The palpable tension and apprehension that characterised the inauguration of the newly appointed six members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) last week were better imagined than experienced.
National secretariat of the APC Abuja was completely under siege for almost 48 hours in an incident that practically shook the ruling party to its foundation. It was such a fierce battle, a replica of the type experienced under the headship of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in the build-up to the 2019 general election.
Protesters, numbering hundreds from Niger State had stormed the party’s headquarters and barricaded the entrance gate and the entire Blantyre Street housing the party’s secretariat for several hours, holding Oshiomhole hostage inside the complex.
In a similar fashion, it was a scary replay of that incident at the same headquarters when aggrieved stakeholders practically turned it into a no-go area on Thursday last week, the day fixed for the swearing-in of the new members of the NWC and zonal officers.
Protesters had grounded activities along the street and inside the secretariat complex with countless security agencies, especially the police personnel, deployed in the early hours of the day to take charge of the area. They subjected visitors, secretariat staff, journalists, and even the national officers to a thorough screening before allowing them entrance.
And while the protesters occupied the street, Governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello, held forte inside the secretariat complex. Governor Bello, simply on a mission to scuttle or totally stop the inauguration of the new NWC members, had held his ground for more than seven hours, running the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, completely out of the secretariat for the whole day.
It was a complete standstill that disrupted human and vehicular movements; it was a terribly hectic, confusing, and difficult situation beyond the control of the security agents and the comprehension of many stakeholders. It was really a turbo-charged tense atmosphere that obviously defied every solution for several hours on end.
All the newly appointed members and their supporters were fully on ground for the scheduled event and perhaps celebration thereafter but their enthusiasms were dampened and evaporated into disappointment as the waiting rolled from minutes to more than 30 excruciating hours before their hope and mission were restored and actualised.
Frantic efforts were made to resolve the impasse, relevant authorities were consulted, and the gladiators and stakeholders were networked for possible solutions in a nerve-wracking waiting that lasted several hours but the more they tried, the more elusive and insoluble the problem seemed to become.
The disposition of the NWC members, aggrieved over what they termed another imposition of the new members by the presidency and an outright breach of the party’s constitution equally heightened the anxiety and pressure.
The fresh crack in the NWC, pundits observed, became more apparent when some of them frowned at the lukewarm attitude of their national chairman to subjugate the party’s constitution and pander towards the decision of the presidency, especially in allowing Edo to supplant Cross River for the position of National Women Leader.
A visibly upset NWC member who spoke to Daily Sun in confidence, lamented that, “the chairman and NWC members knew the right thing to do concerning this case but refused to do it. I am particular about the Cross River case because we endorsed micro-zoning arrangements for almost all the other positions in some places, yet we endorsed short-changing of the state in the incident of South South slot.
“Apart from relegating the party’s constitution to the background, it was a case of another imposition from the presidency. It was obvious that due process was statutorily sacrificed during the nominations. What transpired during our NWC meeting was more or less a unity list of the appointed persons from the presidency.
“It was another spite on the NWC and a confirmation that we are not actually in control of affairs in the party. Until the right thing is done, the crisis in the party will persist,” the NWC member complained.
Interestingly, explaining what transpired that led to the restoration of temporal reprieve in the party after more than 24 hours when the inauguration of the officers was eventually successfully conducted on Friday night, an insider and party chieftain told Daily Sun that it was purely a victory procured through the manipulation and application of cruel force and dialogue.
“At the height of the face-off, threats from Governor Bello and the protesters occupying the secretariat that virtually chased out the chairman, the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) was contacted, directives were secured that getting across to Mr. President will be the best solution to resolve the impasse.
“Suggestions to deploy more security forces to fortify the secretariat were explored but it could not work because aggrieved Kogi stakeholders, constituting over 80 per cent of persons still around the secretariat at that late hour of the night, could rock the boat.
“When it became impossible for the chairman to make it at that time, everybody had to leave around 1 a.m. But even the next day, it was still very difficult to conduct the inauguration until perhaps after securing the consent of the major stakeholders from Kogi and Cross River. As you can see, it still went into the night because they wanted to tighten all the loose ends. Even at that, most of the NWC members, still aggrieved, were conspicuously missing,” the source explained.
Although the rift may have been successfully managed and brought under control, which gave the agitated party members and leaders a temporal reprieve, the incident apparently sent negative signals that the ruling party is simply enjoying the peace of the graveyard.
It also left in its trail mistrust among stakeholders, scary confirmation of the fragility of the ruling party, fierce supremacy contest among the key gladiators, security threat, communication lapses, winner-takes-all avarice, lack of reliable conflict resolution mechanism, persistent power play among the contending forces and above all glaring lack of cohesion among party leaders.
Again and more importantly, for most students of political history ready to appraise the situation beyond superficial prisms, the storm might be over but what transpired was ultimately a clear show of political force between the presidency and the hitherto all-powerful and domineering members of the party’s governors forum.
It was a ratification that the presidency may have successfully whittled down the influence and dominance of the hitherto powerful bloc like the governors. It was a validation that the presidency has completely and successfully taken charge of the structure and running of the ruling party.
Again, it was an authentication that party’s stakeholders may now have no option, including legal, than to just align with the decision of the presidency on any matter, willy-nilly or be ready to shape out of the party.
