FELIX NWANERI reports that a year after President Bola Tinubu assumed office, some of his party men and women, who worked for his victory at the polls are still hoping to be drafted into his government
For some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), especially those who didn’t vie for elective positions or failed to win the respective offices they contested for in the 2023 elections, the dream that they will be compensated with appointments by President Bola Tinubu is fast becoming a mirage.
The contributions of this men and women cannot be quantified as Tinubu emerged tops in what many describe as the most keenly contested presidential election in Nigeria’s history.
He defeated 17 others, who took part in the election by polling 8.7 million votes to beat his closest rivals – Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP), who had 6.9 million and 6.1 million votes, respectively to place second and third respectively.
But, more than a year after Tinubu took charge, most of these party chieftains, who worked for his victory are yet to be accommodated in the scheme of things as expected. They include those who served in the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) and the Transition Committee that worked with the then Muhammadu Buhari administration to ensure a smooth transfer of power.
Waiting for the spoils
While a handful of members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, transition committee as well as supporters and campaigners of President Tinubu have been adequately compensated with appointments as senior aides, ministers and heads of agencies and parastatals or had their wards and loyalists appointed into positions considered to be lucrative, many others are yet to be considered by the President and his body language has left some analysts to wonder if he will ever compensate these party chieftains, who were his foot soldiers during the electioneering period.
Top on this list is Femi Fani-Kayode, a former presidential aide and ex-Minister of Aviation, who as Director of Special Media Projects,/Operations and New Media of the PCC, relentlessly attacked the candidates of the PDP and LP, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, respectively, during the campaigns.
Interestingly, Fani-Kayode, a known critic of President Tinubu, dumped the PDP for the APC ahead of the 2023 elections, a move, many likened to a dog going back to its vomit given the way and manner the former minister attacked the APC and its chieftains, Tinubu inclusive, before then.
It is against the backdrop of Fani Kayode constant attacks and jibes at Atiku and Obi during the campaigns that informed the belief that he would make the first batch of President Tinubu’s appointees, but till date, he has not been considered, leaving some analysts to wonder if his time will ever come as the President will soon mark one year in office.
For ex-Governor Ben Ayade of Cross Rivers State, who dumped the PDP through which he was elected governor of the South-South state for the ruling APC in May 2021, his bid to fly the flag of the ruling party in the 2023 presidential election not only failed, his senatorial ambition also hit the rocks. Ayade served as Zonal Coordinator, South-South, of the APC PCC although he was one of the aspirants, who vied for the APC presidential ticket.
He was only able to garner 37 votes out of the 2,203 votes cast at the party’s special national convention to elect its standard bearer. With his presidential ambition hitting the rocks, Ayade settled for the Cross River North Senatorial District ticket of his party in a bid to return to the Red Chamber, where he was between 2011 and 2015, when he was elected as governor for the first term.
The APC primary election for the Cross River North Senatorial District ticket was won by Ayade’s former Chief of Staff, Hon. Martin Orim, but a political arrangement has seen Orim handing the ticket to Ayade. However, the political arrangement that saw him through at the primary election could not take him back to the Senate.
He was defeated by Senator Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe of the PDP. The belief that Ayade would be considered for ministerial appointment having lost the senatorial seat did not also materialize as the President opted for his ex-commissioner for Health, Betta Edu, who later became APC National Women Leader.
Also on the waiting list are ex Governors, Kayode Fayemi (Ekit), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos) and Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), who were prominent during the campaigns given the respective positions they occupied in the PCC. The trio of Fayemi, Amosun and Fashola, not only hail from the SouthWest as President Tinubu, but it would be recalled the former governors of Ekiti and Ogun, withdrew from the APC presidential primary at the convention venue and declared support for Tinubu.
Fashola, on his part, succeeded Tinubu as governor of Lagos State in 2007. This, perhaps, informed the conviction that they will be in the front seat in the Tinubu administration. But politics being a game of the possible in which nothing is foreclosed, the trio seemed to be have been shut out by the new power bloc that has emerged in the South-West with Tinubu’s emergence as president.
It was believed that Fayemi in particular would be appointed as minister given his experience as a two term governor and former minister, but some analysts opined then that it would be difficult for Tinubu to drop Dele Alake, who hails from the same state with Fayemi given their relationship since his days as governor of Lagos State and it played out as speculated. For Dayo Adeyeye, a former Minister of State, who also hails from Ekiti State, his case is another pathetic one.
