Is Oyegun writing APC’s obituary?

BY SANI MUHAMMAD UZAIRU

The All Progressives Congress (APC), an amalgamation of strange bedfellows which became a mighty force no thanks to Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) poor internal democracy, ultimately won power against the run of play in 2015. And even though it has since dominated the political landscape of Nigeria, the party doesn’t seem to have managed its successes very well. And the ramifications of which is the apparent fight for its very survival as a political institution by interest groups within the party.

Though not too many are gobsmacked with the current turn of events, the question in the minds of both its staunch members and swing voters is why the party expected to serve as the opium of the masses has deviated from the vision of its founding leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

And intriguingly, one person in the thick of all these happenings is Odigie Oyegun, the party’s national chairman and beneficiary of Tinubu’s political prowess. Even within the National Working Committee (NWC) and the party in general, Odigie Oyegun’s tenure has not led to the perfection of the union among the party’s different power blocs. More than three years after the party’s election victory, the party still looks more like a congregation of strange bedfellows than an umbrella of like-minds.

These days, it appears, nothing seems to be working for the party. At least in the short term, the party’s leadership is in disarray as they fail to agree on any particular course of action. The party’s indiscretion in the Ondo State primary election that produced Rotimi Akeredulo, the Kogi State debacle, inability to instill party discipline on errant members etc. might be taking a toll on them but nobody is prepared to admit it.

They have a problem on whether to hold the party convention, which is long overdue, even with the intervention of Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Republic.

Arguably, it is a very productive thing for the President on occasions to confer with the caucus of the party. But definitely, the last meeting at the presidential villa was more like a luncheon than any serious political meeting. It only showed how far the party’s leadership has lost touch with the needs of its members for a strong and responsive political organization, ready to govern the country at the first opportunity.

On these and other counts, the once mighty party is definitely struggling to do things right these days. Their acclaimed lawyers, with nationwide recognition have failed many times to help the Party. They are to say the least, a bunch of incompetent members of the bar. Many of them may not have bothered to read the party’s constitution. Otherwise what explanation do these learned scholars have for advising that the tenure of the National Working Committee be extended even when it’s against the party’s and country’s constitution?

I am befuddled how the APC continues to blame the PDP as though it had placed road blocks to make it difficult for the APC to carry out and to implement its programs, if any. Why should the opposition be blamed for the current manufactured problems of the APC. The party’s myriad problems, arguably are self-inflicted if they care to admit. Some of the NWC members, parliamentarians and governors are also part of the problem.

As things stand, only the APC can save itself from the implosion it has unwittingly set up itself for. The time for soul searching is now. The party has to create a new forwarding strategy or a workable roadmap. In other words the party has to recreate itself and to work hard to convince the country why they should trust them with the reins of government the next time around. That argument has not been made yet; simply because many of the leaders, as I see it, are opportunists who would want to use the party affiliation for their parochial goals and dubious ambitions.

The infighting evident in the party is not motivated by serious debates about the future of the party. It is not a fight for the soul of the party either. It is a fight by a group of yesterday men who know very little about the challenges of organizing, managing and leading a political machine in a very complex world. If they knew these challenges in a complex political world, they would have spared their embarrassment by taking the advice of the president pronto to avoid continues petty squabbles and court cases.

As I see it, it is time for the party chieftains to bury their hatchet, follow their constitution and, start to engage its members as well as Nigerians in a very meaningful way; else, they will be headed for oblivion.

Uzairu is a political commentator and can be reached via [email protected] and on twitter : @enigmatic_sani