2023: APC, PDP Unending Crises

Power and supremacy tussle bedevilled both APC and PDP as the road to 2023 gets closer


As preparations, alignments and realignments ahead of 2023 general election hots up, the two dominant political parties in the Nigerian political firmament, namely, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) are all enmeshed in political quagmire that poses potential danger to the parties. Supremacy has it on good authority that the major reasons for the crises in the two parties is the quest to control the levers of powers which is plotted at the convention by installing loyalists to sensitive and strategic party offices. Both parties are struggling to pull down the present officers running the parties.

As the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) prepares to elect its new National Working Committee (NWC) in a yet to be announced date for National Convention, the three major political blocs that merged in 2014 to form the party have reactivated their groups as the battle for the party’s NWC core positions have ensued. This magazine reliably gathered that stakeholders from the various political blocs, (Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and new Peoples’ Democratic Party (nPDP) that merged to form the APC have been holding separate meetings to ensure that their blocs are not left behind in the scheme of putting together the upcoming NWC.

The APC has been led by a 13-man Caretaker and Extra Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), which is being headed by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe state, that was inaugurated by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), on June 25, 2020, following the sacking of the then Adams Oshiomhole led NWC. The CECPC was given an initial six months’ mandate to reconcile all aggrieved party stakeholders as well as conduct a national Convention that would usher in a new National Working Committee for the party. The caretaker committee, which is currently in its second extended six-month term, have commenced the process of conducting a national convention with the Local Government congresses billed to hold on September 4.

The political blocs have however intensified efforts through separate meetings to ensure that they grab the juicy positions at the planned national convention. Sources close to some of the pre – merger political blocs confirmed that series of separate meetings have been held by stakeholders from the ACN, CPC and ANPP to put them together to battle for the party’s National chairmanship position. Among the party members who have indicated interest in the APC National chairmanship seat are former Governors of Nasarawa and Zamfara states, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-makura and Abdulaziz Yari respectively. Others included former Senator Mohammed Sani Musa and Mustapha Salihu While Al-Makura and Mustapha belong to the defunct CPC bloc, Abdulaziz Yari and Senator Musa Sani belong to the defunct ANPP and nPDP blocs respectively.

Confirming the development, one of the aspirants, former Governor Abdulaziz Yari said to newsmen, “Let me tell you the truth, they are still meeting. ACN is doing its own, l believe CPC has done one or two and l believe ANPP is planning to do another meeting. What does that mean? If there is confidence in the party, these things are not supposed to be there. There are meetings already taking place ahead of the planned national conventions.

“Somebody contacted me as an ANPP that we should have our meeting in one governor’s house and that they have done it in CPC somewhere. ACN has done their own somewhere. So, you can see that there are issues but if there is competency in this leadership, there would be no need for all these kinds of clamour or calling for one meeting or the other. So, these are some of those things and you should also know that at the same time we are just 8 years, we are not yet 10 years as a party that came together in a merger. So that is the misunderstanding here, left, right and center, but the issue is, if there is competence in the leadership, there would be no need for all these.”

On his chances of becoming the party’s new national chairman, in view of all the separate meeting in political blocs, Yari said, “I have no challenge because I know I have something to offer as far as the party is concerned. One, l am from the grassroots, I started doing party politics before any other thing. I started from party secretary of the ward to local government, state secretary, state chairman, National Financial secretary of the ANPP, came to the National Assembly and then Governor for two times and chairman of the NGF. I think l know all the circle.

So, how to manage the party wouldn’t be a problem for me. When Yusuf Ali was the chairman in Zamfara, l was the secretary and l knew how we coordinated the chairman because he was not good in his official language. So, l attended every meeting of the NEC of the ANPP then since 1998. So, l knows the intrigues. When l became the chairman, it became easy for me to manage and l knew all the channels of party administration before then. All we were looking at is the best for our party. So, l think, if l have that opportunity to lead APC, l believe the party would never regret it.”

