Rumbles in APC

•Opposition, aggrieved ruling party chieftains unite for 2027

•No comment, says APC scribe

From Ismail Omipidan, Abuja

The American College football player and coach, Paul Bryant, said “when you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: admit it, learn from it, and don’t repeat it.”

While many Nigerians believe that the All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government has committed some blunders in its handling of the affairs of the country since it took over from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015, the party thinks otherwise.

But the recent outburst by some of the founding members of the party, including immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and a former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, appears to leave no one in doubt that indeed, APC is in crisis despite its repeated denial that “all is well.”

El-Rufai, at a recent event, took a swipe at APC, accusing it of abandoning its founding principles and nurturing poor leadership.

Speaking at a national conference in Abuja on strengthening democracy in Nigeria, El-Rufai bemoaned the lack of internal democracy and active party structures within the APC.

Said he: “I no longer recognise the APC. No party organ has met in two years – no caucus, no NEC, nothing. You don’t even know if it is a one-man show; it’s a zero-man show.

“You cannot afford to have illiterates, semi-illiterates, and cunning people as your leaders. This is why we end up with the poor leadership we have today,” he added. This is even as he said that “the problems that led to the creation of the APC remain unresolved, but I no longer believe the APC is interested in addressing them. The distance between me and the party is widening.

“There are internal mercenaries in the PDP, hired and motivated to destroy the party. The Labour Party is also facing similar issues. Peter Obi himself told me, ‘I don’t know what’s happening in the party I contested with.’ There seems to be a deliberate project to destroy opposition parties,” he claims.

While citing a poll that revealed that 75 per cent of registered voters might abstain from the 2027 elections, the former Kaduna State governor said, “this is dangerous. For those of us who lived half our lives under military rule, we know what it is. We don’t want a military rule, but we also don’t want civilians behaving like the military in their ‘babbar riga’ and suits. This is a national emergency, and we must act before history repeats itself,” El-Rufai declared.

Saturday Sun gathered that apart from Mallam El-Rufai and Amaechi, there are hundreds of other chieftains of the party who share similar sentiments and thoughts, as several of them who served in the immediate past administration have resolved to wage a “political war” with the APC by teaming up with other aggrieved members of the PDP, including other opposition parties, to repeat the 2015 feat where an incumbent, former President Goodluck Jonathan, was defeated after 16 years of the PDP’s reign.

Many have noted that how the APC-led Federal Government manages the affairs of the country and the internal crisis within its fold between now and next year will go a long way to determine the party’s fortune in the 2027 presidential contest. And unless the party put its house in order, they warn, the fate that will befall it would certainly be worse than what the PDP suffered in 2015.

Speaking on the possibility of dislodging the APC, a former PDP chieftain and 2019 presidential candidate on the platform of Rebuild Nigeria Party, Dr John Kennedy Osuala, said that the real factor in what he described as the impending “massive defeat” of the Tinubu-led administration in 2027 is the party itself.

He said that “the APC actions, and inactions, such as the pervasive poverty in the land, the aggressive adversity in the land, and the massive mortality, and insecurity in the land, will surely defeat the APC.”

According to him, “if the PDP under Jonathan could be dislodged from office, what stops the APC under Tinubu from suffering the same fate? Nothing! After all, no matter what you may think or say, Nigeria was better under Jonathan than under Tinubu. Do not mind the pure theatrics of the so-called droves of defectors. These defectors have no electoral value. Immediately they don’t get what they want, they will defect again. They think APC is like the former PDP where you can come immediately and they’d give you one thing or the other. The APC political machine is currently and deliberately cabalistic. If you are not an original apostle, evangelist or deacon, you will get the Ogbonnaya Onu treatment, QED,” he declared.

He further argued that there was nothing that was happening within the opposition today that had never happened in the past, adding that “people like us are not bothered about the so-called opposition parties being in disarray. They will come together at the right time to give President Bola Tinubu a political battle no one has ever seen in the annals of Nigerian politics. Those who will dislodge the APC and send them packing will arise from the ashes of the present opposition parties that are apparently in pseudo disarray.”

Lending his voice to the move by the opposition to dislodge the APC-led government is the immediate past Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) in Kaduna State and a critical stakeholder in the ‘Obidient Movement’, Elder Yusuf Solomon Danbaki.

