BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
The ruling All Progressives Congress has been enmeshed in intra-party squabbles that were hitherto swept under the carpet for a long time.
The party, according to analysts, has pretended that all is well by hiding under the alleged principles of intimidating aggrieved members, using state apparatuses to harass those who refused to give up their demand that the party must be repositioned if it hopes to retain power in 2023.
The APC lost some states in the 2019 elections due to internal wrangling. It was either not able to field candidates for the elections or fielded wrong candidates by imposition.
Zamfara, Imo, Rivers and Bayelsa states were lost due to this reason, but for the court that re-instated the party in Imo State.
The crisis within the party consumed the former national executive officers, led by former Governor Adams Oshiomhole and gave birth to the present Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, under the leadership of Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.
“Already, there are unconfirmed reports that some aggrieved members of the ruling party have gone to Court to pray that the congresses be nullified and the party be ordered to begin its re-organisation and repositioning processes”
However, rather than the change of leadership of the party in this capacity helping to reorganise and reposition it, the party is still facing serious turbulence within its ranks and file.
The reason is not hinged on the inability of the Governor Buni-led CECPC to steer the party in the direction of fixing the problems, but the fact that the party seems to be building on a faulty foundation, according to analysts.
Recently, a chieftain of the party, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, posited that the APC might not live beyond the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He is not alone in this school of thought. The agitations of some of its members, particularly the youths calling for reorganisation and repositioning of the party before 2023, have amplified the fears of its demise after this administration.
But then, most of the card carrying members, especially those within the corridors of power, are undaunted. They have always told their teeming supporters and sympathisers that the party is as solid as a rock and cannot be moved.
To this category of people, APC will definitely clinch, if not all the positions in the forthcoming 2023 general elections, the majority, as was in 2019.
However, this school of thought has been hard hit by the unfolding events in the party that have pitched both party members and supporters against each other.
The most recent crisis the party is grappling with is the legality of the CECPC led by a serving governor.
The legality of Buni’s leadership has been subjected to different interpretations of the recently delivered judgment of the Apex Court on the Ondo Governorship Election in favour of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.
Akeredolu secured a slim 4-3 victory over his PDP challenger, Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, at the Supreme Court.
The minority judgment indicated that the APC having a serving governor occupying its executive chairman’s position ran contrary to the constitution. The majority judgment agreed with the minority but deviated on the grounds that Governor Buni, as CECPC chairman, was not joined in the case, as such could not be party to the decision of the case.
Sensing the danger ahead, which may have come after the penultimate Saturday’s nationwide Ward Congresses, a staunch, vocal member of the party and serving Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo, SAN, in a secret letter to the party that was though made public, advised that the July 31 congresses be put on hold while a reorganisation that would make the Governor Buni-led CECPC step aside takes place.
“The little technical point that saved Akeredolu was that Jegede failed to join Mai Mala Buni in the suit. Jegede was challenging the competence of Mai Mala Buni as a sitting Governor to run the affairs of the APC as Chairman of the Caretaker Committee. He contended that this is against Section 183 of the 1999 Constitution, which states that a sitting Governor shall not, during the period when he holds office, hold any other executive office or paid employment in any capacity whatsoever. In other words, had Buni been joined in the suit, the story may have been different today as we would have lost Ondo State to the PDP,” he said.
The letter and its advice generated heated debates in the ruling party with diverse opinions flying everywhere. This suggested that things might have fallen apart in the APC and the centre is finding it difficult to hold.
On the heels of Keyamo’s letter, one of the party’s lawyers in the case, Niyi Akintola, SAN, in a joint media briefing with the National Secretary of the CECPC, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, discharged the letter and its contents, saying the minority judgment was of no consequence and declared unalloyed support for Governor Buni’s leadership of the party.
“We stand with our National Chairman, we will go ahead with the congresses as planned,” Akpanudodehe said.
He emphatically declared that the CECPC, led by Buni, was firm, whereas the legal luminary, Akintola, added that there was nothing to be worried about as the court had said Governor Buni had not contravened any law by occupying the post of party chairman.
He added that the party was not by any means at risk of any litigation by allowing the governor to remain as the chairman of the CECPC.
These arguments increased the tension, and by extension, the cracks in the party widened, leading to the storming of the Buhari House Secretariat of the party by the APC Youth Movement, led by Mohammed Audu, son of late staunch member of the party and former Governor of Kogi State, Abubakar Audu, to demand the removal of the Governor Buni-led CECPC to save the party from the imminent dangers of disintegration.
