ABUJA—As the National
Recnciliation Committee of
the All Progressives Congress,
APC, intensifies efforts to
ensure harmony in the party,
the status of former Governor of Osun State and immediate
past National Secretary of new
Peoples Democratic Party,
nPDP, Prince Olagunsoye
Oyinlola is still unclear within
the state chapter of the APC. A tussle for the soul of the
party in Kano
between Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his
predecessor, Ibrahim Shekarau
is still raging. This came as members of the
G5 governors that defected to
the APC from the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, said
they did not join APC to
become leaders. Indeed, National Secretary of
APC, Mr. Fidelis Tumza in a
telephone interview with
Vanguard, said that the on-
going reconciliation effort in
the party was proceeding despite minor hitches. He said that Governor
Kwankwaso and his
predecessor, Alhaji Ibrahim
Shekarau, were already
working together as members
of the same party. “What we are trying to do now
is to find a way of
accommodating their followers
within the leadership structure
of the state chapter of the
party,” he said. In Benue State, a new faction
of APC led by Baba Agan also
emerged yesterday, accusing
Senator George Akume of
imposing unpopular officers on
the party. Agreeing that the status of
Oyinlola in Osun was not clear,
he denied reports in a section
of the media that the party’s
reconciliation efforts in
Adamawa State had collapsed following Gen. Buba Marwa’s
refusal to attend a meeting to
which he was invited alongside
incumbent Governor Murtala
Nyako. However, sources close to Gen.
Marwa have dismissed Tumza’s
statement that the recent
reconciliation meeting in
Adamawa ended smoothly. One
source said that Gen. Marwa is not interested in holding any
meeting with Governor Nyako
for now. Said the source: “Gen Marwa
has dismissed the idea of
holding any meeting with
Governor Nyako as nonsense.
He is actually waiting for the
national leadership of the party to intervene and settle the
matter.” Dismissing the five PDP
governors who defected to APC
as political lightweights who
have no followers in the APC,
the source asked: “How do they
think they can come from no- where to take over structures
of the party which have been
built over time?” It would be recalled that APC
had set up the reconciliation
committee led by former
National Chairman of nPDP,
Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, in a
bid to ensure that internal rancour does not erupt within
its ranks. The committee has
commenced the process of
reconciling the warring parties
in the five states, where the
G-5 governors are locked in a
supremacy battle with local leaders of the party. It was learnt that as part of the
party’s effort to harmonise its
affairs in the affected states,
the National leadership
approved the inauguration of
interim state executive committees. The party, at its last meeting in
Abuja, gave approval for all the
zonal chairmen to immediately
inaugurate the interim state
executives and for them to
commence mobilisation for new members. It also proposed
a plan to hold the party’s
congresses this month. It was learnt that following a
directive to the committee by
the interim national executive
of the party to commence
action immediately after the
Christmas holiday, the seven- man reconciliation committee
has decided to also look into
the protest letter submitted by
some stakeholders in Kano In Kano, the task of
harmonizing APC executive
was handed over to Governor
Kwankwaso by stakeholder last
week. And what made the former
Governor Ibrahim Shekarau
look like a prisoner of war in
the dirty political war in Kano
played out last week following
the massive endorsement of Kwankwaso as the undisputed
leader by erstwhile loyalists of
Shekarau. The five governors who recently
defected from the PDP to the
APC have said that they did not
go to the new party to become
leaders in their respective
states. Rather, the governors said they
took their decision in an
altruistic move to provide
Nigerians with a viable
opposition platform that could
check the current drift towards anarchy in the polity. The governors, who spoke
through their Adamawa
counterpart, Murtala Nyako,
explained that contrary to
insinuations by the opposition,
they moved over to the APC to join forces with other patriots
to form a pan-Nigerian
national platform that would
serve as a veritable vehicle for
the enthronement of genuine
unity, peace and progress in Nigeria. Nyako said in a statement
made available to Vanguard by
his Director of Press and Public
Affairs, Mr. Ahmad Sajoh, that
at the time they moved to the
APC they had other options, which they would have
exploited if they were
propelled by selfish interests. Among the several options
open to the five governors,
were forming a new political
party, joining any of the newly-
formed parties or any of the
existing political parties in Nigeria. “But we opted to join the APC
because it represents a broad-
based coalition of democratic
forces built on the ideals of
progress and development,”
Nyako said. “Governor Murtala Nyako
believes that it is only by the
coming together of progressive
forces that Nigeria will be
saved from the grip of a cabal
that has held the presidency captive and has continued to
provide excuses for countless
failures rather than advance
ideas on the provision of
dividends of democracy to the
people of Nigeria.” “This cabal has unwittingly
reduced arguments about the
future of Nigeria to non issue
such as ethnicity and religious
bigotry. Under such
circumstances, the progress of the nation has stagnated,
leadership focus has become
clannish and mediocrity has
taken over serious business of
government.” “These are the real challenges
before all patriots and these
are the motives behind the
move by the G5 governors and
all other patriotic forces in the
National Assembly and other sections of the polity. “Anyone who reads the
statement issued by the PDP
leadership on Sunday, January
5, 2014 should definitely
appreciate the real dangers
these unpatriotic forces want to unleash on the country. The Governor said he had no
political ambition other than to
see that Nigeria is driven on
the path of progress and
economic prosperity. “As a two-term Governor, I am
constitutionally excluded from
the next gubernatorial
election, and I have already
stated that I have no ambition
to contest any other political office in 2015. All I am
concerned with is to serve as a
statesman who promotes the
best interest of future
generations of Nigerians,”
Nyako said.
www.vanguardngr.com

They are not greedy!!

Usbeel: They are not greedy!!

If they are not greedy, why the struggle for positions. ALL NA WASH.

Story Story . . . .

Yawns#