There has however been insinuation from certain quarters that only the ANPP and CPC have not had a short at the APC National Chairmanship position, hence the clamour for the two political blocs to occupy the seat at this moment “Oyegun was APP, ANPP and later he joined ACN. He left ANPP long ago and joined ACN and he came into the merger under ACN, that l know, and we in ANPP, we came with Ogbonnaya Onu as our national chairman. So, Oyegun came from ACN when we were forming the merger. I don’t like the argument of where people are coming from, but what are they going to offer. l am concerned with the capacity of the person. He should look at our party where it is now and where it should be. That is all we should look at. It is not about shifting to this place and shifting to another place. It should be the person; is he trusted, can he do and so forth. That is all. But to clear the air, Oyegun came to the merger under ACN.

In 2007, he went with Atiku to AC, when Atiku was contesting President and later ACN. Likewise, Adams Oshiomhole as a sitting governor of ACN came under ACN. So, both the ANPP and CPC they have not been in the position of APC National Chairman. What we have got is National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni. We negotiated it. We also negotiated to be given a Deputy National Chairman and National Secretary. They all came from the North and we gave National Secretary to North East where they had two governors, that is Borno and Yobe and l took the position of Deputy National Chairman and gave it to somebody who was eventually from ACN because l looked at his quality and what he can do. But for the national chairman both the CPC and ANPP, we have not had it. But it is not a wrong thing if another ACN is qualified to be. What l am looking at is who is going to take us to the promise land.

Can the PDP fix the ruffled umbrella?
Following the unabated internal crisis in the PDP engineered by those that are hell bent on removing the national chairman, Uche Secondus before the party’s next convention, the party, has installed an acting chairman. This followed an order by a Rivers High Court in Port Harcourt on Monday restraining the Prince Uche Secondus from parading himself as the Party’s National Chairman, The Deputy National Chairman (South), Elder Yemi Akinwonmi, has taken over the affairs of the party.

In a statement on Tuesday, August 24, 2021, Akinwonmi who cited Section 35 (b) of the PDP Constitution to support his action further suspended the National Working Committee meeting scheduled to hold today (Tuesday). He said “Section 35(3) (b) of the constitution of the People’s Democratic Party empowers me to summon and preside over party meetings in the absence of the national chairman. “Our attention was drawn yesterday evening to a court order which purports to restrain our National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus from summoning and presiding over the meetings of the organs of the party.

“In the foregoing circumstances, as Deputy National Chairman (South) of the People’s Democratic Party, after the consultations and in exercise of the aforesaid powers, hereby deem it fit and prosper to postpone the National Working Committee meeting earlier scheduled for today until further notice to allow for broader consultations in the overall interest of our party”. Indeed, it is noteworthy to mention that the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is no stranger to crises. Prelude to the 2015 general elections, the party witnessed its major gale of defections ignited by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who alleged irreversible level of impunity in the party.

Atiku left with five state governors including Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State and Aliyu Wamako of Sokoto State to the All Progressives Congress. As the party was gasping for survival after the defeat in 2015, the replacement of Ali Modu Sherrif with Senator Ahmed Makarfi as its caretaker Chairman triggered another legal battle that balkanized the remaining cohesion. The effect of the defeat was that PDP states dropped from 28 in 2003 to 23 in 2011 and dropped further to 13 after the 2015 elections. The recent tussle in the party was ignited by moves by some individuals to hijack the party structures through ousting of the National Chairman, Pirnce Uche Secondus ahead of forth coming congresses and national convention.

Secondus Score Card:
Prince Uche Secondus commenced his administration by apologizing to Nigerians for the misdeeds and non-performance of the party and vowed to reposition it for stronger opposition role. The 2019 general election witnessed a lot of improvements on its fortunes, for even as it lost the Presidential election, it won 14 governorship positions. But the governors of Ebonyi state Dave Umahi, Cross River State Ben Ayade and Zamfara State Bello Matawalle later abandoned the PDP.

