In 2018, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was given an omnibus and a wide-ranging mandate. The President, on February 7 that year, had asked Tinubu to lead the consultation, reconciliation and confidence-building process within the All Progressives Congress (APC), leading to a cohesive ruling party.
The assignment, according to Buhari, involved resolving intra party disagreements, reconciling the party leadership and political office holders in general. From Kaduna, Zamfara, Oyo and Kogi states, APC was a divided house at that time and elections were around the corner. Somehow, the committee went round, papered over the cracks and APC coasted to victory but the crevices largely remained. In fact, in the last three years, the fault lines have widened and fresh contentions have cropped up in several state chapters. Last September, the party constituted a National Reconciliation Committee, headed by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, to continue the fence-mending process.
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Significantly, the Abdullahi Adamu Committee’s mandate, on the day of inauguration, was clearly spelt out by Governor Mai Mala Buni, the Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee Chairman. The committee, according to him, should look at all grievances arising from the ward and local government congresses; reconcile the aggrieved parties and proffer solutions to avert further occurrences. Its report, Buni pointed out, will guide the party to the National Convention, where a substantive leadership will emerge.
The APC, in the build-up to the National Convention, has been beset with internal crises which became full blown during the ward and local government congresses. From Kwara, to Imo and Ogun states, including Zamfara, Lagos and Osun states, as well as Enugu and Delta states, disagreements have metastasized to crisis. In fact, these state chapters held parallel congresses and each camp parades ward and local government executives.
In Kwara state, APC is divided between Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture and Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. In Ogun state, Governor Dapo Abiodun and his predecessor, Senator, Ibikunle Amosun, have factionalized the party. The feud, according to reports, dates back to 2019 when Amosun was lukewarm towards Abiodun’s aspiration and this frosty relationship has impinged on APC in the state. Similarly, there are disagreements between the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola and his successor, Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun state. Perpetually, their supporters are at daggers-drawn, threatening to spill blood. Likewise, the crisis in Zamfara state has deepened, especially with Governor Bello Matawalle’s defection to APC. Besides, it is the same sad story in Delta state, where the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo and the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, are flexing muscles. Similarly, the supporters of Hope Uzodinma, the Imo state governor, and Senator Rochas Okorocha, are at each other’s throats.
However, the ward and local government congresses, in a manner of speaking, were mere dress rehearsals compared to the state congresses of last month, where combatants deployed their full arsenals. Notably, violence erupted in at least 10 states as Osun, Ogun, Kwara and Niger states held parallel congresses. In Osun, the state congress degenerated into a free-for-all as thugs descended on the Oyetola-led camp, injuring two persons as a result. Similarly, a fiasco played out in Ogun and Kwara states, as Governors Abiodun and Abdulrazaq’s loyalists, locked horns with Senator Amosun and Lai Mohammed’s supporters.
In Lagos, there are three people claiming to be state chairmen at the last congress. First, Mr Cornelius Ojelabi was elected, through voice vote, at Mobolaji Johnson Arena. However, another group christened Lagos4Lagos, held its own congress at Airport Hotel Ikeja and elected Sunday Ajayi as chairman. Likewise, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, the immediate past governor, led a faction which held its congress at Baptist Academy, Obanikoro area, to elect Mrs Beatrice Omotayo Tugbobo.
Significantly, the task before the National Reconciliation, led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, requires the adroitness of walking the tightrope. In particular, it should unite the APC but entrench party tradition and due process. However, this is a tough act to follow but the nine-man committee will rise to the occasion, given the members’ pedigree and integrity, especially the chairman who has variously been a minister, governor and a senator, had a stint in the private sector, including his foray into the second republic as Plateau state chairman of the NPN.
Mu’azzam Salami wrote in from Kaduna.
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