How Malami’s endorsement worsened Sokoto APC crisis

The recent endorsement of  a factional chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Sokoto State, Alhaji Mainasara Sani by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has triggered widespread reactions among politicians in the state.

Malami had recently, while making his remarks at a public function in the state, recognized Mainasara as the legitimate APC chairman in the state.

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The endorsement, however, generated debates not only among APC loyalists but followers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as politicians irrespective of party affiliations continued to voice out their views  it.

Alhaji Usman Bello, an APC member and loyalist to Mainasara, said “the endorsement is a clear pointer that Mainasara is the authentic chairman of the party in the state.

Daily Trust further observed that the video clip in which the attorney general of the federation made the endorsement went viral.

The Sokoto State chapter of the APC is among the two chapters that have not been inaugurated by the national leadership at the last inauguration exercise of APC state executives. Kano State is the second state.

Like its Kano counterpart, Sokoto APC was excluded from the inauguration exercise due to an internal crisis that rocked the party a few weeks before the commencement of congresses.

The political tussle, which tore APC into three factions, is considered a battle of supremacy between Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko on one hand and Senator Abubakar Umar Gada and Abdullahi Balarabe Salame, member representing Gwadabawa/Illela federal constituency on the other.

The political gladiators are fighting over the control of the party’s soul ahead of the 2023 politicking.

Daily Trust gathered that trouble erupted in the party sometime last year, after the national leadership, through its National Secretary, Senator James Akpanudeodehe, announced dates for the conduct of congresses.

Senator Wamakko was accused by the Sen. Gada-led faction of hijacking the congresses, thereby imposing only his loyalists to become executives of the party at the ward, local government and state levels during the exercise. 

The group further argued that Wamakko’s decision to hijack congresses necessitated the conduct of parallel congresses in the state which produced three sets of state executives with Alhaji Isa Sadiq Achida as APC chairman for Sen. Wamakko’s camp, Alhaji Mainasara Muhammad Abubakar as chairman for Sen. Gada-led group while Alhaji Muhammad Bello Dogon Daji emerged chairman for the Hon. Salame-led faction.

Interestingly, all the three chairmen are claiming to be duly elected through genuine congresses recognized by the APC national leadership, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies.

However, Daily Trust observed that the Gada-led faction conducted its state congresses on Sunday as against Saturday, the official date fixed by the party’s national leadership.

Asked whether the APC national leadership invited them for a reconciliation meeting, Rep. Salame said although the leadership had promised to wade into the crisis, nobody has invited them for any meeting yet.

On his part, Alhaji Isa Sadiq Achida, the factional chairman of the Wamakko-led camp, said there was no crisis in APC Sokoto, adding that “As far I am concerned, APC is one and single entity in Sokoto.

“People should not misinterpret things. APC Sokoto’s chapter was not excluded in the last inauguration of state executives because of any crisis.

Somebody just went to the court and challenged another group, not ours, for conducting parallel congresses in the state. The man obtained a ‘fraudulent’ judgment from the court which authenticated his congresses.”

On the alleged imposition of candidates, Achida said Sen. Wamakko never stopped anybody from contesting alongside his loyalists, noting that “after all, is it a crime for Wamakko to support a particular candidate among the contenders? Certainly, it is not.”

The Sen. Gada-led factional chairman, Alhaji Mainasara Abubakar, blamed Sen. Wamakko as the architect of the crisis as, according to him, the former governor overturned the laid down procedures in order to achieve his personal political objectives.

“Wamakko hired some thugs who stormed venues of the congresses with weapons and ensured that only loyalists of the former governor were allowed to participate in the congresses,” he alleged.

However, Achida disputed this allegation, saying “Nobody stopped anybody from participating in the congresses. We sent invitations to all the concerned party members to come forward for the congresses, but they decided not to partake for reasons best known to them. But that will not stop us from conducting the congresses,” he said.

Reacting to the endorsement of Mainasara by Malami, Achida, called on the attorney general of the federation to resign.

Achida told Daily Trust “it is unfortunate that the minister has dragged his exalted office to the mud by pre-empting court judgment.

‘‘The minister had breached the sanctity of the constitution and his oath of office, which require him not to allow his personal interest to influence official conduct,” he said.

Professor Yahaya Tanko Baba of the Department of Political Science, Usmanu Danfodio University, said the crisis is gradually weakening the party in the state.

“As it is now, members of the party from each of the factions are not strong enough to feel that they belong to the party. There is no clear provision as to who governs the party in the state or in whose hands the leadership of the party lies.

“These two factions are claiming the leadership of the party so strongly and I think this is complicated largely by the action of the national leadership if you remember what happened during the congresses.

“It was so strange for the party – which is called the ruling party, the party that has a huge acceptance in this part of the country, that two groups of the party’s stalwarts in the state will claim legitimacy of the congresses they conducted separately.

“It may interest you to know that the APC national leadership sent separate delegations to supervise the parallel congresses and for me, that was the beginning of the crisis. 

“So, after the congresses, each of the groups claimed to be the legitimate APC leadership in Sokoto State and up till now, this issue lingers. 

“Again, the party has not made an attempt to reconcile the factions that are contesting the leadership of the party. So, the possibility is that the party will lose membership, lose followership, lose acceptance and will lose relevance in the state if the crisis continues,” he said.