seeming prolonged process of resolving the crisis
in the All Progressives Congress, APC, may be
the slightly differing positions of President
Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed
Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State,
regarded as a leader and financier of the party.
Specifically, the sources disclosed that
the Friday NEC meeting of the party
“brought to the open the seeming
centrifugal positions of Mr. President
and Asiwaju.”
One of the sources added: “At the
meeting between the governors and the
warring parties that followed the APC
NEC parley, Sokoto State governor,
Aminu Tambuwal, was mandated to
chair a committee of three that would
come up with possible resolutions to the
crisis.
BUHARI’S POSITION
“It was an open discussion at the NEC
meeting that whereas Mr. President has
consistently expressed his
dissatisfaction at the truncation of the
party’s procedure for the emergence of
the leaders of the National Assembly,
the position he has since taken has been
one of reconciliation and not outright
antagonism to the leadership of the
National Assembly.”
Sunday Vanguard was told that Tinubu’s
position, which had been misconstrued
in many quarters as antagonistic, was
merely a reflection of the need to
enforce party supremacy at all times.
One of the arrowheads of the Tinubu
group told Sunday Vanguard: “Asiwaju
is not being rigid. He just believes it is
not proper to kick off a government on
a note of disobedience to party position
by members of the National Assembly.
It sends a wrong signal”.
WHAT TINUBU WANTED
Investigations into how the Friday
meeting of the APC NEC went the way it
did suggest that whereas Tinubu gave
some conditions, those opposed to him
ensured that his position did not hold.
For instance, it was gathered that one of
the conditions put forward by the
former governor of Lagos State was that
both Senate President Abubakar Bukola
Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara
“should not be invited to the meeting”.
A top APC member privy to the
happenings in the ruling party told
Sunday Vanguard: “”The second
condition he put forward was that in
the event that the two leaders of the
National Assembly were invited, they
should be made to commit to an apology
letter to the party.”
That way, it was learnt, it would be on
record that both men went against the
grain of their political party.
“Unfortunately”, the top party leader
said, “none of these could be achieved.
“And you should understand. This is a
time when members of the party should
engage a cohesive mode rather than one
that would alienate more members. It
is bad enough that we already have a
crisis on our hands. To further
entrench positions would not be in the
interest of the party.”
BUHARI LOYALISTS TAG WITH ATIKU
Sunday Vanguard was to further learn
that already, “there is a groundswell of
coalition between some party faithful
loyal to President Buhari and former
Vice President Atiku Abubakar”.
The source went on: “Mind you”, it is
not for the love of Atiku. But it is
gradually becoming imperative that
whoever within the party that would
attempt to ring-fence the President with
people that would become malleable
should be checked”.
Indeed, it was discovered that when
APC’s National Chairman, Chief John
Odigie Oyegun, held talks with the
President, last week, the fears of the
former were assuaged by the latter on
the insinuation that he (Oyegun) could
lose his position following his
acceptance of the emergence of Saraki
and Dogara as Senate President and
House Speaker.
“In fact, Mr. President told our party
Chairman not to lose sleep; that the
rumours about his possible removal
from office can never happen”.
Sunday Vanguard was told that that was
why the party reposed a vote of
confidence in its Chairman at the
Friday NEC meeting..
ISSUE OF PARTY SUPREMACY
However, one very thorny issue within
the embattled APC remains the
definition of the leadership as
occasioned by the new mantra of
supremacy.
It would be recalled that, penultimate
week, the National Publicity Secretary of
the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, issued
a statement stating that Tinubu was the
National Leader of the party; the ink on
the paper which carried the statement
had not dried before the Presidency
issued a counter statement insisting that
Buhari remains the leader of the party,
without prejudice to whatever
contributions made by those who were
the founding leaders.
Privately, some of the leaders of the
party, who are obviously not on the
same page with Tinubu, like Saraki;
former Governors Danjuma Goje,Sani
Yerima, Kabiru Gaya; and former
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National
Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh; as well as
former Vice President Atiku Abubakar,
are said not to be comfortable with the
connotation that presently exists on the
term, PARTY SUPREMACY.
Sunday Vanguard was told by a Tinubu
loyalist – and correctly so – that the
issue of party supremacy, as espoused
by the former Lagos governor and
Buhari, is good for the growth of the
APC.
Verily, in the event that the APC takes a
“position, that position should be
binding on all”, the Tinubu loyalist
insisted.
However, other leaders of the APC are
insisting on the need for the party
hierarchy to define the concept of party
supremacy.
At the Friday APC NEC meeting, the
issue could not be discussed because of
what a source described as “some
sensibilities that were not to be
ruffled”.
The growing consensus among party
leaders across the three divides –
Buhari, Tinubu and Atiku – is the need
for the party to quickly determine “who
and what constitute party supremacy
which would be codified”
BOT CHAIRMANSHIP: THE FIRE NEXT TIME
The ruling party may be heading for
another round of crisis in the contest
for who becomes its Board of Trustees,
BoT, Chairman.
Whereas it was a known “fact that
Tinubu, while lobbying Atiku to support
Senator Ahmed Lawan for the Senate
presidency, with a possible pledge to
assist Atiku clinch the BoT slot, some
loyalists of Tinubu are now proposing
that he should become the BoT
Chairman”, a party source told Sunday
Vanguard , “but that may be a far shot
because Oyegun is from the South and
appointing another person from the
South to be BoT Chair, would not be
fair. In fact, that was why Oyegun’s job
was in jeopardy because it was part of a
grand agenda”.
But this argument may not hold water
because Buhari is from the North just as
Atiku is also from the North.
Source: VANGUARD
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