The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) did what many political pundits consider as an anti-climax to what could have been a stormy meeting of the caucus of the party where many issues had been slated for discussion.
Prior to the scheduled meeting, a lot of tension had been said to have been generated within the ranks of the party considering many issues that have caused some form of discord within the APC in recent times.
Those who would have been present at the meeting had hoped to use the platform of the meeting to vent their displeasure with regards to the management on how they have been running the party in recent times.
The APC had initially fixed Wednesday, September 11 and Thursday, 12 for the two meetings respectively following approval by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu shortly before departing to the People’s Republic of China on official visit.
Billed to take place last Wednesday and Thursday, it never eventually took place as the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Felix Morka, in a statement issued on Monday night in Abuja informed party members, most particularly the public, that the meeting had been put on hold indefinitely.
The terse statement from Morka however did not give reasons for the postponement, but many sources within the party however maintained that the meeting might have been cancelled owing to the tense atmosphere that had been generated in the build up to the meeting.
Morka in the statement wrote, “Members of the National Caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are hereby informed that the National Caucus and National Executive Committee meetings scheduled to be held on September 11 and 12, 2024, respectively, have been postponed.
“New dates for the meetings will be communicated in due course”, the party said in the statement.
The real reason for postponement
Our correspondent had gathered that the decision to cancel the meetings came when it was discovered that members of the party had hoped to vent their frustrations with how the party had been managed for sometime.
Those who spoke with Saturday Telegraph stated that the absence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu provided the right alibi for the postponement of the meetings which he (the president) as the Leader of the party had initially given his tacit approval to before departing to China on official tour where he also attended this year’s edition of the China-Africa Summit in Beijing, the country’s capital.
“I can categorically say that the meeting was put off due to the absence of President Bola Tinubu. This is just a smokescreen to douse tension in our party,” a chieftain in Ogun State, Alhaji Muftau Ajidagba, told our correspondent in an exclusive chat.
Ajidagba who is well embedded within the party added, “There are lots of issues within our party that are currently agitating members. There are many members who are complaining and the complaints are getting very loud to the top echelons of the party who are also very worried and were hoping to use the meeting to vent their frustrations.”
How pro-activeness caused postponement
Sources in the know maintained that the decision to put the meetings on hold was taken when the National Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was prevailed upon to halt further plans on the proposed meetings at the Presidential Villa on Monday.
The decision might not be unconnected with the need to have the president present with a view to have his moderating presence at the meeting which many said would be stormy.
The tension within
According to sources many issues had been slated for discussion at the meetings and some of them being the vexed issue of the status of Ganduje as the national chairman.
The status of the former Kano State governor as the chairman of the APC is currently being questioned by stakeholders from the North Central who are saying he should stand down and allow someone else from their zone to step in.
Stakeholders in the North Central part of the country are said to be so united on this score and they have been doing all within reach to ensure that one of their own steps in.
Their claim to the chairmanship of the party is premised on their belief that since the exit of former Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who left office under controversial circumstances on 17, 2023, the office ought to have reverted to the zone, instead of the North West where Ganduje hails from.
Ganduje assumed office on August 3 last year and his emergence has continued to be dogged by protests since then. A member of the party, Saleh Zazzaga raised the ante when he filed the suit to query the propriety of Ganduje’s appointment as the chairman.
Zazzaga had in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/ CS/599/2024, as the plaintiff sued Ganduje, with the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the defendants. Currently pending at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fixed next week, 18 September for judgment in a suit seeking the removal of Ganduje.
Presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, had on July 5 this year fixed the date for judgment after counsel for the plaintiff, Benjamin Davou, and lawyers to the defence adopted their processes and made their submissions for and against the case.
Zazzaga has enjoyed some form of visibility in the media and in one of such engagements he maintained that his advocacy is based on the need to ensure justice and equity in the party. “What we are advocating for is our due right and privilege.
Everyone knows that Senator Abdullahi Adamu of the North Central zone was occupying that position until he resigned. “Going by the zoning arrangement within the party, the position ought to have remained in the North Central, but to our surprise, Senator Abdullahi Ganduje from the North West was brought in to occupy that position,” Zazzaga said.
Apart from the suit, major leaders have been making efforts to unite stakeholders in the region. Two prominent members such as Governor Abdullahi Sule have been mobilising support members around the zone.
Another prominent member and former Senate President, Senator Ameh Ebute who has continued to use the platform provided for him as the chairman of the North Central APC Elders Forum has been relentless in his demand for the rezoning of the office.
Another category of members who are aggrieved with the turn of events within the APC are members who feel they have been left out in the distribution of benefits that ought to accrue to them from the victory of last year’s general election that produced the current government.
“As I speak to you today, many of us who were part of the process that brought this government to power, some of us who were part of the presidential campaign council are currently unhappy that many who were not part of the process are the ones benefitting.
“Many of us who are members of the national caucus were actually waiting for the opportunity provided by the meeting to vent our anger on the leadership of the party but, we are still waiting for the scheduled meeting to do so,” said another chieftain, Mr. Bola Bakare.
Findings within the APC also indicate that some prominent members of the party in the Northern part of the country are not really happy with appointments in government which many in the region believed had been skewed in favour of the South West where the president comes from.
A party member from Kano who pleaded not to be named in a telephone chat with our correspondent stated that “We had planned to table our growing frustrations with the series of appointments in government which had been carried out to favour the South West before the meeting.
“APC members in the North West are not in any way happy with the predisposition of the president to favour his people in the South West with juicy appointments. The situation now is such that let’s say the president appoints 10 persons into government, it is given that about seven of them will be his people.”
The source also stated that the Northern caucus had also hoped to warn the President of growing frustrations of their people over the state of things in the country with regards to the economy.
“Our people are really complaining to us about the state of the economy which has further pauperised our people in a way that they have never seen before. You can see the way we protested the last time,” the source said.
He added that the APC might lose the region in the next general election if the situation is not rectified on time, saying, “Many of our members are daily finding it difficult sustaining the large membership that the party has been enjoying not to talk about mobilizing new members into the party considering the situation of things in the country.”
Though the date for the meeting has not been determined by the top echelon of the party, what is very certain is that all is not well within the ruling party which many in the leadership must manage effectively.
