Hurdles before APC National Convention

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is scheduled for next Tuesday. The meeting is coming amid the tension within the rank and file over the management of the party’s affairs. Three years after the APC held its inaugural national convention, it is yet to hold another one; it has no Board of Trustees (BoT) and all its internal party processes have virtually broken down. As it gets ready for the NWC meeting to prepare for its mid-term national convention, Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI examines the challenges facing the party. 

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) may have boxed itself into a corner, by not doing things differently; even though it rode to power on the mantra of change. After postponing the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting several times, the party appears determined to hold it next week Tuesday, to work out the modalities for the party’s mid-term, non-elective national convention. The party had continued to draw flaks from some party chieftains following its inability to hold the convention in April as initially scheduled, but party leaders had attributed the delay to the health challenge of President Muhammadu Buhari, a situation that saw him out of the country for a period of over three months in the last instance.

The last convention was held in October 2014, when Buhari emerged as the party’s flag bearer in the last general elections. Going by the APC constitution, the convention was supposed to hold every two years, but the party leadership has not been comfortable with the idea of holding the bi-annual event before now, because of the crisis rocking the party at different levels.

After running the successful campaign that saw it displacing the former ruling party – a development which is unprecedented in Nigeria’s political history – the coalition practically collapsed, with various groups pulling the party in different directions. The crisis has not only pitched members against each other, but also gradually derailing the vision of the party before it came into power.

The challenge before the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Executive Committee (NEC) therefore is that of managing the internal agitations and clash of interests among various political tendencies and gladiators during next week’s meeting; at least, to achieve its purpose of galvanizing its members to tackle the problems facing it, as the country gradually approaches the period of electioneering campaign for the next general elections in 2019.

In other words, the meeting must be held in such a manner to avoid an implosion of the party, as preparations for the 2019 general elections gradually gets underway. Observers believe the Odigie-Oyegun-led leadership is faced with a herculean task in this regard, because there are numerous challenges confronting the party at this point in time.

Some of the challenges are: Odigie-Oyegun’s leadership style; President Buhari’s perceived aloofness to party affairs; the crisis rocking the party in different state chapters; lack of funds to run its affairs; the unresolved Executive/National Assembly rift; lack of harmony and cohesion; and President Buhari’s undeclared second term bid.

Odigie-Oyegun’s style

The APC national leadership under Chief Odigie-Oyegun has been widely described as rudderless. Several party leaders, including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Senate President Bukola Saraki, have voiced their frustration about the way the party is being run. In their view, the inability of the leadership led by the National Chairman to evolve a transparent approach to handling party affairs is responsible for the festering of some of the crises. There have been calls on Odigie-Oyegun, whose tenure expires in 2018, to resign for his purported inability to resolve the crises rocking the party.

For instance, in November, last year, governors elected on the APC platform met with the National Chairman and other party stakeholders to address the grievances threatening the cohesion of the party. During the meeting with  Odigie-Oyegun, the Chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum, Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, said the APC leadership needed to make some amendments to enable the party forge ahead.

Odigie-Oyegun’s woes came to national limelight in September 25, last year, when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu wrote him an open letter where he alleged that the National Chairman colluded with mercenaries to forge the delegates list used for the party’s September 3, 2016 governrship primary in Ondo State. Tinubu also accused him of subverting the decision of the party’s NWC when he submitted the name of Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the party’s candidate for the last governorship election in Ondo State.

Buhari’s aloofness

After he won the 2015 presidential election and emerged as the President of Nigeria, Buhari became the most influential National Leader of the APC. But, as events in the last two years have shown, he has maintained a detached posture towards the affairs of the party, a situation that many close aides are believed to have taken advantage of, to the detriment of the party. This started with the President’s perceived disinterest in the June 9, 2015 election of National Assembly principal officers, where Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara emerged as the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively. Stakeholders believe Buhari has a responsibility to the party, just as he has a responsibility to the nation, but they say his aloofness and lack of a firm grip in both party affairs and some aspects of national life have created a vacuum that is being exploited by many.

This tendency, analysts say, must be managed to prevent it from bringing a division in the fold at the convention.

Crises in state chapters

All over the country, the APC, which emerged from the merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and factions of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), is struggling to find cohesion.

