APC: Always postponing convention

Let me declare upfront that I do not own the copyright to the title of this piece, but I found it interesting and I dare say it is a fitting and creative interpretation of the nonsense going on in the All Progressives Congress (APC). Whoever came up with sobriquet must be a genius and it is being widely circulated on social media after APC postponed its national convention for the umpteenth time.

How do you explain a situation whereby the ruling party with 22 governors and the deputy governor of Anambra state, and a majority in parliament cannot put their act together and hold their convention? Although Nasir el-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna state, tried to explain the circumstances of the serial postponement which has become a major embarrassment to APC and the federal government at a press briefing in Abuja recently, I don’t know how many people believed his story.

It is not true that the planned convention divided the governors as El-Rufai stated, citing the timing of the convention as the main issue. Why fix the convention dates in the first place if the party was not ready? The Kaduna state governor should admit what is obvious; a minority group has been promoting a selfish agenda aimed at hijacking the party but the scheme, according to insiders, backfired.

Is the APC about to implode? No one can say for sure but the intrigues and power play within the party amounts to playing poker with destiny. I made this point in a previous article and if APC refuses to change their tactics, the beneficiary would be the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the general elections next year. When the national convention was fixed for February 26 after three previous postponements, the media naturally feasted on the news. After their meeting in Abuja last Monday, the caretaker and extra-ordinary convention planning committee (CECPC) fixed March 26 as the new date of the national convention of APC. Hopefully, there would be no more postponements.

The CECPC chaired by Mai Mala Buni, the governor of Yobe state, was inaugurated to plan the party’s convention with a mandate of only six months. But what has happened is that the committee, having “tasted” power, surreptitiously extended its tenure – to almost two years – in order to take control of the party and push their minority agenda through.

Two years is a long time to be away from Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state in northeastern Nigeria. The state was created in 1991 from the western half of Borno state. Ask Buni how he has been running the affairs of the state because he is practically holed up in Abuja. Insider accounts further revealed that Buni is not working alone. He has support from the governor of Jigawa state, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, and the governor of Kebbi state, Atiku Bagudu. The trio has the full backing of Abubakar Malami, the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, insists the insider.

The quartet formed the later-day cabal, although they have their collaborators: governor of Imo state, Hope Uzodinma; governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello; governor of Ogun state, Dapo Abiodun and secretary of CECPC, John Akpankudohede, who wants to be the governor of Akwa Ibom state. The convention has not held mainly because of the permutations around the politics of 2023. Initially, there was no clarity on whether the presidency would be zoned to the south but now that the party has affirmed the position, it means the chairman will come from the north.

By the way, the southern governors’ forum has something to celebrate; APC has zoned the presidency to the southern region which was their wish. Will PDP tow the same path? It does not appear to be so due to discordant tunes emerging from the party but if the APC presidential candidate is from the south, PDP needs to think outside the box and respond appropriately.

Buni, according to a dependable source, is eyeing a plum position within the party because his time in Abuja opened up a range of possibilities to the extent that he is ready to damn his current role as governor. He may choose to vie for the chairmanship position or become a vice presidential candidate to a southern flag bearer. This was part of the original scheme that backfired because Kayode Fayemi, the governor of Ekiti state, was a favourite of the cabal as a presidential candidate; he was actually high on their priority list.

In fact, Buni and company toyed with the idea of a staging “consensus candidate” scenario in order to push the Fayemi case but support from APC governors was not forthcoming; they hated the idea. At one point, it was suspected that the serial postponement of the national convention was deliberate and aimed at frustrating the presidential ambition of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a stalwart of APC.

Buni’s ill-advised plan to take control of the party is purportedly hinged on the primaries expected to hold later in the year – any time between June and September. It is evident his group can delay the process but they do not have the political gravitas (muscle and clout) to stage any hanky panky that would derail the convention and the primaries that would follow.

When the schemes failed, the cabal decided to change its strategy. They subsequently pitched their tent, silently it must be noted, with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (PYO) who is yet to declare his presidential ambition in spite of his positive body language which suggests that he might be a contender, too. Body language or no body language, PYO has not made any announcement yet but expectedly, he would have hinted President Buhari by now on his options: to contest or not. Maybe he is still weighing them but it is well within his right to contest if he wants to.

In almost two years, President Muhammadu Buhari has played along with Buni and members of his committee who have used delay tactics and other dubious mechanisms to hold on to their positions for an interim job which has become a permanent job. Typical of Buhari, he does not like interfering once he gives you an assignment. But in this instance, the president ought to have set aside his traditional taciturnity and told Buni and company in no unmistakable terms to stay on the straight and narrow path. Why do they need two years to discharge their mandate which should have expired a long time ago?

If you listen to Muiz Banire, a former national legal adviser of APC, he is very uncomfortable with the state of affairs in APC. Speaking with Lagos-based Radio Now, he believes that APC is only made up of “people who are only after power”. Banire does not like the idea that governors are holding the party to ransom, adding that the ruling party is known for the violation of the rule of law.

When bloggers decided to poke fun by mocking the president’s party as “Always Postponing Convention”, it means something is not right. The sobriquet damages the image and essence of APC – the ruling party for two terms — and I’m almost certain Buni and CECPC members do not even understand the wider implication of their many forced errors.

Should APC continue on its current dishonest and treacherous path, it would become a shadow of itself leading to party members switching their loyalty.

Braimah is the publisher/editor-in-chief of Naija Times (https://naijatimes.ng)