Union of disparate groups
The internal crisis bedeviling the party started immediately the merger of the three major parties ACN, the CPC, the ANPP. They were joined by a small faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), mainly from Imo State. In most states some members have complained of marginalization by the dominant group before the merger.
The last congresses created an opportunity for expression of grievances because several delegates and members complained that the party constitution and guidelines were not followed in the conduct of the congresses, thereby giving undue advantage to some group against others in the emergence of party leaders at the ward, local government and state levels.
Undemocratic process
Many also were not happy that the congresses did not give them opportunity to elect leaders of their choice as the whole situation was staged managed. They fear that if the problem is not properly address, the party may head for implosion. In some states like Lagos where it is believed to be a stronghold of APC, investigation reveal that all is not well with the party as several groups has emerged within the party in a struggle for 2015 general elections.
In Lagos State, before the April 26 state congress that brought back Henry Ajomale as the party chairman, they appeared to have been a division within the party as those who joined the APC from CPC were not happy with the way the affairs of the party haD been run only by leaders from the former ACN. Consequently, the former State Chairman of defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), Chief Ajibade Emiabata, went and set up an office at Ade-Onitimirin Street, Surulere, Lagos.
According to Emiabata, the merger that birthed APC has since been marginalizing him and chairmen of two other political parties’ ? All Progressive People’s Party (ANPP) and All Progressive Grand Alliance (ANPP) ? that make up the party. He said that the situation was clearly underscored at the Stakeholders’ Forum held at the party’s Secretariat on Acme Road, Ikeja. Emiabata is aggrieved that activities at the Stakeholders’ Forum were conducted as if the party was still the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), an action he described as unacceptable. He said: “We are not going to leave the party for them; we are still members of the party. We’re going nowhere because we’re part of the merger. The fact that you are majority does not mean you shouldn’t recognise us. We’re not asking for equal right, but we want to be recognised.”
The crack in the party which was capable of disrupting the last congresses was quietly suppressed by the leaders of the party. But analysts suggest that unless the complaints and grievances are properly addressed, the party may be working for its own electoral failure.
Defection sets in
Apart from Lagos in almost all the states there is one crisis or the other existing or resulting from the last congresses that are already threatening the popularity of the party in such state. In Edo State, for example, some prominent leaders of the party began holding crucial consultations with the leadership of PDP with a view to joining the party. Led by former South-South Vice Chairman and leader of APC in the state, Chief Ize- Iyamu, the APC leaders, drawn from the three senatorial districts, met briefly with the President at the Presidential Villa, where they were said to have consulted with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, national leader.
The aggrieved APC leaders met with the Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih. Chief Anenih was said to have entertained them, informing them that they were not new to him having worked closely with them in the past before their defection to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. Although a source at the meeting had refuted claims that they went to negotiate their defection to the PDP, by Monday when they finally announced their movement to the PDP, it became clear that that was precisely what they had gone to do.
Also in the team that visited the President and Anenih, were the pioneer state chairman of the defunct ACN, Chief Tony Omoaghe; APC leader in Edo South, Chief Amos Osunbor, the Eson of Benin; Edo North APC leader, Alhaji Usman Shagadi, among others.
Confirming the visit by the APC leaders and plans to dump the APC for PDP, Chairman, Edo State PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, described the move as homecoming and a welcome development, adding that in recent times, PDP has successfully carried out a smooth sensitization programme, noting that the APC government had been disconnected from the people.
Open discord
In Ebonyi State, the crisis that hit the party in the wake of the last congresses took a new dimension over the weekend with the suspension of Senator Julius Ucha and member House of Representatives from Ishielu/Ezza North federal constituency, Peter Ede, by a faction of the party in the state. The leader of the group, Elder Sam Igwe, also suspended Eze Nwachukwu Eze, Enyi C. Enyi, Dr. Steve Egbo, Aloy Nwibo, Princess Tonia Adol-awam, Engr. Ngaji Nwobo, Pastor Victor Elem, Jonathan Eze and Patman Mgbebu.
The discord in the party led to about 500 of its members staging a peaceful protest against the conduct of the state congress over alleged fraudulent activities last week. The protesters alleged bias in the conduct of the congresses in the state, adding that since the outcome of some local government congresses were still inconclusive, the state congress shouldn’t have held.
They accused the chairman of the state congress committee, Mrs Ndu Adenisi and her team of not following the specified guidelines and falsifying the results of the congresses, saying: “If there should be a state congress they should shift it or send a new committee because the present committee is already biased.”
The protesters carried placards with inceptions like: ‘No more congress under Mrs Ndu’; ‘Mrs Ndu is biased’; ‘Mrs Ndu is agent of PDP’; ‘Mrs Ndu is our problem of delaying APC congress in Ebonyi’; ‘Ebonyi APC has lost confidence in Mrs Ndu and her team’ among others.
Factional chieftain of the party, Elder Sam Igwe, who spoke on behalf of the protesters accused the committee of collecting bribes from the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the state to destabilise the party, saying that enemies in and outside the party have joined hands and paid her heavily.