The Struggle for Party Structure
While some pundits see the moves to remove Secondus as real and unavoidable, others see it as part of the intrigues associated with the national conventions, repositioning of political machinery and quest to hijack party structures. The renewed battle took a new twist as its National Youth Leader, Sunday Ude-Okoye in a press conference disclosed that he and about 10 NWC members will resign unless Secondus vacates office.

“Mr Uche Secondus, the national chairman of the party, is incompetent in managing the affairs of this party. He had made sure that many departments of the party did not function as effectively as they ought to function. “Right now, I can tell you that not less than eight to 10 persons within the NWC members are very aggrieved with Secondus” he said. Earlier, seven deputy national officers of the party including Diran Odeyemi, Deputy National Publicity Secretary; Ahmed Bello, Deputy National Legal Adviser; Umoru Hadizat, Deputy National Women Leader; Divine Amina Arong, Deputy National Auditor; Hassan Yakubu, Deputy National Organizing Secretary; and Irona Alphonsus, Deputy National Financial Secretary had resigned their positions accusing Secondus of incompetence and abuse of office.

A member of the party’s Board of Trustees, Senator Joy Emordi, also dumped the party for APC. But making a U-turn, Odeyemi withdrew his resignation letter and pledged his loyalty to the NWC led by Secondus. He said that it was unnecessary to heat up the polity since the lifespan of the NWC is less than four months.

The Battle Line:
The party’s national auditor, Mai’ Adamu Mustapha had in a secret memo, accused the party’s National Chairman of usurping his office and carrying out financial transactions without recourse to the audit department. The memo triggered a petition by Kassim Afegbua who urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate Secondus over financial misappropriation of about N10 billion accruing from the sales of nomination forms from 2016. A source disclosed that the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike is strongly working behind the scene to remove Secondus unceremoniously so as to have firm grip of the party structure ahead of 2023 general election. There were unconfirmed reports that members of the National Executive Committees that tendered their resignation letters were splashed with some mouthwatering cash reward.

Fixing The Ruffled Umbrella:
The plot to unseat Secondus has created major chasm among governors and other stakeholders. While two governors were backing Wike, Secondus still enjoys the blessings of the majority. Gov. Tambuwal who is favourably disposed to the leadership of Secondus, is mobilizing his colleagues, just as Senator Seriake Dickson is coordinating NASS members to save the party from implosion and ensure that Secondus finishes his tenure since anything to the contrary would create a deeper hole in PDP.

It was learnt that as part of the measures to save the party from further crises, members of the present NWC were advised not to contest for any position at the upcoming convention. The Party Chairman has commenced critical meetings with strategic stakeholders to ensure that he completes his tenure which will come to an end in December despite the resolution of the expanded NEC that it a convention should hold in October. Secondus it was learnt, is lobbying to get the convention moved to December or get support of NEC to complete his tenure even if convention holds in October, adding that anything to the contrary will be in contravention of Sections 47 (1 and 2) of PDP constitution.

The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Prince Diran Odeyemi has disclosed that the proposed convention may hold in November so that the live span of national leadership will not be truncated. He said that NWC members including the deputy national officers of the party would meet in Abuja, to take a position and possibly fix a date for NEC meeting where their resolutions would be presented. “We should not undermine our constitution on the altar of sentiments. If they don’t want Secondus again, they should do that at the convention, if Secondus seeks a second term. With a few months to go, it is not advisable to rock the boat.” “Secondus has said that he would contact NEC and other stakeholders to see if they can do the convention in November. It is just a matter of few weeks. He is meeting with NWC and the deputies on Tuesday (tomorrow) and a decision would be taken and possibly fix a date for the NEC meeting,” he added.

Although the two parties and other political parties are supposed to firm up arrangements for national convention that will take it to 2023 presidency battle, none of them have been able to keep its house in order. In fact, as one analyst puts it, ‘’It appears that the two major political parties are engaged in waiting game and watching who will be the first to blink’’ And it appears so.