For instance, in Ondo State, the crisis has led to the suspension of its Chairman, Mr. Isaac Kekemeke. Prior to last year’s governorship election in the state, Kekemeke and members of the state exco were known to have been divided over the choice of the party’s candidate. Kekemeke did not hide his preference for Olusegun Abraham, an associate of Tinubu. But eventually the emergence of Rotimi Akeredolu as governor, following the November 26, 2016 election altered the equation against Kekemeke. As Governor Akeredolu settled down to business, after his inauguration, Kekemeke was suspended.

The situation in Kogi State is even more precarious for the APC, with the state exco, in cahoots with majority of the National Assembly members from the state, engaged in a battle of supremacy with Governor Yahaya Bello who they accuse of non-performance and anti-party activities. The disagreement has led to calls for the resignation of the governor by the state exco and members of the National Assembly. In response, associates and aides of the governor have initiated a move to recall Senator Dino Melaye, one of the most vocal opponents of the governor, from the Senate. That recall process is still ongoing.

In Kano State, the face-off between the incumbent and immediate past governors appears vicious with both men engaged in a war of acrimony for the control of the soul of the party in the Northwest state. The situation in states like Rivers, Cross River, Enugu, Osun, Ekiti and Kaduna is equally a sad story for the APC.

Next week’s meeting is expected to consider reports of the various fact-finding and reconciliation committees on states chapters where there are crises. If not properly resolved, the disagreements within state chapters may result in a situation where members of the party may find themselves in different sides during the meeting.

Poor funding

Owing to the way the APC is being run, some of its major financiers have had to withdraw their financial support for the party. As a result, the national exco has been facing a cash crunch. The party leadership are not happy with the fact that President Buhari and state governors elected on the platform of the party have refused to fund party.

In April, the party’s National Working Committee members have had to meet with the 24 APC governors, to find solutions to the financial problems facing the party, among other things. In the view of experts, the idea of the withdrawal of financial support boils down to a vote of no confidence on the part of stakeholders about the way the affairs of the party are being handled.

Presidency/National Assembly rift

The lack of synergy between the Presidency and members of the National Assembly has been a source of concern to party stakeholders. The relationship between the 8th Senate and the Presidency has been acrimonious from the inception of the APC-led government in May 2015. The foundation of the unending rift is traceable to the controversy and contention that greeted the emergence of the senate leadership, where the Presidency and the APC leadership attempted to impose persons of their interest to certain leadership offices at the apex chamber, but without success.

The latest face-off however centres on the appointment of the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu. The Senate has doggedly refused to confirm the appointment of Magu twice, citing a report from the Department of State Service (DSS), indicating that he failed the integrity test and would constitute a liability to President Buhari’s anti-corruption war. The Senate also said Magu performed woefully at the screening and that the President should forward a fresh nomination.

But, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, in an interview in April, ruled out the possibility of President Buhari replacing Magu, saying he aligned himself with the argument of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, that a Senate confirmation was not needed for the EFCC chairman, based on the provisions of Section 171 of the constitution.

The issue is yet to be resolved. While the upper legislative chamber has threatened to withhold the confirmation of further appointees of President Buhari, the final word from the Presidency was that it would seek judicial interpretation on the matter.

Buhari’s second term

One of the factors that have worked against the Buhari administration so far is the lack of harmony and cohesion among members of the ruling party. This is expected to play out as preparations for the 2019 general elections begin to gather steam. There are indications that the coalition that sent the former ruling party away from the seat of power in Abuja over two ago is beginning to crumble. This could be gleaned from the recent declaration by the party’s interim National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande that the party’s presidential ticket for the 2019 poll was open to all who wish to contest. Even though Akande’s pronouncement has been dismissed as a personal opinion by Odigie-Oyegun, it suggests that there would be no automatic ticket for Buhari in 2019. The interim National Chairman’s declaration was in direct contrast to a series of endorsements of the President for re-election by some state chapters, mostly in the North.

Similarly, the Minister of Women Affairs, Senator Aisha Alhassan, did something shocking and unusual in Nigerian politics during the last Eid-el-Kabir holidays. While paying homage to Atiku, she declared that she will back the former Vice President for the presidency in 2019, possibly against her principal, who is yet to say categorically that he will run.

The contest for the party’s ticket for 2019 is yet to begin in earnest. Indications are that when it begins, the fight might get messier.

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