Nevertheless, the AYM recognised the fact that the APC had achieved a lot within the short leadership of Governor Buni by poaching governors, lawmakers and notable members of the opposition PDP, but claimed that such must not becloud the senses of the founding fathers to sit and watch the party sink.
Princess Aisha Audu pointed out that the party had men and women that could man that position, lead the party to victory in 2023 and beyond and save the party from the squabbles that were eating up its foundations as well as the threats emanating from the revelation of the illegality going on in the party.
“We have patiently watched to get the party’s reactions to the Supreme Court judgment of yesterday, which we narrowly escaped. However, we want to congratulate Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on his victory, an exceptional governor. We might have lost that state if not for God. But in that light, we are not prepared to take that anymore,” she said.
The visibly angry youths blamed some party elders and accused them of not toeing the footprints of the party leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, saying they could no longer tolerate it.
“We cannot continue playing this game with our party, with our future, our lives. Enough is enough. I believe that within the APC, we have capable hands regardless of the generation at this time, we have capable hands, former leaders that can manage the affairs of our party. At this point in time, why must it be one in individual or the other?”
While Aisha Audu regarded what was happening in the party as selfishness on the part of the elders, another youth, Oscar Obi, a lawyer, said the party was as good as losing the Anambra State governorship election because, even if its candidate wins at the polls, for the fact that Buni endorsed his form, the courts would give the mandate to his opponent that challenges him in court.
Despite these positions, the APC maintained it was not threatened at all. The party claims that the opposition PDP is the engine room of the rumours about the crises in the party.
Yet, the aggrieved members who are demanding that an urgent reorganisation in the party must take place have come out publicly to warn that the crises will devour the party if leaders continue playing the ostrich towards the crises.
MALAMI DISAGREES
APC stalwart, Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, did not agree with the concerns about the Supreme Court judgment.
He said there was no place for speculations in courts’ judgments and as such the minority decision should be treated as inconsequential.
There were reports that he snubbed Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo’s counsel that the APC Ward Congresses should not hold by giving approval for the congresses to go on, but Malami said he never ignored the VP’s advice.
Already, there are unconfirmed reports that some aggrieved members of the ruling party have gone to Court to pray that the congresses be nullified and the party be ordered to begin its re-organisation and repositioning processes.
However, the APC, on Thursday, argued that the Supreme Court ruling on Ondo Governorship election validated the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led CECPC.
It said that the ruling clarified Buni’s position as acting chairman of the Committee, adding that it is not contrary to the provision of Section 183 of the Constitution.
The party said the Apex Court affirmed that the position was held temporarily, which was not akin to Executive office or paid employment as envisaged by Section 183 of the Constitution.
A member of the CECPC, Prof. Tahir Mamman, SAN, showed select newsmen extract of the ruling as they affected the committee.
He pointed out that the Apex Court held that “the law is and remains that the provisions that govern sponsorship and nomination of candidates in an election are: Sections 31 and 87 of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended.
“That there is no provision in the Electoral Act prescribing any form for forwarding or submission of the sponsored candidate of a political party in an election.
“Sections 177 and 182 of the CFRN, which make provisions for qualifications and disqualification of candidates for Governorship election are exhaustive and leave no room for any addition.
“That no other Law/Act can be relied upon to disqualify a candidate in an election save for the provisions of Section 182 of the CFRN.
“Sections 177 and 182 of the CFRN which make provisions for qualifications and disqualification of candidates for Governorship election are exhaustive and leave no room for any addition”
“That non-compliance with INEC directives (regulations, guidelines or manuals) for the purpose of the election but which is not contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act shall not of itself be ground in an election petition.
“Paragraph 17 (a) of the First Supplementary to Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections cannot be relied upon as ground to question the return of a candidate in an election.
“That sponsorship of a candidate in an election is that of the party and not the individual officer of the party forwarding the name of the candidate.
“That the National Executive Committee of the party is empowered to create, elect and appoint Committees (including the instant CECPC) or any other committee it may deem necessary to act in any capacity.
“On the strength of all the above position of the Supreme Court in the instant case and other earlier decided cases cited in support, it is our opinion that the Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, headed by Governor Mai Mala Buni, is on firm ground to proceed with its mandate as given by the National Executive Committee of the APC.”
Whatever happens, analysts are of the opinion that how strong the APC structure will remain, in the journey towards 2023, will be determined in the next few months.
