APC breakup: An event foretold

Aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) made good the indications that have rocked the polity for long: that they would announce a breakaway faction. With the announcement of R-APC last Wednesday, the centre cannot remain the same in the ruling party, writes Group Politics Editor, TAIWO ADISA.

Leader of the nPDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje made an announcement earlier last week. He told newsmen that his group would make a major decision during the week. Not many took him serious. Many had grown used to the threats of that faction to explode and quit the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in recent months.

Initial threats by the group had earned it the listening ears of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who presided over meetings with members of the nPDP. Members of the new Peoples Democratic Party had declared war with their original party, the Peoples Democratic Party in 2013 and eventually teamed up with the APC to oust President Goodluck Jonathan. The process of their defection started in August 2013 and by November that year, they had joined the party of their choice and exuded confidence that Jonathan would go.

Five years down the line, the music changed. Baraje who addressed newsmen earlier in the week said that the group was treated like outcasts in the APC while its members were harassed by security agencies.

And apparently in agreement with the Yoruba proverb which translates that if you have lost track of where you intend to go, you trace your steps to where you are coming from, the nPDP and its allies in the APC including members of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) announced what looked like the process of withdrawal from the APC.

Last Wednesday, rather than Baraje, who had remained the voice of aggrieved members of APC in recent times, it was Buba Galadima, a former close ally of President Muhammadu Buhari who announced the formation of the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC).

Galadima, who announced the formation of the new party at a media briefing in Abuja, said that the new party has the support of all the legacy parties that formed the APC in 2013.

According to him, “all the progressive forces in APC,” including most of the leading members of the defunct nPDP, CPC, ANPP, ACN and others joined hands to raise the new party, which he described as the authentic APC.

He accused the mainstream APC of conducting an illegal convention on June 23, adding that the convention could not stand the test of time.

Galadimma said: “We are here assembled to address you on the state of our party, the APC, the state of the nation and the future of our experiment in constitutional democracy, in Nigeria.

“You will recall that in the build up to the 2015 general election, some political parties and groups came together, and formed a brand new political party, the All Progressives Congress, APC. This merger was based on the strong belief that Nigeria had come of age, but was severely underperforming and unable to meet its potential for good governance. The Nigerian people entrusted power to the APC based on its promises and potential.”

According to him, the APC has in three years underperformed and led the country on a ruinous path.

“We are sad to report that after more than three years of governance, our hopes have been betrayed, our expectations completely dashed. The APC has run a rudderless, inept and incompetent government that has failed to deliver good governance to the Nigerian people.

“It has rather imposed dictatorship, impunity, abuse of power, complete abdication of constitutional and statutory responsibilities, infidelity to the rule of law and constitutionalism. It has failed to ensure the security and welfare of our people and elevated nepotism to unacceptable height. The APC has failed to deliver on its key promises to the nation. There is no evidence of any political will to reverse the decline of our party, while leaders who have created these circumstances continue to behave as if Nigerians owe our party votes as a matter of right.”

He declared that the APC government had been a monumental disaster, worse than the government it replaced, adding that the party as a vehicle that brought the government was left in ruins and made powerless.

He stated further: “The last straw were the congresses and convention of the APC held recently. The congresses were intensely disputed as they were conducted with impunity, total disregard for due process, disregard for the party constitution and naked display of power and practices that have no place in a party we all worked very hard to put in place.”

Leader of the nPDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje stated that the stakeholders in the APC have discovered that they were no longer wanted by the party they built together.

He stated that the R-APC chose Galadima because of his incorruptible nature adding that he was the only incorruptible member of the Muhammadu BUHARI cabinet.

He further declared that the rudderless nature of the government ensured that the chieftains had no other choice than to form the R-APC.

With the arrival of R-APC, the die appears cast for the APC, which is battling crises in 24 of the 36 states of the federation. Each of the 24 states held parallel congresses ahead of the June 23 convention.

Galadima, a former ally of President Muhammadu BUHARI went ahead to list the states affected by the crises adding that no legal convention could emerge from such an exercise.

“There are countless cases in courts all over the country challenging the legality of congresses and even the national convention itself. It is very likely that the judicial decisions on these cases will result in massive chaos, confusion and uncertainties. The fate of a party in this state with a few months to the elections is best left to the imagination, but it is not a fate we believe our millions of members should be abandoned to. There were parallel congresses in 24 states namely: Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto and Zamfara.

“These congresses in wards, local government areas and states all over the federation produced different sets of delegates. We therefore had an unfortunate situation where the party has been seriously factionalised and divided in not just 24 states but the 36 states and Abuja FCT.

“The so-called national convention of the APC was even worse. The national convention of the party was ridiculed with constitutional infirmities that were so glaring and obvious that no fair-minded person can claim that a legitimate and lawful executive emerged from that process. The chairman of the organising committee, Jigawa State governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, declared 18 seats unopposed and uncontested, since only one valid candidate stood at the end of the grossly manipulated nomination exercise for each of the offices. He therefore proceeded to declare them duly elected in flagrant abuse and violation to the constitution of the APC.”

He stated further, “Indeed, Article 20 of the APC constitution is very clear and explicit. It envisages a situation where if at the close of nomination, only one person is nominated, the convention must vote “Yes” or “No” for each candidate before he is declared duly elected. For the avoidance of doubt, let us reproduce the article verbatim:

“Article 20 (1) of the APC constitution states ‘Unless otherwise provided for: All party posts prescribed or implied by this constitution shall be filled by democratically conducted elections at the respective national convention or congress subject, where possible, to consensus, provided that where a candidate has emerged by consensus for an elective position, a vote of “Yes” or “No” by ballot or voice shall be called, to ensure that it was not an imposition which could breed discontent and crisis.’

“We all witnessed on live television and at the venue, Eagles Square Abuja, that the convention chairman, only put the “Yes” question to all the delegates, using words to the effect: Do you affirm? Do you agree? There was no opportunity whatsoever given to the delegates to say whether they are voting “No” for any candidate as the “No” question was never put to them.”

With the arrival of the R-APC, the question is: Why is history repeating itself in Nigeria this rapidly in the nation’s polity?  And the answers are not farfetched. The unfolding crises were long foretold. It appears, however, that leaders of the party chose to ignore the panic buttons and the result is what we see today.

In November 2016, Buba Galadima, now chairman of Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC) granted an interview in which he bemoaned the fate of the All Progressives Congress and the manner in which the government of President Buhari was being run. Leaders of the party churned the declarations of one of their chieftains that the party would face stiff opposition ahead of 2019 if it doesn’t make changes.

Again, since the beginning of the year, two schools of thought emerged in the party: one calling for a national convention, the other seeking a postponement of the convention so as not to open up fresh wounds. At a stage, an extension of tenure was secured for the John Odigie-Oyegun-led national working committee to push forward the national convention till after the 2019 elections.

But voices of dissent from within the party roared, with court cases flying in from different quarters. The party feared for the worst and held three National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings in succession. The extension of tenure was reversed and the process of congresses and convention kick-started. With that came further crises in 24 state chapters of the party and what looks like Armageddon.  Whether the party will survive this challenge to its last gap lifeline is what the coming days would decide.

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