Tinubu’s Burden of Reconciliation

Sat, Feb 24, 2018 | By publisher


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Bola Ahmed Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives Congress, is saddled with the task of reconciling aggrieved members of the party as mandated by President Muhammadu Buhari, but not many of people will envy him of the enormous work he has to do before 2019 general elections

By Olu Ojewale

BOLA Ahmed Tinubu, national leader of the APC, has an herculean task in his hands. He has the presidential mandate to reconcile all aggrieved members of the ruling party ahead of the 2019 elections. From all indications, the task is not likely to be easy given the unsavoury reports of crisis permeating the party across the country.

Nevertheless, since he got his matching order on February 6, the political gladiator has been on his toe moving one from place to the other to make peace and get party members to sheath their swords in the interest of Nigeria and the party. Prominent among those states he has to visit include Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Oyo, Ogun, Rivers and Zamfara.

The national leader and head of the presidential reconciliation committee of the APC, on Saturday, February 17, visited Sokoto State, where he met with Governor Aminu Tambuwal and Aliyu Wamakko, a senator and his predecessor in office. Tinubu, accompanied by Idi Farouk, an APC chieftain, held a two-hour closed-door meeting with his hosts at both the Government House and Wamakko’s residence.

The meeting was later expanded to include Ahmed Aliyu, deputy governor and Inuwa Abdulkadir, national vice chairman of APC, North-West. Speaking briefly to reporters after the meeting, Tinubu said he was in Sokoto for a family meeting. He did not volunteer further comments.

BuhariIn any case, the reconciliation will probably need to move fast and head to Kaduna State immediately before things get out of hand in the state. The face-off between Governor Nasir El-Rufai and senators representing the state is getting messier by the day.

The latest cannon landed on el-Rufai on Sunday, February 18, when two factions of the party — the ‘Akida APC’ and the ‘Restoration APC’ — had, after a stakeholders’ meeting announced the suspension of the governor for six months over what they described as “anti-party activities.”

Those who attended that meeting included Isa Ashiru, a governorship aspirant during the party’s primaries in 2015; Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, chief of staff to Senate president; Tijjani Ramalan, proprietor of Liberty FM, a Kaduna-based radio; Sheu Sani, senator representing Kaduna Central; and Suleiman Hunkuyi, his counterpart from the Northern Senatorial District, among others.

Shortly after the stakeholders’ meeting, the party chieftains drove to the parallel office of the party on 11B Road in Kaduna, where Danladi Wada, the factional acting chairman of the party, announced the governor’s suspension.

However, on Monday, February 19, Yahaya Baba-Pate, the acting secretary of the party in the state (recognised by the state government), at a press conference, said the faction that suspended the governor had no such power.

Baba-Pate said that the faction, which he represents, was duly recognised by John Oyegun,  national chairman of the party, and consequently declared the governor’s suspension “null and void and of no effect.”

As if that was not serious enough, on Monday morning, February 19, Hunkuyi’s house which the factional APC members turned to their secretariat and where the governor’s alleged suspension was announced was pulled down by government machinery. The Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency, KAPSUDA, in a statement signed by Ibrahim Husseini, its director-general, said the demolition was part of operations the agency was undertaking across Kaduna metropolis in compliance with its mandate.

“In partnership with sister agencies, KASUPDA is clearing illegal structures, tackling street hawking and restoring order across Kaduna.

“This morning, a building on 11B Sambo Close was removed for flagrant violations of land use and non-payment of ground rent since 2010. This illegal violation of use had begun to distress neighbours who were being forced to endure an influx of thugs and blockage of the road,” the statement said.

The agency said it had duly served the occupants of the building a notice of revocation which they did not yield to.

KASUPDA said the land would be turned into a public park.

The demolition was carried out almost a year after a building belonging to Inuwa Abdulkadir, the North West vice chairman of the APC, was demolished by the state government.

