By David Lawani
The crisis has continued to rock the ranks of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The recent inauguration of state executives of the party is setting aggrieved members against the leadership. Governors elected on the platform of the APC have successfully taken control of its state structures, by ensuring their preferred candidates emerge chairmen. There is resistance and snippets of reconciliation as other aspects of the sidekick. Meanwhile, aggrieved members have gone back to the trenches, with promises of rocking the boat on their script.
A reliable party source who craved anonymity, however, yesterday told ThisNigeria that the position taken by the governors in the party could be irreversible. He said the structure of the party remains the sole responsibility of the governors “as the owners, because they are the ones sponsoring the party, and there is no way another group can take it away from them”.
But a former senator, Kabir Marafa, has reacted to the statement over the purported inauguration of state chairmen. He described it as “a show and a parade of madness” by the party. Marafa represented Zamfara Central senatorial Zone in the 7th and the 8th Nigerian Senate (2011 to 2019). He also served as the Chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources.
Spokesperson to Senator Marafa-led faction of the APC, Bello Bakyasuwa Maradun, was quoted as saying that the adage of “the wages of sin is death” applies perfectly in the most recent action of the APC Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) by presenting certificates to selected chairpersons of state chapters of the party.
Feeling justified on its ground for agitation, the Senator Marafa-led faction of APC in Zamfara State described the presentations the action as desperate “and one which negates all principles of strategic thinking for building an enduring party that can weather the storm of 2023 as President Muhammadu Buhari has rightly warned.
The Marafa faction described the recent inauguration as one of those rights of the government “to act madly and illegally even when there are cases in the courts”. It said: “Our faction followed due process in conducting congresses at all levels that led to the emergence of a complete structure with Garba Maikatako as a state chairman.”
The group contended that “we also went to the court to contest the legality of the congresses conducted by the government faction because of the breaches associated with them, including the questionable stand of their party membership and relevant notice enshrined in the APC constitution. Until the court decides on this, we consider the government faction as illegal and sustain loyalty to our legitimate factional structure. Henceforth, we will continue to enjoy watching this act of madness.”
They urged Governor Matawalle to respect matters before the court of law since he is one of its beneficiaries as a governor. In Benue State where Austin Agada was inaugurated as the APC state chairman, the factional leader, Omale Omale described the exercise as contemptuous, insisting that the group would pursue its case in court to a logical conclusion. He equally vowed to further institute a case of contempt at the court.
Omale had filed a suit in court via an originating summon and a motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction restraining the APC from swearing-in Agada as the state chairman of the party. But the court did not rule on the pending motion on notice until Agada was sworn in on Thursday.
Responding to the inauguration in the state, Omale said “Whatever they have done is contemptuous, we are going to take up the matter in court with all parties to the suit. We are still in court and sure of pursuing the matter to the logical conclusion because the law is clear in this matter that when a party is aware of the pendency of a suit and does any other thing to destroy the res it is contemptuous.”
He, however, dismissed the possibility of leaving the party, noting that defecting from one party to another was not the right step to correct impunity. He vowed that “We will be in the party to correct the anomalies, jumping out will not correct the ills. If you do, each time they do, you run away, you are not correcting anything.”
The crisis in the APC has also spread to Akwa Ibom state with a chieftain of the party in the state and former military governor of Ogun and Rivers states, Group Capt Sam Ewang (retd.), insisting that if the right thing was not done, the party would completely break up in the state.
Ewang, who could not disclose whether his group was inaugurated or not, lamented that some stalwarts of the party were destroying it because of the immediate selfish gains. According to him, “Which state executive are you talking about that was inaugurated on Thursday? There are three groups, it’s based on which one is recognized and who is recognized, and why it is recognized. “Asked if his group was recognized at the inauguration, he said, “I don’t know and I have not been told. The issue is that the party as it is in the state is dead if the right thing was not done.” Meanwhile, some APC factional leaders like former Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, and Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, say they are waiting for further court actions.
Speaking with journalists in Osun State, the chairman of the APC faction supported by Aregbesola, Rasaq Salinsile, said the group would pursue its appeal and await court decision on the controversies over the ward congress of the party. “We are going to appeal the judgment because this case can get to the Supreme Court. So we are going on appeal, by the grace of God, as soon as possible. We are filing our appeal and we will continue with our case. “We are the real progressives. How can you expect a landlord to leave his house for tenants? Bad tenants for that matter; at times you have good tenants, but these are bad tenants. We can’t leave our house for them.”
Also, the APC faction loyal to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Kwara State declared that the leadership of the faction would decide its next line of action if the case is filed at the High Court, Abuja against the National Caretaker Committee of the party did not end in its favour.
The Publicity Secretary of the faction, Ibrahim Sharafadeen, told newsmen in Ilorin on Friday that the group was hopeful that the case filed in the court against the caretaker committee would be favourable to it. “We are still in court and the judge of the Abuja High Court told us that he would inform the counsel when he’s ready to deliver the judgment, we are still waiting for that. If the judgment goes against us, the decision on what to do next will come from our leaders. Right now we are not going to another party.
In another development, former governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, says “victory is certain.” He said contrary to the expectation of some of his loyalists that he would announce his defection, he remained in the APC and appreciated his followers for their steadfastness.
Also, the Senator Magnus Abe-led faction of the APC in Rivers State said the party only gave the chairmen certificate of returns but did not swear them in. The chairman of the group, Ben Golden Chioma, on Friday, said they would seek political solutions to address the certificate issue.
Chioma noted that the recognition of his rival, Chief Emeka Beke of the Rotimi Amaechi-led faction as the chairman, did not resolve pending issues in the party.
In Kano, the state APC secretary explained why they could not inaugurate the state chapter.
He said names of the chairmen of both Sokoto and Kano states were not on the list of those inaugurated and none of the factions in the two states were sworn in on Thursday.
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But the chairman of CECPC, Mai Mala Buni, after a series of fruitless efforts, has finally met with Umar Ganduje and his staunch rival, Shekarau over lingering issues in the party.
It will be recalled that a few days ago when the CECPC inaugurated the state chairmen of the party at Buhari House in Abuja, Kano and Sokoto chairmen were conspicuously missing since the intractable fights between the party chieftains have almost defied solution until the governor of Yobe State Mala Buni waded into it for possible resolutions despite they are both in the court slugging it out over the ownership of the structure of the party.
Political pundits informed ThisNigeria yesterday that if the APC is unable to resolve the myriads of disagreements amongst its members before the February 26 date for its National Convention, the party may, indeed, be headed for more trouble ahead of the 2023 general elections.
