all the governors except those of Jigawa and Niger poured into the APC’s fold with their teeming supporters.
Emerging challenges
Of course, the development though positive came with a few challenges as those members whom the defector governors met on ground would not easily concede the leadership of the party in the affected states to the governors. Despite the obvious position of the party’s constitution which gives the leadership to the governors, the party’s hierarchy still needed to do some mend fencing to ensure things were in place. Though the degree of defection from APC to the ruling party varies in those states, the fact remains that the party suffered some setbacks in the affected states. In Adamawa for instance, Buba Marwa and Marcus Gundiri led their supporters out of APC, Mohammed Dele Belgore did same in Kwara, Ibrahim Shekarau, now education minister, also protested in Kano and Attahiru Bafarawa joined the fray in Sokoto.
While the party was just getting over the exodus occasioned by some PDP governors, it was confronted with yet another challenge arising from its recently held first national convention. Most importantly, the emergence of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun as the party’s national chairman , is generating some row among some party chieftains. Notable party leaders like Chief Tom Ikimi who chaired the amalgamation committee as well Chief Segun Osoba, believed the process leading to Oyegusn’s emergence was not transparent.
Ekiti loss et al
Beside, the party’s recent loss in Ekiti governorship election, observers contended , is one other setback towards its 2015 journey. Analysts are of the view that the party’s fortune was greatly diminished with the defeat of the incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi during the poll. Similarly, the turbulent moment both the Edo and Adamawa-led APC governments are facing from their respective state legislatures is one other pointer of the party’s dwindling fortune. While Governor Adams Oshimhole is struggling to stave off allegation of any involvement in the crisis bedevilling the Edo legislature, his Adamawa counterpart, Murtala Nyako is battling hard to survive an impeachment threat hurled at him by the PDP-dominated state legislature. The fracas in the Edo legislature is the climax of the local government and state congresses where Oshiomhole was accused of imposing unpopular candidates on party members. This severally has led to a gale of defection to the opposition PDP both within and outside the state legislature.
APC in its climax-PDP
To the ruling PDP however, the multiple crises facing the APC is a manifestation that the party has reached its climax and law of diminishing return is setting in too soon.
PDP spokesman, Olisa Metuh believes that the happenings within the APC are clear signals that the opposition party has exhausted all its strategies and now seeks to cover its premature boast of majority in the National Assembly Metuh says, “we are not surprised about the flurry of defections and return to our fold. The PDP remains the only national party while the APC is quasi national.
“The PDP is owned equally by all its members irrespective of race and religion, the APC is owned by a tiny clique of civilian and civil-clothed dictators whose major agenda is to capture power for selfish ends and turn Nigeria to either old Sudan or Somalia.
“We are expecting more defections to the PDP. We have consistently told Nigerians that the PDP would emerge from its challenges a stronger party and this is what we are witnessing.”
PDP desperate- APC
And the APC has not failed to speak up on the development affecting its interest in the aforementioned states, accusing President Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP government of desperation and being behind it all in the name of his re-election in 2015.
Spokesman of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says under President Jonathan’s watch, Nigeria has been thrown into unprecedented crisis that is manifesting in the opposition strongholds of Rivers, Edo, Adamawa and Nasarawa states and elsewhere across the country.
It also claims that “the President has also abused national institutions perhaps more than any other President in Nigeria’s history, deploying the police and the army to intimidate and harass ordinary citizens in general and opposition supporters in particular, as he did recently in Ekiti,” and allegedly planning to do same in Osun state; shutting airports at will just to punish the opposition and muscling the electoral commission, INEC, to prevent incorruptible RECs from conducting elections.
”As we write, there are contrived crises in Rivers and Edo, where a handful of lawmakers with the backing of higher authorities have been terrorizing the Houses of Assembly in their States and defying court orders at will, with the ultimate prize for the renegades being the states’ chief executives; and there is crisis in Adamawa, where an impeachment plot has been undoubtedly instigated and hatched by higher authorities, despite tepid denials, and soldiers have been deployed to cage in very high state officials
”In Ekiti, several billions of Naira was allegedly scooped from a massive political war chest to subvert democracy, induce voters and upturn all known political theories to such an extent that all that anyone seeking to be elected now has to do is to dole out stolen public funds to a people already rendered comatose and impoverished by runaway corruption, glaring incompetence and sheer cluelessness that are the hall marks of the Jonathan Administration,” Mohammed submits.