He was the brain behind the South West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA), which was in the forefront of Tinubu’s presidential project. That the group mobilised support for Tinubu right from the onset cannot be overemphasized. Besides SWAGA, Adeyeye also served in the campaign council as Support Group Coordinator, South-West.
So, it is surprising to many that the President is yet to consider him for an appointment almost a year in office. As National Youth Leader of the APC and member, Local Government Directorate of the PCC, Dayo Israel helped in mobilizing young Nigerians across board for the party during the elections.
He even launched what he termed “Jagaban Army” to further drum support for the President during the polls. No doubt, some of his actions during the elections pitted him against some youths, but most members of his party, who believed that he did a good job, lobbied for him to be appointed as Minister Youth Development.
But that did not materialize as the President opted for Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim. Other known ardent supporters of President Tinubu, who many believed, would hold key positions in his administration given their roles during the campaigns, but are yet to be considered include the immediate past Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare, Suleiman Argungu, who served as Deputy Director General, Organisation of the PCC and a former speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, who also stepped down for the President during the primary election and served as Adviser, Human Capital Development of the PCC.
The endless list of known supporters and campaigners yet to be considered by President Tinubu also has some APC governorship candidates, who were defeated at the polls.
They are the immediate past Senate Deputy President, Ovie Omo-Agege (Delta), Senator Aishat Binani (Adamawa), Senator Teslim Folarin (Oyo), Air Marshal
Sadique Abubakar (rtd), a former Chief of Air Staff (Bauchi) and Tonye Cole (Rivers). The belief in this regard, is against the backdrop of appointment of Nnaji, the party’s governorship candidate in Enugu State, who lost to his PDP counterpart as Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology.
This particular step earned him the wrath of many Nigerians, who described the “Jagaban Army” as a militia group, following the militialike uniform adorned by members of the council, including the APC Youth Leader himself at the group’s inauguration. Israel, however, clarified issues, when he said the “Jagaban Army” is a peaceful and democratic organization of young canvassers, whose task was to facilitate support and ensure the success of the APC in the general election.
Party members kick against reward system
There is no doubt that political appointments serve two distinct functions. One is to reward supporters, and the other, to control the state. Such is the character of politics as the spoils belong to the victor.
The reward function is a feature of many traditional patronage systems, where the political party that wins an election rewards its campaign workers and other active supporters with appointments into government positions.
The term was in use in the early days of American democracy, but it was made famous in a speech made in 1832 by Senator William Marcy of New York.
In defending one of President Andrew Jackson’s appointments, Marcy said: “To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.” At that time, the term “spoils” referred to political appointments such as cabinet offices or ambassadorial positions controlled by an elected official.
Advocates of the spoils system are of the view that it guarantees party loyalty, which results in more effective government as appointed office holders have a stake in helping elected officials to carry out their policies and fulfill their campaign promises.
Some members of another political school are however of the opinion that the spoils system often result in appointments that are based strictly on the needs of a party, without regard for the appointee’s qualifications or ability to do the job.
The arguments by both sides, notwithstanding, party men always smell lucrative appointments, contracts and consultancy jobs after victory at the polls.
This, perhaps, explained why some members of the APC under the aegis of the Progressives Young Leaders Assembly, in August last year, warned that the reward system will affect the fortunes of the ruling party in future elections if President Tinubu fails to correct it.
Members of the group alleged that the President awarded the wrong people with ministerial positions, while ignoring many who were responsible for his victory at the poll.
Chairman of the group, Abubakar Kurawa, expressed concern that the ruling party seems to have derailed in the choice of appointment of prominent Nigerian politicians, particularly those who gave their time, physical energy and hard earned resources to support the victory of the APC in the 2023 elections.
His words: “We are disturbed that a considerable number of the people that the APC rewarded with ministerial slots are those who could not match the resilience, sacrifice of energy and resources of other members that are yet to get even a simple letter of commendation for their effort.”
The group regretted that prominent APC politicians including former Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi; former Deputy Senate president, Ovie Omo-Agege; Kano State chieftain, Abdussalam Zaura, and the gubernatorial candidate of the party in Adamawa State, Aisha Binani, could not find place despite their important contributions to the party.
Also named by the group as important contributors overlooked by the President were former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; former Chief of Army Staff, General Abdulrahman Dambazau; former Governors Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Umaru Tanko Al-makura (Nasarawa) and Ahmad Sani Yerima (Zamfara); Senator Andy Uba and Dr. Nasir Yusuf Gawuna. The group further stated: “We can go on and on, giving a long list of stalwarts of the APC, who seem to be left out in the cold.