Abdulkadir alleged that the governor had sometimes back threatened to take such action against him. “I am not surprised by his action, it is a political vendetta. But I will not make further comment because the case is already in court,” he said reacting to the demolition.

That notwithstanding the demolition remains a talking point among the APC members and sympathisers across the country.

Oyegun
Chief John Oyegun

It is common knowledge that el-Rufai and Sani have not been seeing eye-to-eye since the 2015 when, after the elections, the governor made some appointments from the APC in a manner perceived as unconstitutional by the senator and his supporters. Speaking on the matter, el-Rufai alleged that the nominees Sani sent to him for appointments were dropped for lack of requisite academic qualifications and capacity to function as commissioners.

Ever since, both seem to have been at each other’s jugular looking for room to criticise themselves. Sani has found it almost compulsive to criticise a lot of the policies of the state government and activities he perceives as wrong. Even, when he was suspended from the party in 2017, he accused the governor of masterminding his ordeal describing him as a ‘parasite to PMB administration.’

He has even called names such as ‘dubious progressive,’ ‘lunatic,’ ‘irresponsible.’

Now the crisis in the party appears to skin-deep as different factions of APC have now appear on the horizon, even though the one loyal to the state governor is recognised by the national body.

Now that Hunkuyi has thrown his hat into the ring and vowed to “do everything possible” to oust el-Rufai out in 2019, there is no doubt that the two have scores to settle ahead of next year elections.

That said. How the Tinubu reconciliation is going to navigate the mace is, no doubt, one big huddle that will task the astute politician and his group.

The APC national leader should expect a similar complicated matter in Kogi State, where Governor Yahaya Bello and Dino Melaye, a senator representing Kogi West, seem to have turned things on the head.

The two political gladiators seem to have turned the state to a battlefield. Melaye has criticised the governor of pauperising the state occasioned by unpaid salaries and neglect of social infrastructures in the state.

The senator similarly accused the governor of masterminding the move to recall him by members of his constituency. Thousands of signatures were collated and sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which made arrangements for verification of the signatures. But the recall process has now become a legal battle, even though the governor has repeatedly denied his involvement in the recall.

Nasir el-Rufai
el-Rufai

In any case, the feud reached another height in April 2017 when Melaye alleged an assassination attempt on his life while visiting his country home in Ijumu Local Government Area. The police later arrested Taofiq Isa, the sole administrator of Ijumu, and later released him on bail over the incident. The case is also in court.

Also November 2017 was a bloody when the convoy of Melaye was attacked after he delivered a speech at the Kabba Day celebration.

Just like Sani, Melaye has also called Bello some offensive names such as ‘olodo governor’, ‘daft’ and accused him of suffering from ‘verbal diarrhoea.’

As if those were not bad enough, early in the year, Melaye posted a video where he claimed that he saw Bello dressed in prison uniform. In response, the governor accused the senator of lacking ‘home training.’

The conflict has no doubt polarised the APC in the state. This has given rise to speculations that one of them may have to leave the APC ahead of the 2019 elections. Can Tinubu stop that from happening? That is one big question for the reconciliation team.

In any case, the struggle for the sole of the APC is not peculiar to Kaduna and Kogi states alone. Rabiu Kwankwaso, a senator and former governor of Kano State, is now seen as a threat if he should visit his state for anything at all.

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, his former deputy and his successor in office, has somewhat declared his former political mentor as persona non grata in the state because of their political differences.

Trouble started on October 21, 2015, during the 59th birthday of Kwankwaso, which is usually marked in Kano as Kwankwasiya Day, instead of the allies of the two politicians to come together to mark the event, the pro-Ganduje elements celebrated it at the Government House, while those who identified themselves as loyalists of Kwankwaso, led by Yunusa Dangwani, his former chief of staff, held theirs at Mambayya House in Kano.

