The past few weeks have been quite traumatic for leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress. The party is embroiled in deep crises, not only in Edo and Ondo states, which are getting ready for governorship elections this year, but also at the national level.
Nigerians had been surprised to see the APC entangled in so many legal contradictions without a decisive stand, until President Muhammadu Buhari waded in through his pronouncements after last week’s emergency National Executive Council meeting.
At the height of the crisis, three members of the National Working Committee of the party were laying claim to its chairmanship, following the Court of Appeal‘s decision to uphold the Abuja High Court judgement that suspended Adams Oshiomhole as the party’s National Chairman.
Last Thursday’s decision to sack the party’s NWC and replace it with a Caretaker Committee has also been seen by many watchers of political events in the country as no end to the crisis rocking the party.
They will be more correct if the grumbling currently going on among the sacked executive members, where many of them are threatening to pull out, despite an endorsement-of-position pronouncement by both the National Leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, and the former chairman, Oshiomhole, is anything to go by.
Unfortunately for the APC, there seems to be no time to waste, as the Independent National Electoral Commission has fixed September 19 and October 10, 2020 as the dates for the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states, respectively.
Until last week’s defection of Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State to the Peoples Democratic Party, the two states were under the control of the APC.
The Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, also decamped to the oppositon PDP last week. It is a sad commentary that in less than one month, APC’s two top notchers, Obaseki and Ajayi moved to the PDP.
CAN PDP TAKE OVER?
The question on the lips of political analysts and watchers of political development is whether the PDP can rise up to the occasion and take advantage of the crisis in the APC to win the coming elections in Edo and Ondo states.
Some political commentators however believe that the PDP is also not free from crisis and are of the opinion that if the APC’s new Caretaker Committee can rise up to the challenges before it on time, then the ruling party may recover from the current sorry situation and retain the two states.
This pro – APC commentators see the new APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, Mai Mala Buni, as an experienced politician, who could ensure reconciliation on time. Buni, who is currently the Governor of Yobe State, had served as National Secretary of the party before his election as Governor in the 2019 general elections.
Buni, 52, served as Chairman of the ANPP in Yobe State; and, thereafter, as Special Adviser to former Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, on political and legislative matters.
Buni has also been living up to the belief of this group of commentators as he has promised that the committee will carry all aggrieved members of the party along. How soon he would be able to do this will be known in the coming weeks.
“As a two-time former National Secretary of this party, I know the party very well and I want to assure every APC member, we will do justice because we have a government. And as a team player, if we don’t manage crisis, crisis will manage you. Without justice, there will be no peace. I promise justice for every APC member,” he said, last Thursday.
This position was not, however, the same with that of an Abuja Public Affairs Commentator, John Odey. Odey believes that the APC cannot recover on time to perform creditably in the coming elections in Edo and Ondo.
“You should note that Edo PDP, even before the arrival of Obaseki, was very strong. The party was in control of the state before Oshiomhole changed the tide with his victory through the court. PDP in Edo State, with the arrival of Governor Obaseki, will be a too hard nut to crack for the APC, led by Oshiomhole, whose ego has been brutally brushed with his removal as the party’s Chairman. I see the PDP winning the two states of Edo and Ondo this year,” Odey asserted.
Comrade Sola Olawale of the Campaign for Democracy, on his part, sits on the fence, as he only warned the APC to close ranks on time for it not to lose the two elections.
“My candid advice to the APC is that it should reconcile its aggrieved members on time and brace for the challenges that it will confront in the coming elections from the PDP. If APC is not careful and underrates the PDP, it will regret its action,” Olawale warned.
Speaking on the new development, the Ondo State chapter of the PDP has said that it is receiving the news of the crisis in the APC with caution, adding, however, that it is ready for the state gubernatorial election, which has been scheduled for October this year by INEC.
Speaking with The Point, the Ondo State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Ayo Fadaka, said the party was ready to take over Ondo State. He described the movement of the Ondo Deputy Governor to the PDP as a welcome development.
According to him, the party is already preparing for the primary election, scheduled for July “and will come out of the primary as a united entity.”
“We are watching the crisis in the APC with caution. We remain focused and we will even be the happiest group if APC picks Akeredolu as its candidate, as that will present an easy win for us. Many people in our dear state are tired of Akeredolu’s misrule, so presenting him as a candidate of the APC in the October 2020 election will be to our advantage,” he said.
Also speaking on the current crisis situation in APC, a former Commissioner for Information in Edo State, Kassim Afegbua, said the PDP in Edo State was waiting to benefit from the crisis rocking the state chapter of the APC.
Afegbua noted that the people of Edo State were tired of what he described as APC’s problems, saying they desired peace, which the PDP was ready to give them.
“Our party is waiting in the wing to benefit and is already benefitting from the crisis rocking the APC. They are creating tension in the state but the PDP will take over and bring peace to the state,” he said.
Many however submit that the fate of APC, as regards its leading position, will be known after the two elections in October this year.
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Some political commentators however believe that the PDP is also not free from crisis and are of the opinion that if the APC’s new Caretaker Committee can rise up to the challenges before it on time, then the ruling party may recover from the current sorry situation and retain the two states
