Cover, Featured
It is obvious that the crisis in the ruling APC is far from over and the current attempt to rescue the party from the stranglehold of Oshiomhole and his bickering caucus may lead to a thunderous breakup
By Anayo Ezugwu
THE internal crisis rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is far from over. The crisis came to a climax on Thursday, June 25 when the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the party dissolved the National Working Committee, NWC, a decision that effectively brought to an end the tenure of Adams Oshiomhole as national chairman of the party. But some NWC members loyal to the embattled chairman have insisted that the NEC meeting attended by President Muhammadu Buhari was illegal.
President Buhari announced the dissolution of the NWC at the end of the emergency NEC meeting of the party held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. In the place of the dissolved body, NEC set up a 13-member caretaker/extraordinary convention committee to run the affairs of the party for the next six months. It also appointed Governor Mai Buni of Yobe State, and Senator John Akpanudoedehe as chairman and secretary of the committee respectively.
While addressing the NEC meeting, Buhari stressed the need for members to put an end to all the crises rocking the party. He warned that the gains the party recorded in the last five years could be reversed if members allowed conflicts to overshadow the primary objective of service to the people. “The issues currently confronting our party at this time are such that we should worry every party member. At the moment, our great party is faced with internal wrangling; there are on-going litigations amongst some party members and we cannot clearly ascertain the status of certain NWC members.
“There are also other associated disputes as to the legitimacy or otherwise of holders of certain national offices of the party. The party is also contending with judicial claims and counter-claims, orders and counter-orders, and indeed judgments and counter-judgments that are predominantly at cross-purposes. “Confronted with these issues, it is obvious that the fortunes of the party are currently in jeopardy, administration of our party is becoming impossible and there is consequently an urgent need for intervention to immediately arrest further drifts and internal wrangling, which may lead to total disintegration. What we see clearly emerging is that we are beginning to self-destruct. This, my dear party members, is not just regrettable, but utterly guts wrenching,” he said.
After President Buhari’s directive, some NWC members loyal to Oshiomhole have vowed to challenge the dissolution in court. The faction said Buhari-led NEC has no right to hold the NEC emergency meeting. The faction in a statement signed by Hillard Eta, sacked acting national chairman, and Waziri Bulama, sacked acting national secretary, stated that they were consulting with their lawyers and other stakeholders on the next action.
“The National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress wishes to reiterate its earlier position that Chief Victor Giadom has no authority whatsoever to convene a meeting of the National Executive Committee of our great party. Article 25(B) of the constitution of the APC is explicit that only the National Chairman of the National Working Committee is given the prerogative of summoning meetings of the National Executive Committee of the party either for statutory quarterly meetings or for emergency meetings.
“The same provision of the constitution makes it compulsory for notice of a minimum of 14 days in respect of statutory quarterly meetings and seven 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 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. Therefore, all members of our great party and concerned Nigerians are urged to remain calm pending the outcome of the consultations.”
But Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State has insisted that all issues confronting the party had been laid to rest. He said with the dissolution of NWC, NEC resolved to put in place a caretaker committee, which would at the same time serve as a convention planning committee.
“Membership of the caretaker committee was proposed and approved by the NEC of our party. The Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, was charged with the burden of leading the caretaker and convention planning committee,” he said.
The decision of NEC to dissolve the NWC has been applauded by some APC members, with some of them saying that it will restore sanity in the party. Tony Momoh, former minister of information, said NEC has not acted strangely by dissolving the party’s National Working Committee. He said the party’s NEC had the constitutional powers to dissolve the NWC. He explained that NEC could take such a decision when some pending issues in the party could not be resolved by the NWC of the party.
The former minister, however, said it was not for him to say whether the dissolution was good for the progress of the party or not. “What the NEC has done is not strange. They have the constitutional powers to dissolve the NWC and what they have just done is to exercise that power.
“In the party’s hierarchy, the NEC is higher, so, it can take certain decisions that will be binding on NWC; again such decisions will have to be ratified by the party’s convention. So, I can’t say whether the dissolution is good or not, but what is clear is that the NEC can take decisions to resolve lingering issues in the party,” he said.
On his part, Sokonte Davies, a chieftain of the APC, has congratulated President Buhari for taking steps to restore sanity to the party. He said the president had done well in lowering tension within the party. “We participated virtually in the NEC meeting. We are satisfied with the actions taken to restore order, decorum, and discipline within the party.
“We believe that it was right for the president to offer constructive leadership when it was absolutely required. The decision taken to withdraw all cases from the courts is for us the best thing that has happened,” he said.
Davies paid tribute to Victor Giadom for playing a mature role in bringing the internal conflicts within the APC to an end. “We are essentially happy that Giadom in his capacity as the Ag. National Chairman dissolved the National Working Committee, which paved the way for the establishment of a Caretaker Committee headed by Governor Buni of Yobe State. Giadom has proved to be an agent of change and a man of integrity who would not be forgotten.”
Likewise, the forum of state chairmen of the APC has also applauded the president and members of the party’s NEC for dissolving the NWC. Lawal Liman, a spokesperson for the group, said: “We have said the APC is a strong party because we have a strong leader and the NEC has finally taken a decision which we are confident about.
“We believe all the NEC members are happy with the decision because when the leader of the party was giving his speech, many things were listed, some of us were nervous, we were touched that whoever has this party at heart will be happy about this decision.”
The leadership crisis in the APC took a turn for the worse in March when the Federal High Court in Abuja suspended Oshiomhole as the national chairman of the party. The Appeal Court also upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court. Following the court ruling, 17 members of the NWC held an emergency meeting and chose late Senator Abiola Ajimobi, former Governor of Oyo State as acting chairman. But Giadom soon after cited the judgment of the High Court and declared himself as the acting chairman.
Oshiomhole, who emerged the National Chairman of the APC in June 2018, had a very turbulent tenure due to what critics have described as his autocratic style of leadership. The former labor unionist was at loggerheads with many counter forces within the party, especially those who believed he was championing the presidential ambition of Bola Tinubu in 2023.
It is widely believed that all the crises that had plagued the ruling party for several months were orchestrated by rival factions within the party in furtherance of their permutations to grab political power and Oshiomhole and some of his colleagues at the dissolved NWC, happened to have been pawns on the chessboard. In a bid to secure a sustainable truce, the NEC has ordered the suspension of all litigations against the party by members just as it upheld the primary election which produced Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as the APC flag bearer for the oncoming governorship election in Edo State.
With the NWC insisting on challenging the legality of the NEC decision, some analysts believe that the crisis in the ruling party may enter another level of litigation. Nigerians are watching.
– Jun. 26, 2020 @ 17:15 GMT |
Tags: Can the political wave in APC sweep away Oshiomhole and bickering members?Most Read