On Osun poll scheduled for next month, the APC claims that ”With such huge funds now being allegedly channeled to Osun to thwart the will of the people ahead of the 9 August. governorship election, in an attempt to repeat the Ekiti ‘experiment’ which the PDP-led federal government deemed to have been a ‘success’, it is now clear the Jonathan Administration will not pull any punches in subverting democracy ahead of the 2015 general elections.”
Need for caution
Commenting on the development, an Abuja based legal practitioner, Olutunde Abegunde, calls for caution, stressing that this portends a lot for the country in 2015 and even beyond. Abegunde says: “I will rather say what does it portend for democracy in Nigeria in 2015 and beyond? It really portends danger if you ask me. They are all resultant dynamics of the kind of politics we play in Nigeria. We hope that the politicians of all party persuasions would play the game by the rules. This is because at the end of the day, whether PDP, APC or APGA, it is all about Nigeria.”
Continuing , the legal practitioner posits: “Look at all the political parties, there are crises here and there. It is in the nature of human endeavours to have this kind of crises. For us Nigerians, what matters at the end of the day is what benefits will all these dynamics bring to the people.
“ Politicians are who they are- all struggling for power. Each state must be analysed within the context of its peculiarity. For me, it’s not about any party being in power for donkey years or in opposition for the sake it. Rather than creating unnecessary crises here and there, our politicians should look at how to develop the nation. The ruling party must realise that even the opposition are compatriots putting the ruling party on their toes. PDP was an opposition in Ekiti but the people spoke through their votes to change the tide,” Abegunde further reasons.
Speaking in similar vein, a political science teacher, Abdulrauf Zakariya, submits that no matter the level of the crisis, APC still remains an alternative to the ruling PDP, giving the personalities within the opposition’s fold.
According to Zakariyau who teaches at the Police Academy, Wudil, “irrespective of the crises, APC still remains the alternative to the ruling party. The personalities within the party make it very viable. They are very likely to get over the challenges in as much as they can ensure internal democracy within the party,”
But this position does not go down well with a Lagos –based journalist, Omoniyi Salaudeen who believes it is wrong to think the APC will fare better than the PDP. According to him, the opposition appears to be even most guilty what it accuses the PDP of doing., stressing that “over and above all, the dictatorial tendencies with party is something that may work against its success and acceptance among Nigerians.”
Jibrin Baba Ndace, a public affairs commentator however views it differently, warning that it could be suicidal to have a one-party state in the country, even as he advises the opposition to put its house in order.
He says: “This trend portends danger for Nigeria. For a country like Indonesia, holding its election today(Wednesday), the incumbent president is not showing bias and it should be a lesson for all. To turn this country into a one-party state portends danger for the country in 2015 and beyond.”
In apparent reference to the Ekiti governorship poll, the journalist stresses that “using security agents during election should have its own limit. We should be very cautious not to militarise our democracy. Today, the military is no more the threat to our democracy. The real threat are the politicians themselves. They are the number one threat, the number two threat and the number three threat.”
While warning that “It is not all about APC or PDP, but about Nigeria,” he believes “all people of goodwill must come together to secure our democracy because the way we are going about it, this democracy we have enjoined uninterrupted for 15 years , God forbid, may be derailed, and if derailed, it will be worst than military coup. This is because what we will have are pockets of crises here and there with groups seeking to outdo the other in their bids to capture power.”
Trial for democracy
Observers however believe that the development within the APC and the states under its watch, is undoubtedly a trial of the nation’s democracy. It is their contention that if not handled with caution, it may not only dwarf the APC’s chances in 2015, but also put a question mark on the process leading to the entire elections