But the bottom line is that the party’s reward system needs serious overhaul. It would be suicidal for that party to keep moving without remembering and rewarding these people for their efforts. “Our group therefore, insists that
prominent Nigerians, especially members of the ruling party, who demonstrated their love and loyalty for the party by committing hundreds of millions if not billions, deserve priority attention.
“It would be quite threatening to future electoral fortunes if the APC fails to reward hard-work and unalloyed loyalty of party members, especially those who spent fortune running for political offices in 2023 general elections across Northern and Southern parts of the country.
“We have offered our voluntary advice, hoping the APC and President Bola Tinubu will avoid a mistake that would hunt the party down in 2027 and beyond.”
And just recently , the forum of 37 State Women Leaders of the APC and the Federal Capital Territory, decried their exclusion from the dividends of party politics, saying they only benefited one bag of rice and a paper wrapper each after the 2023 general election.
The aggrieved women leaders, who tabled their complaints before the National Chairman of the APC, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, during a solidarity visit to the party secretariat in Abuja, ,through their president, Mrs. Patricia Yakubu, bemoaned that despite working hard for the electoral victory of President Tinubu, they find it appalling that none of their people was found worthy to be compensated with appointment or post-election reward from the presidency.
Her words: “We, the forum of 36 states women leaders and the FCT have come to pay you a solidarity visit and unanimously say, we believe in you as the national chairman of our great party.
We unequivocally pass a vote of confidence on you and reiterate the fact that the 36 states women leaders are solidly behind you and the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party.
“But the state women leaders will want to advocate that we should be carried along in all the affairs about women in the states. We are closer to the party women at the grassroots, the largest voting bloc in the secular world. Our demography should not be neglected.
Since after the elections, Your Excellency may note that only one bag of rice and one paper wrapper was given to the state women leaders from the national secretariat of the party. “Nothing was given to us during Easter, the Ramadan fasting period, and Salah festivities. Even the palliatives distributed were not given to the women leaders for onward distribution to the grassroots.
We party women waited to no avail. Your Excellency respectfully, we wish to notify you that the women leaders sacrificed so much towards the victory of our great party during the 2023 elections.”
The forum appealed to the resident and the leadership to consider all they sacrificed to ensure the party’s victory, saying they deserve to partake in the federal appointments.
“Our women went through a lot at the last election. We took a great risk sleeping on the grass in open spaces at the Women Development Center in Abuja and almost every state during the electioneering period to ensure victory.
The house of one of us was demolished on election day by the opposition party in her state to distract her from canvassing votes for the party. “The son of a member was kidnapped a day before the presidential election.
Another woman was detained at the police station for three days from the election day. One of us was involved in a ghastly motor accident during the campaign in her community and she is still in and out of the hospital. Your Excellency, the women have not been compensated for all their pains and sacrifices, we are feeling neglected.
“We will also want to respectfully draw the attention of His Excellency, our Father, the advocate of women’s empowerment to the fact that most of the Federal Government programmes that have to do with women sound like news to us.
We want to plead with you to use your good office to discuss with the ministers and heads of agencies to involve our women in their programmes, especially in states where we don’t have APC governors,” Yakubu said.
Party leadership reassures members
Reacting to the issues raised by APC women leaders, Ganduje appealed for calm, saying the complaints of the women leaders had been noted and would be addressed promptly. He also assured the women that President Tinubu won’t shut the door of appointments against party faithful.
He said: “I want to acknowledge your contribution during the election period that culminated in the huge success of our great party. Of course, you are aware that President Tinubu is gender sensitive if you observe the political trends.
So, Mr. President is very aware of your participation. I can assure you that more appointments are still coming from the Federal Government. “We have been in talks with our state APC governors to ensure your full participation in governance is given priority.
Let me use this opportunity to congratulate the Gombe government. I am happy two women won the local government chairmanship election in that state.
“This administration is just one year old. We have to inform you that the APC is presently going through some reforms, especially in the area of membership registration where more women will be trained.
They are in the majority and have free access to go from home to home during the mobilisation campaign. We assure you that we have heard your complaints and they will be addressed soon.”
While President Tinubu marked one year in office on May 29 and has three more years to go, there is still hope for some of these campaigners and supporters as he is yet to appoint ambassadors after recalling all those representing the country around the world in September last year.
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