He believes that the opposition would ride on the anti-Tinubu sentiment in the North to galvanise support against the APC.

“Now, we have a weak government that is bringing hardship to Nigerians as a result of bad economic and political policies. This hardship is increasing. And, with the kind of appointments Tinubu is making, I don’t see it reversing anytime soon. Imagine petrol from less than N200 to over N1,000.  Labour party is going to bounce back. Obidient Movement is going to bounce back and we are going to take over power, come 2027 whether they like it or not.”

Reminded that it might be difficult dislodging an incumbent President, the LP chieftain said “that was what we thought during Jonathan. It is just a matter of coming together. It may not be the Labour Party alone. It is going to be a strong merger with other political parties. It is not going to be easy with the incumbent, but the house of the incumbent is already divided because many of them have realised Tinubu was not what they thought he was, especially here in the North.

“The North has seen that Tinubu is a political scam. He did whatever he could. He used the Muslim-Muslim ticket, he shared money and now he’s not the president they expect him to be. So, the APC members in this category are looking for alternatives. I can tell you that half of those in APC in 2023 are no longer with him. Negotiations are on-going. All the leaders of other parties and their candidates are talking. I don’t want to mention names now but five top political parties have given their consent to this move,” he declared.

Although, President Tinubu is yet to say whether or not he would seek a second term, his teeming supporters across Nigeria would no doubt want him to run. He too, would certainly be interested in consolidating his hold on power at the centre.

Their only dilemma, Saturday Sun gathered, is how to galvanise support to push through the second term ambition, especially in the North. For instance, the President’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Mallam Yau Darazu, is seen as someone with no political base. Similarly, Alhaji Ibrahim Kabir Masari, the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Political and other matters too is believed to command no convening political authority to dictate the direction of things politically in the North.

But a chieftain of the party who does not want the name in print, dismissed the fact that the opposition was capable of dislodging the APC in 2027.

“I agree with you; we have issues in the North. But with the Vice President, I think we can surmount whatever challenges we may be having in the North. I pray Baba (Tinubu) is able to discard the gossips from those trying to create a wedge between him and the Vice President. If Baba can allow the Vice President take full control of the North, most of the issues will be resolved.

“Recall that the Vice President played a major role in bringing El-Rufai on board the Tinubu train before the 2023 election. I believe he can still do the same today. However, the Vice President is being careful because of the latter-day Tinubu converts who were nowhere when the Vice President singlehandedly took on the Northern establishment at a time no one was willing to identify with the Tinubu for President Project. Today, they are the ones feeding the president with all sorts. These are people without political base who cannot even win an election within their families. Yet, they run down people anyhow. For me, I believe Baba needs to reach out to El-Rufai either personally or through proxies. El-Rufai did a yeoman’s job for Baba in that 2023 election. I believe we still need El-Rufai.

“With Wike on our side, we don’t really need an Amaechi. We are good in the South-East, especially if Peter Obi is not running. And even if he decides to run, we can still match him in that region. But we need El-Rufai, we need the North and the time to act is now,” the APC party chief added.

On the government’s economic policies, the APC chief further said: “I think you guys are underrating Baba. In his first term in Lagos, this was how things were, but by the time things began to take shape, we can all see the benefits today. I believe things will get better. Don’t let us go into statistics or specifics, Baba has the capacity to fire and hire. You saw what just happened with the universities. Who will ever think Baba will fire the University of Abuja’s VC? I believe that before May this year or by May when we would have reached our mid-term, some changes will happen. I am confident that APC’s reign will not end after just 12 years,” he added.

Asked to share more insights into how the ruling party intends to fight the planned onslaught by the opposition parties towards the 2027 election, he noted: “You are pushing me to say things I would have loved to withhold so it is not misunderstood.

Yes, it is true that some persons are positioning themselves to replace the Vice President. Thankfully, we have a Vice President that is not desperate for power. In fact, I gathered that he once told those planning to bring Kwankwaso on board then that if they thought the former Kano State Governor would add value to the ticket, he, Shettima was ready to give way.

“But as a student of Nigeria political history, it would be suicidal for Baba to contemplate that. Rather than contemplate that, we are contracting energies on how to reconcile all the major stakeholders. I say so because, unless we achieve that, we may have a challenging outing.”    Contacted on the issue, APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru simply said: “No comment please.”