…But After a Storm, Tinubu Faction Still Holds Ace

It was muted to arrest a raging fire, that portends to make mincemeat of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) but the outcome may have ignited the near feverish struggle for primacy amongst the groups angling to replace President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023, putting them at each other’s throat.  

Although the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC held on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, was convened to troubleshoot a festering crisis that had almost reduced the party to shreds, by different factions aiming at its jugular, the aftermath unexpectedly, did not pull the rug from the faction led by National Leader, Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

This is intriguing as the architect of the NEC meeting, Mr Victor Gaidom, former deputy national secretary, who got a court order to recognise him as acting chairman, following the suspension of Mr Adams Oshiomhole, was said to be playing the card of the group led by Kaduna State Governor, Mr Nasir el Rufai, also a presidential hopeful and Ekiti State Governor and Chairman , Nigerian Govemors’ Forum (NGF), Dr Kayode Fayemi.  

If at all, the hold of the Tinubu group on the party, was further strengthened. The dissolution of the National Working Committee led by Mr Adams Oshiomhole aligned to the Tinubu faction did not leave it clutching at straws as the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee, Yobe State Governor, Mr Mai Buni, a former national secretary and Senator. Akpan Udoedehe (SS), the committee’s secretary have sympathy for the Tinubu group, ossifying its hold on the party.

Other members include Gov. Isiaka Oyetola (Osun) SW, Tinubu’s nephew, former Senate President, Mr Ken Nnmani (SE), another Tinubu ally, Mrs Stella Okorete (Women Rep), Gov Sani Bello  (Niger) NC, an ally of the El Rufai/Fayemi group. Dr. James Lalu, who represents the physically challenged is aligned to the el-Rufai/Fayem group. Senator. Abubakar Yusuf and Hon. Akinyemi Olajide who represent Senators and members of the House of Representatives respectively are both Tinubu allies. Mr David Lyon – (SS), Mr Abba Ari  (NW) and Hon Ismail Ahmed (Youth Rep) are all Tinubu men, leaving only Prof Tahir Mamman (NE) as ally of the el-Rufai/Fayemi group. So after the storm, the Tinubu group may have smiled home with overwhelming victory.

Those who thought the primary election conducted in Edo State which produced Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu would be cancelled were also disappointed. Buhari ratified the primary election and Ize-Iyamu is returned candidate of the APC in the forthcoming September 19, 2020 Edo Governorship election which has strengthened Oshiomhole’s hands.

After counting its gains, an upbeat Tnubu, also a former Lagos State Governor, issued a statement on Saturday calling on members to build the party according to its ideals.

“Some people have gone so far as to predict the total disintegration of our party. Most such dire predictions were from critics whose forecasts said more about their ill will than they revealed about our party’s objective condition. Predictions of the APC’s imminent demise are premature and mostly mean-spirited. However, an honest person must admit the party had entered a space where it had no good reason to be.

“The National Working Committee, itself, became riven by unnecessary conflict. Those who disagreed with one another stopped trying to find common ground. Attempts were made to use the power of executive authority to bury each other. I must be blunt here. This is the behaviour of a fight club not the culture of a progressive political party.

He particularly lashed out at those who plotted Oshiomhole’s fall and lauded President Buhari for his intervention: “Some members went against their chairman in a bid to forcefully oust him. In hindsight, his fence-mending attempts were perhaps too little too late. I believed and continue to believe that Comrade Oshiomhole tried his best. Mistakes were made and he must own them.

“Yet, we must remember also that he was an able and enthusiastic campaigner during the 2019 election. He is a man of considerable ability as are the rest of you who constituted the NWC. 

 “President Buhari has done what any parent in his position and with his authority would do. The more troubling consideration is that so many trusted people acted in such a way as to force the President to put aside the issues of statecraft in order to address these problems,” Tinubu said.

Also addressing the media on Saturday, Oshomhole said,“I have accepted the decision of the NEC to dissolve the NWC. Two years ago, President Muhammadu Buhari invited me to come and reposition the All Progressives Congress (APC) and that since the President in his wisdom has also agreed to the dissolution of the NWC,  I am bound to obey him as the leader of the party.” 

In spite of the daunting task of the Buni led Caretaker Committee, the chairman says he’s in a familiar territory.

“After being two-time national Secretary of the party, I can say, I know the party very well. I want to assure every APC member that we will do justice to everyone, because we have a capable team.

“I am a team player and I am here to manage a crisis, and if you do not manage crisis, crisis will manage you. So, without justice, there will be no peace; so, I am ready to do justice to every APC member,” the chairman said.

According to him, NEC is the highest organ of the party, except the convention, NEC can function for convention in-between, so any decision taken by NEC is the final decision.

“NEC has directed that every member in court should withdraw his suit. The party will carry all members along, especially the leaders of the APC. Many of them have paid their dues to the party, so we will carry them along,” Buni said.

In a related development, the APC State Chairmen Forum has lauded the party’s NEC for dissolving the NWC, saying that NEC resolution would go a long way in ending the crisis rocking the party.

Its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lawal Liman, also lauded the NEC decision, directing party members that instituted court cases against one another to withdraw the suits.