Tears, withdrawal, ‘aluta’… how APC’s 24-hour convention panned out

After months of controversy, accusations, counter-accusations, vanishing memos, uncertainty leading to postponement and President Muhammadu Buhari finally stepping in to take charge, the curtains have finally been drawn on the national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

But the exercise was not without a mix of the interesting, dramatic, confusing and the unexpected.

Although preparations for the event days before made it seem like it would be a smooth, uneventful exercise, the arrival of “7,584 delegates” on Saturday morning almost led to chaos with poor crowd control, causing security operatives to use teargas and tasers.

After the situation was eventually brought under control, governors, national assembly members, and party chieftains began to arrive. According to the schedule released by the planning committee, Buhari was expected to arrive at 3:15pm, while the election proper would be for 6:20pm — or so the person who prepared the schedule assumed.

It wasn’t until at a few minutes before 8:30pm that the president arrived the venue and the event was in full swing, but not without some entertainment from Shina Peters, renowned juju musician. This was followed by goodwill messages from various stakeholders including Buhari, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Mai Mala Buni, chairman of the caretaker committee; Senate President Ahmad Lawan; and Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives.

Voting didn’t start till past 11pm.

HARVEST OF WITHDRAWALS

After Buhari read his speech, Muhammad Badaru, governor of Jigawa, came on stage to moderate the voting exercise. Adopting the voice vote method, Badaru announced the names of some consensus candidates, beginning with Abdullahi Adamu, senator representing Nasarawa west and Buhari’s preferred candidate, who was elected as national chairman of the party.

Also elected in the first round of votes for consensus candidates were Emmanuel Eneukwu as deputy national chairman (south), Bashir Gumel as national financial secretary, Jamaluddeen Kabir as deputy national youth leader, Ahmed Yako as national ex-offico (north-west), Mayor Ogbona Earnest as zonal legal adviser (south-east), Blessing Agbome as zonal organising secretary (south-south), and Abubakar Kyari as deputy national chairman (north).

Then came the withdrawal session. Buhari had had earlier directed that aspirants interested in withdrawing should get a refund of their form fee. At the convention, several aspirants took to the stage to announce their decision to withdraw. It was quite dramatic when Segun Osoba, former governor of Ogun, “apologised on behalf of the Yoruba nation” as part of efforts to encourage aspirants for the position of national secretary — which was zoned to the south-west — to withdraw. Osoba’s sermon eventually paid off as Iyiola Omisore, former deputy governor of Osun, eventually emerged unopposed and was elected.

‘I CAN NEVER WITHDRAW’

There were a couple of ‘aluta moments’, represented significantly through Mary Ekpere-Eta, an aspirant for the position of national woman leader, and Dada Olusegun who held on tight to his ambition to become national youth leader.

For Ekpere-Eta, just after Alphonsus Eba, the Cross River APC chairman, announced on her behalf that she had withdrawn, she was on stage to counter that position. When the microphone was in her hands, she didn’t appear to be in the mood for anything but serious business when she said: “I have not and will not withdraw my aspiration.”

After what appeared to be a sobering two hours later, she was back on stage, this time, with some female APC members including Betta Edu, another contender for the woman leader position. For the second time, Ekpere-Eta had the microphone, and after taking a breath, she announced her intention to withdraw. Her decision was followed by applause and hugs from the women, with Edu hugging her for more seconds than the other women.

TEARS FLOWED

Perhaps, one of the unexpected highlights of the exercise was Dada Olusegun’s 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, despite the fact that the latter had been endorsed as the consensus candidate by the Lagos APC chapter.

However, for some reason, Olusegun appeared on stage and as he started to announce his withdrawal, his supporters could be heard asking him not to. But Dada appeared to have made his decision, albeit unwillingly from the way he announced it. He broke down in tears and was followed off the stage by his committee of “consolers”. He was also spotted in what seemed like a kneeling position before Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos.

DELEGATES AND THE TRIP TO DREAMLAND

Some delegates probably didn’t think the convention would roll far into the midnight and in no time, as the event continued past 1am, people took different positions, some with legs balanced on chairs, and slept through part of the voting process.

RESOLUTION VIA ‘DEMOCRATIC CONSENSUS’

Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation and a chieftain of the APC who also moderated the exercise, was a champion of “APC is for peace”, as he kept talking about consensus and democracy, even when it appeared that some aspirants withdrew unwillingly. However, as noted by some APC members, the convention is a party affair and whatever the issues, they would be dealt with in-house.

Later on Sunday morning, positions voted for by delegates using the ballot method were announced, including that of Betta Edu, who was elected national woman leader after securing 2,063 votes to defeat Helen Effiom who polled 114 votes.

With the convention now behind the APC — if aspirants keep to their promise of supporting opponents who emerged as consensus candidates — it remains to be seen how the party will zone its presidential ticket, considering that members from the north and south have declared interest in contesting.

But the new national working committee (NWC) — which is interestingly inclusive of former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members such as Omisore and Adamu — has a relatively short time to prove it has what it takes to lead the party to victory in 2023 as the elections in Osun and Ekiti are only weeks away.

You can find a full list of the new APC NWC here, while a breakdown of the activities at the convention can be found here.