I DEY LAAFUU Oooooooooooo #APC in Disarray as Key Leaders Leave - TopicsExpress



          

I DEY LAAFUU Oooooooooooo #APC in Disarray as Key Leaders Leave in Droves# Unless it does something drastic, the APC, Nigeria’s main opposition party, may implode before the 2015 general election, which are only six months away, PREMIUM TIMES’ extensive analysis of the situation within the party has shown. The party, which is barely one year old, has found it extremely difficult to halt the exit of key members in rapid succession to the ruling PDP, and also to resolve internal disputes within its state chapters, which have festered for months. In the last eight months, no fewer than seven key members of the Joint Inter-Merger Committee, JIMC, the central body that supervised the fusion of some hitherto opposition parties, have left the party, either due to irreconcilable differences with fellow leaders or to pursue other political ambitions. Those who have left so far are former Governors Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Ali Modu Sheriff (Borno), and Achike Udenwa (Imo). Others are a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Chairman of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, a former Foreign Affairs Minister, Tom Ikimi, a former senator, Annie Okonkwo, and a prominent political leader in Edo State, Osagie Ise-Iyamu. A former governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba is believed to be so deeply aggrieved that he might quit the APC as the party’s leadership appeared unable to resolve the rift between him and Governor Amosun over the battle for the soul of the party in Ogun state. Similarly, a National Secretary aspirant at the party’s last convention, Kashim Imam, who played a key role in convincing the five former PDP governors last October to join the APC, is also believed to be considering quitting the party. Mr. Udenwa, who is also a former Minister of Commerce, served in the Manifesto Committee (which also considered the APC Motto, Slogan and Message) of the JIMC. But he suddenly dumped the party earlier in the year although he gave no reason for his exit. He has since returned to the PDP on whose platform he was governor between 1999 and 2003. Mr. Okonkwo left the party following his inability to secure the governorship ticket of the party in Anambra State for the November 2013 election and his subsequent disagreement with Chris Ngige, who picked the ticket. Mr. Ize-Iyamu, who functioned as the ACN Chairman in Edo State was a member of INEC-Legal and Constitution Compliance Committee during the merger. He however fell out with Governor Adams Oshiomhole who he accused of exhibiting “anti-democratic posture.” On his part, Mr. Ribadu, whose exit from the APC on August 16 appeared the most shocking of all. After he joined the PDP, he obtained the PDP nomination form to contest the vacant seat of the governor of Adamawa State. He has since withdrawn from the race. Although, the ACN presidential candidate in 2011 did not serve in any of the merger subcommittees, he attended some of the meetings of the leaders and also accompanied them to woo prominent politicians into the APC. Mr. Ikimi, who dumped the APC late August, did not only lead the ACN to the merger talks, he hosted the meetings of the merger committee in his Abuja home. Mr. Osoba, a two-time governor of Ogun State who served in the Constitution sub-committee of the JIMC. The former Ogun governor, those close to him say, has commenced discussions with his loyalists on the possibility of floating another party or joining an existing one. Internal Wrangling in States Many state chapters of the APC are also bedevilled by internal wrangling, which pundits believe might lead to implosion in the party if not carefully handled. We present a snapshot of the crises in some of the states below. Katsina: In this northwestern state from where a leader of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari, hails from, the opposition party is swimming in trouble waters. The main characters in the leadership crisis are a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Masari; a former Senate Chief Whip, Kanti Bello; Abu Ibrahim, also a former senator; Abdullahi Aminchi; a former member of the House of Representatives, Usman Bugaje; Abdulazeez Yar’ Adua, a retired colonel and younger brother of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua; Ismaila Isa and Sada Ilu. All the combatants are nursing governorship ambition. The source of the crisis was the outcome of the membership registration and ward congresses organized by the party, which produced Mustapha Inuwa, a crony of Mr. Masari as state chairman. Adamawa: The impeachment of former Governor Murtala Nyako may have reduced the power tussle in the APC. Mr. Nyako was among the five PDP governors that defected to the APC last