The battle for the soul of the All Progressives Congress between the mainstream party under the leadership of Adams Oshimhole and Buba Galadima’s faction, the Reformed All Progressives Congress, has no doubt, calibrated in the survival-of-the-fittest game.
Oshiomhole who just assumed office as National Chairman of the party, was still bracing to deal with the enormous task of uniting the party across the country when aggrieved members of the party led by President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘friend’, Buba Galadima, surfaced with the RAPC, in a manner akin to the break-away of the New Peoples Democratic Party from the mainstream Peoples Democratic Party.
Galadima: APC has run a rudderless, inept and incompetent government that has failed to deliver good governance to the Nigerian people. It has rather imposed dictatorship, impunity, abuse of power, complete abdication of constitutional and statutory responsibilities, and infidelity
For the RAPC, it was time to deal with anomalies in the APC, especially having perceived that they were being sidelined in the scheme of things.
The newly appointed national chairman of the RAPC, Galadima, while stating the reasons for their action, said they had been betrayed by APC, as their expectations had been completely dashed.
“We are sad to report that after more than three years of governance, our hopes have been betrayed, our expectations completely dashed.
“You will recall that in the build-up to the 2015 general elections, some political parties and groups came together, and formed a brand new political party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.
“This merger was based on the strong belief that Nigeria had come of age, but was severely underperforming and unable to meet its potentials for good governance. The Nigerian people entrusted power to the APC based on its promises and potentials.
“But we are sad to report that after more than three years of governance, our hopes have been betrayed, our expectations completely dashed.”
Galadima added that the APC had so much contained impunity and “infidelities” at highest level.
“APC has run a rudderless, inept and incompetent government that has failed to deliver good governance to the Nigerian people.
“It has rather imposed dictatorship, impunity, abuse of power, complete abdication of constitutional and statutory responsibilities, and infidelity to the rule of law and constitutionalism.
Galadima, while comparing APC with past government that was led by Goodluck Jonathan, said, “The APC government has been a monumental disaster, even worse than the government it replaced. The political party that was a vehicle for enthroning the government was rendered powerless by manipulations and complete lack of due process in its
operations.
Oshiomhole: There is no break. Forget one Galadima. He has the right not to be happy. You know those who are in politics for bread and butter, that is their problem. I mean within the executive and the two arms of the National Assembly, we have important party leaders, not those who are being sponsored by mercenaries
“The last straw was the Congresses and Convention of the APC held recently. The Congresses were intensely disputed they were was conducted with impunity, total disregard for due process, disregard for the party Constitution and naked display of power and practices that have no place in a party we all worked very hard to put in place,” he further lamented.
He also averred that Oshiomhole is not recognized as the chairman of the party.
But in his reaction, the national chairman of the party, Oshiomhole, said Galadima and members of his group were “irrelevant fragment of the party”.
While commenting in the faction, he said, “There is no break. Forget one Galadima. He has the right not to be happy. You know those who are in politics for bread and butter, that is their problem. I mean within the executive and the two arms of the National Assembly, we have important party leaders, not those who are being sponsored by mercenaries, by those who think that our national convention will not
hold.
He added, “Before the convention, there were stories that people were going to walk out of the convention, that people would boycott the convention. If after two weeks of wriggling in pain for disappointment, you find people who are hired, they are free to be so hired. We are going to put away all our differences.
“There are worries and there are hopes. There is no break-away, I don’t know about Galadima.”
Continuing, Oshiomhole explained, “I have tremendous support with members of the National Assembly and with their support and other stakeholders across the country, I emerged as the National Chairman of our party. We had a very robust conversation.
“We expect total commitment to our party to deepen internal democracy to eliminate any attempts to impose anybody. We reassure everyone that we are committed to
justice.
“Much more important is to discuss issues as they affect all members of our party and members of House of Representatives, and issues as they affect the executive and the legislature,” he summed.
However, the last is yet to be heard on the APC, RAPC drama, as some seasons of it look set to unfold in the weeks ahead.