Allegations of marginalisation
Some aggrieved members of the party in Rivers State have expressed their grievances to the national leadership of the party, Bisi Akande. In a letter to Akande from Concerned APC Stakeholders (Legacy Parties Study Group) Rivers State titled “Why APC Members of the Legacy Parties are conducting their Own Congresses,” the aggrieved members stated that their decision to hold a parallel congress was borne out of their frustration and marginalization by Amaechi group that joined the party from the PDP. They also complained of terrible lack of political inclusivity and slavery that are not only strange but are completely antithetical to all that progressivism symbolizes and represents in politics. Already, some members of the party who are not satisfied with what is going on are considering returning to PDP.
In Ondo State, there was also report of boycott of last congresses as a result of marginalization of some members by the leadership of the party from ACN group. In a statement signed by a member, Board of Trustees of the defunct ANPP, Capt. Demola Ariyo; State Chairman of the defunct ANPP, Chief Yemisi Aladesaye; State Chairman of the defunct CPC, Barr. Olalekan Obolo and Governorship candidate of the defunct CPC, Prince Soji Ehinlanwo, “a more credible congress which will accommodate all shades of interest in Ondo State APC would be organized.”
They called on their members to remain calm, stressing that “APC belongs to all of us and not only to a small group of egocentric politicians”. The statement reads: “Having consulted widely with our members and supporters across Ondo State, we wish to disassociate ourselves from the ongoing congresses organized by a faction of the All Progressives Congress in the state.
“We wish to state for the avoidance of doubt that this decision is predicated on the fact that our members across Ondo State have been marginalized not only during the last membership registration exercise but also in the process leading to this sham congresses.
“We therefore wish to assure all our members and supporters that the party APC belongs to all of us and not only to a small group of egocentric politicians. “As a result, we enjoin them to remain calm even in the face of the usurpation of their rights and privileges, while they are advised to await directives very soon for a more credible congress which will accommodate all shades of interests in Ondo State APC.”
But in a swift reaction, Interim APC Secretary, Prince Olu Adegboro, described them as ‘jokers’, stressing that the congresses would go on as scheduled. Prince Adegboro pointed out that no attempt made at sabotaging the congresses would succeed, adding that Chairman of the Congress Committee in the state and former Lagos Deputy Governor, Mr Femi Pedro, was already in town to conduct the exercise.
Despite complaints the leadership of the party went ahead with the congress that elected Issac Kekemeke, former Secretary to the State Government under the administration of late Olusegun Agagau as governor of the state.
Struggle for preeminence
The Ogun State chapter of the party which is divided into two factions held parallel ward, local government and state Congresses which eventually produced two state executive councils during the just concluded Congresses. The infighting in the Ogun State APC has produced two factions which have the governor of the state and former governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosun and Olusegun Osoba as leaders of the two factions respectively.
The party’s members in the Kaduna State House of Assembly (KDHA) and those at National Assembly passed a vote of no confidence in the then state interim chairman of the party, Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed. The crisis in the party also led to the defection of the former governor of Kano State to the PDP. The supporters of Shekarau, have rejected the leadership of Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, saying that they would only recognise and stand by the former governor as the leader of the party, a development that was against the handing over of the party to Kwankwaso by the national leadership of the APC.
The minority leader of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Honourable Shehu Adamu, said they had passed a vote of no confidence in Baba Ahmed “who had made the party unattractive in recent times.” “Yes, we issued a vote of no confidence against him yesterday (Friday) during our meeting with our colleagues from the National Assembly, including Senator Sani Saleh,” he said.
“We did that because of his frequent unilateral decisions and high-handedness against party members. He refused to listen to us, so we have no other option than to take such a decision. We shall call a press conference later and intimate the press with the details,” he added. While speaking in Kano, the group, led by chairman of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Alhaji Sani Hashimu Hotoro, also distanced themselves from the recent homage paid to Governor Kwankwaso by some members of the defunct ANPP.
Alhaji Sani insisted that “until the interim national leadership of the APC clarify issues surrounding the party leadership in the state, no person would be tolerated to impose himself as the leader, adding that “we are here to confirm our support for Malam Shekarau as the authentic leader of the APC in Kano State.”
But the interim leadership of the party in Kaduna has said at a press conference on Saturday that they were still on track and expressed ignorance of the position of the party’s lawmakers. Organising Secretary of the APC in the state, Chief Joshua Ephraim told newsmen that they were duly elected to lead the party in Kaduna State, noting that Dr. Baba Ahmed had been carrying all party members along and had never taken a unilateral decision as was alleged.
Cloudy prospects
The leadership of the party is not oblivious of the ongoing internal wrangling in the party. Recently, former military Head of State and national leader of APC, Muhammadu Buhari, was quoted as saying few days ago that he is not supporting any of the faction leaders of the party in Abia State. Former governor of Abia State and leader of the party recently accused the ruling party of fuelling crisis in the party to destabilize it. From all indications, APC is still a house of discord and unless more sacrifices come from the leadership of the party, it may face a serious challenge of making much positive impact in next general elections as promised by the party.
Source: Daily Independent
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