MATTERS ARISING: Anger, defection threats — is APC’s ‘history-making’ convention beginning of the end?

Tears. Disagreement. Indignation. These words succinctly summarise the 2022 national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

After almost 21 months of Mai Mala Buni, Yobe governor-led caretaker committee in charge, the ruling party finally held its national convention on March 26 and all winners were declared and inaugurated on March 27.

While the winners are basking in euphoria, the losers most of whom were persuaded to withdraw from the race, are gnashing their teeth and evaluating their future in the ruling party.

CHAIRMANSHIP ASPIRANTS WITHDRAW

About 7,584 delegates from across the country arrived at Eagle Square in Abuja to cast their votes for their preferred candidates in the convention.

Unfortunately, the delegates’ expectations, including those of most of the aspirants, were dashed by the dramatic, perplexing, and unexpected turn of events.

Before the exercise began, six aspirants for the office of the national chairman announced their decision to step down for Abdullahi Adamu, President Muhammadu Buhari’s preferred candidate.

Tanko Al-Makura, former governor of Nasarawa state; George Akume, ex-governor of Benue; Abdulaziz Yari, former governor of Zamfara; Saliu Mustapha, Muhammed Etsu, and Sani Musa are among the chairmanship hopefuls who reluctantly withdrew from the contest.

“HISTORY-MAKING CONVENTION”

Addressing delegates at the convention, Buhari had described the event as “history-making” for the APC which had been without a national working committee (NWC) for several months.

“I want to congratulate us all for being part of this history-making event and to especially appreciate the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) which has been on a rescue mission under the leadership of His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni, the Yobe state governor, for successfully piloting the affairs of the Party in the last 18 months and organizing this Convention to elect a new National Working Committee that will take over from the Caretaker Committee,” Buhari had said.

MORE ASPIRANTS SURRENDERED THEIR AMBITION

After the event started around 8:45 pm with goodwill messages delivered by various stakeholders including Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives; Ahmad Lawan, senate president; Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, and lastly by Buhari, a wave of withdrawals was subsequently announced by Muhammad Badaru, governor of Jigawa, the returning officer for the election.

At the session moderated by Badaru, several aspirants for various positions took to the stage to publicly announce their decision to withdraw the race — only so that they will get a refund for the cash paid for the nomination and expression of interest forms.

ASPIRANTS FOR WOMEN LEADER ROLE PROTEST WITHDRAWAL

The exercise soon witnessed chaotic moments as a couple of aspirants refused to withdraw from the race.

Betta Edu, former Cross River commissioner for health; Mary Ekpere-Eta, former director-general of the National Women Development Centre (NWDC), and Helen Effiom were all vying for the position of the national women leader. Edu was the consensus candidate for the position.

Ekpere-Eta vowed not to step down after Alphonsus Eba, the Cross River APC chairman, announced on her behalf that she had withdrawn.

Ekpere-Eta took to the podium to counter Eba’s announcement. She said: “I will never and cannot withdraw from the race.”

Hours later, after reportedly being persuaded by Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, Ekpere-Eta bowed out of the race.

However, Helen Effiom another aspirant for the office refused to throw in the towel despite several appeals by party chieftains.

The party opted to let the two candidates slug it out at the poll after hours of futile attempts to reach an agreement.

After five hours of voting, Edu was declared the winner with 2,063 votes, defeating Effiom who had 114 votes.

NATIONAL YOUTH LEADER ASPIRANT WITHDRAWS — BUT IN TEARS

Dada Olusegun, a frontline aspirant for the office of the national youth leader, withdrew from the race in a tearful “turnaround”.

Earlier, he had been seen in what appeared to be an argument and reports had it that he had insisted on not stepping down for Dayo Israel who was endorsed as the consensus candidate for the position.

As persuasion and consultation were on to set the coast free for Israel to be declared the winner for the position unchallenged, Olusegun was seen kneeling before Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, with a group of supporters.

After a while, Olusegun appeared on stage and announced his withdrawal from the race sobbing intermittently as his committee of “consolers” took him off the podium.

BEHIND-THE-SCENE RANCOUR

It is interesting to know that while the aspirants were taking to the podium to announce their withdrawal from the race  — albeit apparently reluctantly — most of their supporters behind the stage kicked against the murky horse-trading their aspirants were forced into.

In a conversation with TheCable, some of the supporters of the aspirants who stood down for the party’s consensus nominees expressed disappointment with the way their candidates were treated.

“Allow the aspirants to test their popularity. How can someone join a party a year ago and is adopted as a consensus candidate but another person who has been there for years is not considered. It’s undemocratic, where is the justice? a supporter of Ekpere-Eta said.

Another supporter of Ekpere-Eta said the former director-general of NWDC is a founding member of the APC in Cross River state and that it is unjustified for Edu who defected to the APC in 2021 to be adopted as a consensus candidate.

TheCable learnt that some of the national working committee (NWC) hopefuls laughed off the ”consensus arrangement” while some only knew the party had settled on consensus candidates a few minutes before the convention began.

Also, when Olusegun mounted the podium to announce his withdrawal from the race, his livid supporters could be heard asking him not to.

Adebayo Shittu, former minister of communications, who later stood down for Iyiola Omisore, the consensus aspirant for the position of national secretary, had said at the convention that he was not part of the truce that led to the adoption of the singular candidate for the position.

“My grievance was the fact that under the used term consensus — the position I wanted, which I aspired to was given to some other person on a platter of gold,” he had said.

“And I said as a lawyer of 42 years, I’m intelligent enough to know that consensus means conceding to somebody. But you cannot concede on behalf of somebody, particularly when you don’t have my instruction. So I was not part of the consensus.”

While many of the aspirants who stepped down from the race said they will continue to support the party, the issue of how the party treats loyal members lurks and may be a crisis in the offing.

TheCable had reported that politicians who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling party are now holding crucial positions in the new NWC, leaving foundation members out in the cold.

WHAT IS THE WAY FORWAY?

Speaking to TheCable Sylvanus Okpe, an APC chieftain from Benue, said disagreement is unavoidable in politics.

He added that the first duty of the newly-inaugurated NWC members should be to “quickly” reconcile the aggrieved members.