October. His entry generated heat as the original members of the party, including Buba Marwa and Marcus Ginduri, both CPC and ACN governorship candidates in the 2001 election, kicked against it. Their main grouse was that the APC structure was handed over to the former governor who was believed to have come alone into the party from the PDP. Kwara: It was the first state that showed signs of crisis when the five PDP governors, including Abdulfatah Ahmed left PDP for APC. The ACN governorship candidate in the 2011 election, Dele Belgore faulted the national leadership for accepting to admit the governor and the handing over of the party structure to the PDP. The coming of Bukola Saraki, seen as the godfather of Kwara politics, worsened the situation. Before long, Mr. Belgore dumped the party for the PDP. Plateau: In Plateau, the APC crisis has been enmeshed in crisis over the outcome of its state congress, especially the chairmanship position, won by Latep Dabang, a former aide to former Governor, Joshua Dariye. It was however aggravated by the procedure adopted for picking members of the Board of Trustees, BoT. The crisis generated to some aggrieved members of the opposition party locking out some of their leaders during a meeting. A former senator, John Shagaya and Amos Gombi, contested for the position. Abia: The crisis is also traceable to the congress. A faction of the APC in the state, which styled itself ‘Integrity Group’ warned after a meeting in Aba that the party would be doomed in the state if the party did not keep its promise to its members in the state. Bayelsa: In Bayelsa, the APC chairman, Tiwei Orunimighe, was at the receiving end when aggrieved members under the aegis of Third Force descended on him, accusing him of high-handedness, and disrespectful cum autocratic conducts. They also accused the chairman of squandering N7.2 million given for the inauguration of State Executive Council (SEC) without the approval of the executive committee members. The group also lampooned a leader of the APC and former governor of the state, Timipre Sylva of leading the party from leading it from outside the state using his cronies. The matter has not been resolved. Ekiti: The party was thrown into crisis when the leader of its caucus in the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele declared his interest in the June governorship election in the state. However, the governor, Kayode Fayemi saw the move as being one against his plan to return for a second term in office. Mr. Bamidele was believed to have shown interest in the governorship seat based on a purported agreement that the governor would spend one term in office. The crisis snowballed into a situation where the lawmaker was booted out as caucus leader. While the crisis raged, the party held all-inclusive meeting in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. In attendance were the then interim National Chairman, Bisi Akande, Ekiti APC Chairman, Olajide Awe, former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, APC South West zonal Chairman, Niyi Adebayo, Tony Adeniyi, Dele Alake, Senators Femi Ojudu and Olu Adetunmbi. The meeting could not however resolve the crisis, but instead endorsed Mr. Fayemi for a second term. The decision infuriated Mr. Bamidele who angrily defected to the Labour Party, where he was handed over the party’s ticket. Both Messrs. Fayemi and Bamidele lost the election to the PDP candidate, Ayo Fayose. Oyo: The crisis in the Oyo State chapter of the party reached its apogee when the senator representing the Central Senatorial District, Ayo Adeseun about a month ago dumped the party for the PDP and declared his intention to take Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s job come 2015. The senator, who was originally a member of the PDP, said he left because there is more internal democracy in the PDP than the APC. Only on Tuesday, the second APC senator, Olufemi Lanlehi dumped the party for the Accord Party, a development that could jeopardise the chances of Mr. Ajimobi in next year’s election. Edo: Sometime in April, long before John Oyegun, a former governor of Edo State became the APC national chairman, some of the party leaders in the state allegedly held a secret meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan and the Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih in Abuja. They afterwards gave the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole a seven-day ultimatum to cancel what they referred to as “fraudulent membership” registration exercise and ward and local government congress, or face the consequence. When the governor did not yield to the pressure, the aggrieved members made good their threat by defecting to the PDP.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 10:46:23 +0000

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