Another school of thought situated the trouble to non inclusion of Kwankwaso’s appointees into Ganduje’s executive. Observers said none of the commissioners in the Kwankwaso government was retained by the governor, with the exception of Nasiru Gawuna, who was commissioner for agriculture in the Kwankwaso regime.

Nevertheless, despite all appeals for the two politicians to sheath their swords, their supporters have been uncontrollable, which has made it unsafe for the senator to visit his state. Clashes between supporters of both camps have so far left many injured.

The face-off between Governor Abdullahi Yari and Kabiru Marafa, a senator representing Zamfara Central, appears to be all about 2019 election.

The political struggle in the state took an interesting turn in November 2017, when the Marafa alleged that Yari was not an indigene of the state. This followed the Senate’s refusal to confirm the appointment of Ahmad Mahmud as residence electoral commissioner, REC, nominee for the state as a result of a petition written to the Senate committee on the INEC by Yari.

Saraki
Saraki

At another appearance at plenary, Marafa accused the governor and his deputy of knowing the militia laying siege on the state.

In response, Yari in a statement by Salisi Isah, his special adviser, accused the senator of being “mischievous, callous and misleading.” Hence, the governor threatened to kill Marafa’s 2019 ambition. “Yes we are going to kill him politically; we are going to bury his political ambition in 2019. He wants to be governor, he is not going to get it, even the Senate he is not going to return,” the statement said.

Little wonder, the feud between the two gladiators is yet to be resolved as Marafa’s support for the REC nominee is also yet to get the necessary approval.

In the same vein, it appears that the 2019 ambitions appear to be putting asunder the relationship between Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State and Abu Kyari, the senator representing the northern senatorial district of the state.

Kyari, who is currently nursing an ambition to be governor in the next election, is not in the best of relationship with Shettima who, many believe, is eyeing the Northern Senatorial seat in 2019.

To neutralise Kyari’s ambition, Shettima is said to have initiated moves to draft Baba Garbai, the senator representing the Central Senatorial district, into the governorship race to succeed him.

Even though they are both in the same the APC, the former allies appear not to be comfortable with their 2019 ambitions.

Similarly, the 2019 gubernatorial ambition of Olamilekan Adeola, the Lagos West senator, has brought him at loggerheads with Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State.

Although Amosun and Adeola belong to the same APC, the governor who is rounding off his second term in office, nevertheless, has vowed that he would not hand over to a ‘stranger’ in 2019.

Amosun is believed to be disposed to handing over to someone from Yewa part of the state as opposes to Adeola who is from another that part of the state.

The governor said it would be an insult to the forebears of Ogun State if an ‘Atohunrinwa’ (stranger) should succeed him when there are true sons and daughters of the soil in abundance.

That notwithstanding, Adeola said he would contest with or without the governor’s support. Hence, the subtle bickering has split the leadership of the party into two. Tinubu, it is alleged, is supporting Adeola’s faction, while Amosun seems to be determined to have hands in election of his successor. How that is going to pan out with the reconciliation team is going to be a test case for Tinubu himself.

Although the leadership of the APC in Ondo State has not been forthcoming in acknowledging that there is crisis in the party, there are indications that all is not well there. The problem, according to observers is between Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, and Ajayi Boroffice, senator representing Ondo North.

Acting against the backdrop that Boroffice did not support Akeredolu’s election in 2016, supporters of the governor have now accused the senator of not being a member of the APC. They said he would have to reapply to the party to become a member. Boroffice, however, fired back saying he never left the APC and remains a full member of the party.

With mirage of problems facing the APC at the moment, it is believed that Tinubu and members of his team are capable of walking through the maze and resolve the crisis.

In the same vein, Orji Uzor Kalu, a former Abia State governor, called on Tinubu, to accelerate efforts toward reconciling aggrieved members of the ruling party. He argued that the task given by President Buhari to Tinubu was very apt because there was an urgent need to reconcile feuding members of the party.

Kalu, who made the call on Sunday night, February 18, while speaking with newsmen at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, said the situation whereby a serving governor and a minister who belong to the APC were engaged in bickering at a time concerted efforts were needed to return the party to victory in 2019 was not good.

