2019: APC, Oshiomhole, reconciliation and fresh wounds

The All Progressives Congress (APC) seems to behave as if it was not conscious of the import of the coming election. If elections are still a function of numbers, one wonders what the party thinks about the emerging fresh wounds being inflicted on members amid reconciliation drive, and gale of defections from its fold arising from its own obvious and deliberate actions and inactions.

Several months before the congresses, precisely on February 16, President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed Bola Ahmed Tinubu, national leader, as the head of the APC reconciliation team.

He was to lead “the consultation, reconciliation and confidence building team as a measure towards improving cohesion” within the party.
But the team did not record much success, as some of the aggrieved members were said to have expressed reservation in the team, particularly with Tinubu as its head. At that time, it was alleged that the politician needed to be reconciled himself, being at the centre of some of the impasse.

Following the rancorous primaries in many states across the country, the leadership of the party on November 21 raised fresh reconciliation committees for the six geo-political zones.

While inaugurating the committees, Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the party, said committee members were expected to help the party’s national leadership to “find an in-house solution to the acrimony that followed the party’s primary elections”.

He added that members of the committees were also to maintain peace and ensure internal harmony within the APC family before the elections.

He further said that the essence of the committees was to bring about lasting peace in the party ahead of the 2019 general elections.

“Help reconcile those who are aggrieved for whatever reasons; do everything that will help in your wisdom to bring peace in your zone,” Oshiomhole had instructed the panels.

Before the inauguration, Oshiomhole had on November 5 lashed out at Governors Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Rochas Okorocha of Imo and Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State over their position on the outcome of the APC primaries in their respective states.

“At the heart of this challenge is the trauma of going through change. If you know of any addict, such as those who are addicted to alcohol or to drugs, there is what we call ‘withdrawal symptom’ when they cannot see it (drugs) and you try to stop them from that habit they have been addicted to,” Oshiomhole said.
“If Governor Rochas chose to relocate to the Villa and use the grounds of Villa to try to intimidate me to create a dynasty, I won’t accept it. I will uphold the truth in the best interest of the APC members and indeed of the APC people in Imo State. The truth does not require a supporters’ club to stand, it has its own legs, and it can stand,” he said.

In the case of Ogun State, the APC national chairman said the state governor was trying to act like an emperor. He said the APC under his leadership did not have a place for emperors.

He accused the governor of attempting to lord it over the majority of party members in the state by brazenly imposing candidates for virtually all elective positions in the state.

Analysts believe that this choice of words may have provoked the aggrieved governors the more.

One would have thought that having put some panels in place to bring the angry and offended members back to the fold, he would allow the peace talks to sink. But the former Edo State governor was on the firing line again on Wednesday, December 5, attacking Okorocha and Amosun, and describing them as prodigal sons.

“Our popularity in Imo and Ogun States is higher. What you don’t know and Nigerians always make me surprise by thinking that once you are a governor, you have electoral value. Yes, we have overwhelming majority of the APC governors with electoral value but we also have others without electoral values, who are pectoral liabilities,” he said.
“I can concretely tell you today that in Imo State, APC will win more votes. As I said, it is about numbers and my focus is on the ordinary Imo electorate because the governor, his Commissioner for Happiness and the son-in-law have only one vote on that day. But those mechanics, market women, school teachers and workers whose salaries are unpaid for years that have the same weight of votes.
“Also, in Ogun State, don’t forget that the vice president is from Ogun State. We cannot focus on one person and not on the other. Ogun is one of the most enlightened states in the country and that is where Chief Awolowo came from. They have a huge history and it is not a political kingdom headed by one person.
“I believe that if they (governors) were looking for reconciliation or truth, they would not have done what they did (allowing their aides to defect). They already have the mindset that once they don’t get their governor in, nothing is right, it is how democracy works.
“Overall, APC is a stronger party now but we should not focus only on APC. Talking of Ogun State, the PDP has two governorship candidates and two deputy governors running yet as we speak, the APC has only one in the person of Dapo Abiodun.
“When a child ran out of his father’s house to bear a new name according to history and the Bible, he returned when the weather thoroughly beats him as a prodigal son. That is why APC has prodigal sons. Those who think that their political future is tied to that are poor students of history.

“We are not thinking of sanctioning them because the real sanction will come from the electorate but as for if any rules of the party has been breached, they are the things we will have to look at. It is not my function. What should be the real headline is that we will deliver Dapo Abiodun in Ogun State and Hope Uzodinma in Imo State,” he further said.

Oshiomhole’s latest diatribe seemed to have been sparked by recent developments in Imo and Ogun States.

A few days ago, Uche Nwosu, a former Chief of Staff to Okorocha, defected from APC to the Action Alliance (AA) to pursue his political ambition to be the next state governor.

Nwosu claimed that the APC forced him out.

“Injustice, impunity, and lack of respect for party’s constitution forced me out of the All Progressives Congress,” he said.

Sam Onwuemeodo, who spoke on behalf of Nwosu, said: “He is an adult. After he won the election and they (APC) denied him and gave it to somebody, who did not even participate in the primary election then what do you expect him to do, he is an adult. He must go somewhere else to pursue his ambition.”

Onwuemeodo also said that although the faction of the APC sympathetic to Okorocha would vote for Nwosu, “We are going to work with APC to deliver Imo State to President Muhammadu Buhari. We will deliver Governor Rochas Okorocha as senator because Action Alliance has no senatorial candidate in Orlu zone.”

Okorocha was quoted as saying, “I have no problem with President Muhammadu Buhari. My headache is the national chairman of APC. It is a divine project and we are ready for the election. It is an inter-party marriage between AA and APC in Imo State.”

Igbokwe Raphael Nnanna, representing Ahiazu Mbaise/Ezinihitte in the House of Representatives, cited the crises in Imo, Zamfara, Rivers and Ogun State, alleging that the APC “deliberately” breached the Electoral Act, the 1999 Constitution, the electoral guideline and its own constitution in deciding who would become a candidate.

“In Imo State, are we saying that a man who introduced this party should not have a say in its affairs? Governor Rochas Okorocha brought APC to the South-East at a time they were calling it Hausa party. Some of these decisions will be thrown out by the Judiciary. We had better be careful because I fear for us, I fear for 2019,” Nnanna said.

In Ogun State, Adekunle Akinlade, the preferred candidate of Amosun, who lost the gubernatorial ticket to Dapo Abiodun, dumped the party for Allied People’s Movement (APM) to prosecute his ambition.

In reaction to Akinlade’s exit, Amosun, said: “I am not going to stop him; everything I have, I will use to support him. Let them try whatever they want to try, we also have our strategies and I am not going to hide behind one finger.

“I remain in APC because that’s what those people want, they want us to leave APC but they are joking. I will stay in APC to ensure that Buhari wins in Ogun State and to let them know that they can’t subvert the will of the state.

“Every day, I will campaign for President Muhammadu Buhari, we will do everything possible to ensure Buhari wins massively in Ogun, but they should not miss it. I, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun, will not support anyone they are bringing.”

Although the APC is pursuing reconciliation, it is at the same time fanning the embers of acrimony. Observers are of the opinion that Oshiomhole’s attitude does not portray him as a good leader and seems not to be helping the cause of a party struggling to return to power in 2019.

“By virtue of his position in the party, he is the father of all. What manner of a father would consistently pour fuel inside a raging fire in his house? Only a hireling abandons his sheep when the wolf comes. Oshiomhole is behaving more like a hireling than a true shepherd in APC. The timing is wrong and to me, he is just destroying the party. The reputation of the party has gone very low since he assumed office as the national chairman, he has to check it,” a pundit said, asking not to be named.

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