In the words of another member of the NWC who confirmed the fears in many quarters in a chat with Daily Sun; “Ganduje may be toeing the path of his immediate past predecessor but Abdullahi Adamu, never conducted inauguration at night.
“It was also very wrong for people to insinuate and blame Governor Bello for going that far in occupying the party’s secretariat. Power is not given; it is contested for. President Tinubu made it clear that power must be snatched, grabbed and ran with.
“The Chairman as usual promised to compensate the aggrieved but is that what we should be using all the time as our conflict resolution mechanism? You can re-echo it that we have started wrongly in opting for Ganduje in the first place. Everything is heading towards that wrong precedence.
“We are complaining about chairman and secretary of the same religious faith, yet we have the second in command, our Deputy National Chairman, North, also of the same Muslim faith.
“But, beyond all this confusion, what is playing out is that the governors are going to receive the wrong side of the stick. Our President is not the liberal type ready to share power with anybody.
“Asiwaju started exhibiting the trait even before he assumed power as the President. Don’t forget that as National Leader of our party, he worked with Comrade Oshiomhole to decide what happened at many state chapters. The typical example and hallmark of it was what transpired in Edo State against the incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki.
“Members of the governors’ forum cried foul, appealed, and begged but they went ahead to execute what they planned, which forced Obaseki to exit our party. In fact, make no mistake, the man at the centre of that plot then is now the President of the country.
“To show that he does not share power, he looked at the governor of Cross River in the face and asked him who are you to nominate and endorse the candidate for the position of National Women Leader. He made it clear to him that he had taken his decision through the same Oshiomhole.
“He had earlier done the same thing to the governor of Nasarawa State. He questioned and undermined his authority by taking the position of the party’s national chairman away from the state. The situation was almost the same in many states that he undermined the authority of the sitting governors, including the most recent one in Kogi state.”
Pushing further his arguments of the show of force, our source said: “The problem with the governors is that they are not students of history to understand power dynamism and that power has departed from them under this administration. The President is clearly on a mission to reduce the governors to nothing, using the NWC as a smokescreen.”
“And the way he is going, the governors will soon be forced to sit down with him to bargain for whatever position and if it pleases him, he will concede little to them. He has apparently wrest powers from the governors.
“He successfully did that when he changed the party’s zoning arrangement and forced the governors to accept the new zoning convention without questioning it. After that incident, one will wonder which other power the governors have again.
“What happened in Nasarawa, Cross River, Kogi, and a few other states will not have happened under then president Muhammadu Buhari. Some of the governors will be ashamed of themselves and even full of regrets, including the Cross River governor who left what he was doing in the United States.
“Otherwise, how can we justify that he made no input in picking the two ministers from his state? He was equally shut out almost completely in the appointment of the women leader despite signing the nomination.
“The worst thing is that the aggrieved will never even think of any legal action because if they attempt any, they will pull the rug off their feet and take away the one they have at hand. None of the governors now has balls because they have been decapitated.
“For now, party members should not even bother themselves waiting for the NWC to take any decision. Very soon it will not be what is the decision of the NWC but the decision of the Aso Rock Villa and or what the President has decided. It will even be worse with the calibre of persons they brought into the NWC now,” our source lamented.
But regardless of how gloomy the picture of the party is painted, the party’s chairman, Ganduje seems to disagree, judging by the content of his speech during the swearing-in of the new members of the NWC last week.
Absolving the leadership of the ruling party of dictatorial tendencies, the former Kano State governor argued that the inauguration victory was secured through dialogue and agreement by the aggrieved stakeholders to make sacrifices.
“There is no doubt that during the last NEC meeting of our party, the NWC was mandated to undertake some tasks on behalf of NEC. We have succeeded. We consulted with stakeholders, governors, and others. We know there are some aggrieved people, and they are very important.
“All of you are competent. We have seen your credentials and you have been nominated and elected through due process by the various stakeholders. Therefore, we congratulate you. There is no doubt that there are some people who are also competent but we can only fill one person at a time.
“From Kogi State, we have Ismail Yahaya. We have taken note of him, and he will be engaged in one way or another. We have Ikani Shuaibu Okolo from Kogi State. He too will be engaged appropriately in our government. Mrs Obinna from Abia, she too will be accommodated. Dr Stella Ekpo from Cross River, I think she is a medical doctor. She and two others from the state, according to the outcome of our dialogue, will be accommodated in our government.
“With these, I think we have achieved complete agreement and dialogue. We have achieved and deepened dialogue within our party and this is our culture. We are not dictators but that does not mean that everyone must necessarily agree with you,” Ganduje noted.
For many political watchers, temporary relief may have been restored but the Muslim same-faith hierarchy in the party certainly looks like a time bomb waiting to explode. However, the most threatening volcano might be the internal rumbling among the members of the NWC leadership in coexisting.
And if the leaders of the ruling party eventually manage whatever might be the fallout of the same faith religious hierarchy in the party and keep the internal wrangling in check as a family secret, the outcome of the November 11 governorship election in the three states of Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa might further expose the fragility of the party more.
Beyond all these shenanigans, however, the manner in which the governors manage the threat to their dominance and wage war to reclaim their supremacy and maintain influential visibility in the scheme of things in the party, despite efforts by the presidency to relegate them to the background, could equally constitute landmines capable of consuming the ruling party.
(THE SUN)