Kalu
Kalu

Kalu said: “We need to thank Mr. President for his wisdom in giving the mandate to the national leader of APC the opportunity to reconcile members of the party.

“I am very excited that such a thing is happening. I am confident it will be a good beginning for my brother and friend, Tinubu to execute the reconciliation task very well. I am confident Tinubu will be blunt to settle feuding members of the APC.”

Sani, the senator who is at loggerheads with el-Rufai, appears to be on the same page with Kalu. He said it would be tragic if the Tinubu-led committee should fail to reconcile aggrieved members of the ruling APC.

In an interview with journalists in Abuja, over the weekend, Sani said the appointment of Tinubu by Buhari to reconcile feuding members had averted the “tragedy of people leaving the APC for other parties for now.”

In view of the development, asked whether he would still contest the governorship of Kaduna State, he said: “In the process where reconciliation is taking place now, it is in our interest to put our ambitions in our pockets. Mr. President said  we should wait for Asiwaju to address the problem.”

Nevertheless, he advised the Tinubu-led committee to give equal treatment to all feuding parties in various states, including Kaduna, where he hails from.

“Right now, the party is already divided in Kaduna and it is for the national secretariat to note this and we have said it in clear terms.

“The problem has defied solution for two years, but we believe that Asiwaju can do a lot of reconciliation. We hope that he will be able to achieve a lot, because if he fails, it is going to be doom for the party,” he said.

Suleiman Kawu, special adviser to the president on House of Representatives Matters, has advised members of the APC to embrace the choice of Tinubu as the head of the reconciliation committee. Kawu, who made the appeal while briefing newsmen on Tuesday, February 20, in Abuja, said Tinubu had the love of the country at heart and had also sacrificed a lot for the party during its formative stages.

He urged aggrieved members of the party to embrace the golden opportunity and join hands for proper reconciliation to take place within the party.

The special adviser to the president, who acknowledged internal crisis within APC, admonished members not to compound issues by creating unnecessary atmosphere, capable of undermining the reconciliation process.

The former lawmaker further said that the success of the party depended on how the stakeholders work together for the common interest of Nigerians.

Buhari, on February 6, appointed Tinubu to lead the consultation, reconciliation and confidence building team to improve cohesion within the party.

Garba Shehu, senior special assistant on Media and Publicity, who announced this known in Abuja, said the assignment would involve resolving disagreements among party members, party leadership and political office holders in some states of the federation.

Nevertheless, political analysts fear that Tinubu might again be used and dumped by the Presidency.

For instance, Adeseye Ogunlewe, a senator and former minister of Works, warned Tinubu to be careful of Buhari as he might be used and dumped as it happened after the 2015 election when the APC was elected into power.

Ogunlewe said: “The reconciliation they are talking about is too belated. What are they reconciling? Since Buhari came into power in 2015, he has refused to make appointments into the boards of parastatals and agencies.

“Many of those who worked for the success of the party have been abandoned. They don’t know what is going on in the government. They have no say in the affairs of the government.

“The level of neglect of members of the APC is unimaginable. They are not enjoying anything at the local government, state and national levels. They are supposed to be members of boards, but they are not. So, what are their benefits? What have they gained?”

Indeed, Oluremi Tinubu, a senator and wife of the APC national leader, admitted that her husband was thrashed as soon as the APC came to power in 2015. But the former governor has not allowed that distract him because of his love for Nigeria.

But whether Tinubu would be gracious enough to jettison personal ambition and reconcile with party leaders such as Bukola Saraki, Senate president, John Odigie-Oyegun among others, is left to be seen.

But for now, there is, indeed, an urgent need to reconcile warring factions in the ruling party if the party is ever going to be returned to power in 2019. It is over to Tinubu to make it possible.

– Feb.  24, 2018 @ 4:15 GMT |

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