As party’s crisis deepens…Why Tinubu, Akande shunned APC NEC meeting

The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) continues to deepen, following the absence yesterday of Chief Bisi Akande, a former interim party chairman and one of its national leaders, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu at an emergency meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) in Abuja.
Their absence had fuelled speculation that an end to the crisis over the leadership positions in the National Assembly might not be in sight. Party insiders have hinted that both Tinubu and Akande stayed away because they are unhappy over the sharing of leadership positions. Also, their loyalists hinted to them that a no-show is a safer bet, given the precarious political landscape.  
The APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who did not want to speak on the reasons why they were absent, said none of the two chieftains are officials of the party. “If you look at our constitution, neither of them are members of the NEC. I think it is at the discretion of the NWC or NEC on who to invite or not. The bottom line is that neither of them are members of the exco of the party,” he said.
Tinubu, it was learnt yesterday, believes that the supremacy of the party must be respected by the APC leaders in the National Assembly. Daily Trust on Saturday also gathered that the absence of Chief Akande was particularly noted because of the presence of Chief Tony Momoh and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who were also former national chairmen of parties that merged to form the APC.
Last Sunday, the former APC interim chairman issued a statement which claimed that the emergence of Dr. Bukola Saraki and Rep Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Reps respectively against the party’s preferred candidates of Senator Ahmed Lawan and Rep Femi Gbajabiamila was due to the support of some businessmen, an allegation which was swiftly dismissed by both Saraki and Dogara.
The letter followed the failure of fresh reconciliatory move after Saraki and Dogara ignored the lists of principal officers sent to them by the APC leaders, a move by the APC NWC which was supported by the party’s governors. The APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun had written Mr. Saraki on June 25, 2015 asking him to name Ahmed Lawan as Senate Leader, George Akume as Deputy Senate Leader, Sola Adeyeye as Chief Whip and Abu Ibrahim as Deputy Whip.
But the Senate instead named Ali Ndume as Senate Leader, Bala Na’Allah as Deputy Senate Leader and Felix Aimikhena as Chief Whip. In the House of Reps, a likely attempt to choose another set of principal officers apart from Rep Gbajabiamila (House Leader), Alhassan Doguma (Deputy House Leader), Mohammed Monguno (Chief Whip) and Parry Iriase (Deputy Whip) as nominated by the APC leaders ended in chaos.
Both chambers of the National Assembly summarily adjourned sittings to July 21.
After yesterday’s NEC meeting, an attempt by the APC governors also to unite the warring groups ended in a stalemate. The meeting, which was held behind closed door, was attended by Senate President Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Senator Lawan, Rep Gbajabiamila.
Speaking shortly after the meeting, the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), Rochas Okorocha said the meeting was successful as both parties were able to meet each other for the first time in order to resolve their differences.
Okorocha promised to give details of the outcome of the truce meeting next week.
Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole said the meeting continues today (Saturday) at night.
Yesterday’s NEC meeting of the APC ratified the completion of the composition of membership of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT). The NEC meeting also passed a vote of confidence on Chief Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
Speaking on the outcome of the meeting, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the NEC meeting had provided an enabling environment to resolve the logjam occasioned by leadership positions in the National Assembly.
Mr. Mohammed said the party’s governors’ meetings with Senate President and Speaker yesterday was “a further attempt to find a lasting solution”. He said it was in the best interest of Nigerians who voted for change for the party to talk less on the leadership crisis in the National Assembly.
Mohammed stressed that the NEC meeting agreed on two key issues, including “the supremacy of the party” and the need for the government to work and deliver its campaign promises as encapsulated in the change that the APC promised.
Earlier, the APC National Chairman, Chief Odigie-Oyegun, had said that the completion of the composition of BoT membership would enable this organ of the party undertook its constitutional responsibilities. He congratulated party members and leaders over the success at the 2015 general elections, saying President Muhammadu Buhari was the rallying point around whom the message of change was focused on. He assured party members that the issues that the challenges the APC were passing through would “be dealt with conclusively before the National Assembly re-assembles”.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to members and leaders of the APC to always respect the supremacy of the party and continue to work together in order to meet the needs of the mandate given to the party. He made the appeal yesterday in his opening remarks at the APC NEC meeting held at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
“God in his infinite mercy has helped by giving us acceptance. Let us not throw this success to the wind. Let us as members of the APC no matter our personal differences get together and use the mandate given to us by this country. This is my personal appeal to you in the name of God. Whatever your personal interest or ambition, please keep it close to your heart and in your pocket. Let APC work, let the system work and let us have a government that will earn the respect of our constituencies.
“My problem is the constituencies. I thank you very much for listening to me, and I thank the leadership across the board, and I appeal to you to please continue to work together.  Please accept the superiority of the party.  I cannot confine myself to the cage or Sambisa Forest and refuse to participate in NEC or BoT. So, I respect the superiority of the party,” he further advised the party members and leaders.
The President, who also spoke on the challenges the APC went through before it achieved its current success, said the party must find a way to manage its victory. He attributed the current challenge facing the party to human errors which, he added, could be corrected through collective efforts of all the stakeholders.  
He said, “The elections have come and gone, the APC has won the battle, but lost the war. This is the paradox of democracy, and we shall see how we can manage it going forward. The APC must not disappoint its constituency, that is the nation state. We have to convince our various constituencies that we are individually worthy of the sacrifices that they have made.
“They stayed awake day and night, travelling all over the country and made sure as a party, we emerged victorious. What subsequently happened is human. As human beings, we are not perfect. But let our collective actions in this party prove that we have won the elections, the battle and we will win the war.”
He added, “As for me as a president, I have to clearly understand the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the constitution of APC, and having tried three times and successfully lost three times and successfully ended up at the Supreme Court. I think I have tasted the bitter disappointments and the sweetness of success. What happened to the APC must be given to God almighty.”
In reference to the crisis rocking the National Assembly, he said that all members should accept what has happened, forget their grievances  and move on.
He also congratulated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for conceding defeat ‘meekly’ and thanked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its neutrality during the registration process of the APC.