THE ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) can best be described as an amorphous platform. At inception, it was a coalition of political parties, with disparate interests and ideologies put together for political expediency and to achieve a specific goal: defeat the erstwhile ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. Since it achieved that feat of routing an incumbent from power in Nigeria, the joy of its major gladiators have since been turned to ashes in their mouths. Elements from the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), breakaway faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (christened the New-PDP), watch aghast as chieftains of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) decide who get what, when and how.

It was the former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, who spilled the beans recently, as he narrated publicly what other aggrieved individuals of the defunct parties that coalesced into the formation of the APC have been discussing in hushed tones. The former vice-president told newsmen in Yola, Adamawa State capital, that he had been used and dumped by a government he struggled along with other like minds to install.

But Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, was to jolt the nation as he made a startling revelation that a new movement, the Buharists, has since emerged within the party.

He claimed the group is made up of serving governors, ministers and certain chieftains of the ruling party anxious to ensure that ailing President Muhammadu Buhari, seeks a fresh mandate in 2019. He said: “As far as 2019 is concerned, my position is that the president is looking very well. He is recuperating very fast. My hope and prayer is that he will contest in 2019. Everything that our group is doing, and we have a group; we have Buharists among governors, ministers. Our group wants to ensure that President Buhari runs in 2019. If he chooses not to run, he will tell us which direction to go.”

To pick the party’s presidential ticket for the 2019 general elections, President Buhari needs a firm grip on the party’s national secretariat and state chapters. But Sunday Tribune checks showed that the party’s National Working Committee remained heavily polarised. Some of the national officers, it was gathered, still maintain their allegiance to the individuals who ensured their emergence at the 2014 national convention, albeit with few exceptions.



Chief John Odigie-Oyegun

The former Edo State governor emerged as the National Chairman at the 2014 national convention held at the Eagles Square. Sunday Tribune gathered that he was the anointed candidate of the former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu. A party source revealed that President Buhari was opposed to Oyegun’s ambition, but that he reluctantly conceded to his now estranged benefactor, Tinubu, after several persuasions by the latter. Buhari had reportedly narrated to the former Lagos State governor the circumstances surrounding his exit from the defunct ANPP to float the CPC in 2010 and the role reportedly played by Oyegun.

However, the APC national chairman has since changed camp and aligned himself with forces bent on undermining Tinubu’s influence in the party. In spite of the silence of the Presidency on Buhari’s 2019 ambition, Oyegun has since hit the ground running, proclaiming Buhari as the only man that can win the forthcoming election for the party. “The job is so enormous that one term cannot do it. So, my prayer is that God gives him robust good health and once he enjoys that, of course, as an individual, I will work that he comes back for another term,” Oyegun had said.

The national chairman has rebuffed entreaties by certain governors and concerned stakeholders within the party anxious to ensure that the party conducts meetings of its statutory organs. His argument is that the party must wait until Buhari is fit to attend meetings of the national caucus, National Executive Committee (NEC) and convention. He has also dismissed the claim that Tinubu was instrumental in his emergence as the party national chairman.



Mai Bala Buni

Mai Bala Buni is from the North-East state of Yobe. He is the party’s National Secretary. Sunday Tribune gathered that his victory at the convention was facilitated by Tinubu, who pleaded with his long term political associate, Kashim Imam, to withdraw from the race. A party source confided in Sunday Tribune that Buni has been adept in dealing with the two major camps, saying: “Look, it will be uncharitable to accuse him of having dumped Tinubu, but you cannot also finger him in any way of undermining Buhari’ s interest in the party.”



Segun Oni

The former Ekiti State governor is the Deputy National Chairman (South-West) of the APC. He was a member of the New-PDP, which dumped the then ruling party for APC. He has since aligned himself with the camp of Bola Tinubu, banking on its support to realise his ambition to pick the party’s ticket for the 2018 Ekiti governorship election. Both Oni and Chief Pius Akinyelure, who is the National Vice Chairman (South-West) of the APC enjoy the confidence of the former Lagos State governor.



Timi Frank

Timi Frank, the embattled Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party is an unapologetic loyalist of former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar. He has been critical of Oyegun’s administration of the party and his failure to convene meetings of NEC and national convention. Atiku’s Man Friday, Frank, has also expressed disaffection with Oyegun’s claim that only Buhari is eligible to the 2019 presidential ticket of the party. Like Atiku, the man from Bayelsa has also offered his voice in support of the restructuring of the country, even when Oyegun and the Presidency were dithering. But Frank was suspended from the national working committee last year by the South-South zonal committee, led by Hillard Etta after receiving report of the party’s disciplinary committee.



Muiz Banire

A chieftain of the defunct ACN, Banire is the National Legal Adviser of the APC and one of Tinubu’s allies in the early days of the party. But in the war of attrition, which has ensued in the quest to control South-West ahead of 2019, Banire has since dumped Tinubu and joined forces with certain ministers former Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola SAN, former Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi from the zone. Further investigations by Sunday Tribune revealed that in league with these ministers are the Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun and his Ondo State counterpart, Rotimi Akeredolu. However, the duo of Amosun and Banire have always been quick to dispel claims of being Buhari boys or dumping Tinubu. In what would appear as retaliation for the role Banire is believed to be playing in the party, which is seen as hurting the interest of the Lagos establishment, he was suspended in July for anti-party activities by the Mushin Local Government chapter of the APC. But that decision has since been overruled by the party’s national secretariat. Banire, in his reaction to the suspension, pointed fingers of scorn at the Lagos State government for instigating the action. His statement made available to newsmen equally offered illumination on the battle ahead of the party in the South-West zone. It read in part: “My attention has been drawn to a press release purportedly emanating from the Lagos State government on behalf of some APC members. Assuming, without conceding, that this were genuine members of the party, it is evidence of the crass lawlessness. If these crooked elements were members of the party, they would know that by the Constitution of the Party, it is the National Executive Committee that can remove a national officer of the party responsible for the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

“I, therefore, urge the members of the public to ignore these undesirable and mischievous elements together with their antics. Their actions showcase their desperation to foist lawlessness on the party and the citizenry at large.



Bolaji Abdullahi

The former Minister of Sports and Youth Development is the National Publicity Secretary of the APC. He emerged last December as replacement for the party’s pioneer spokesperson, Lai Mohammed, the incumbent Minister of Information. Sunday Tribune investigation revealed that Mallam Abdullahi was the consensus candidate of the North-Central stakeholders of the party at its zonal congress held in Abuja. But Abdullahi is a confidant of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, one of the core investors in the victory of the party, and his emergence as the party spokesperson was perceived as consummation of the new warm relationship between his political godfather and the Presidency. It is very unlikely that Mallam Abdullahi would team up with anti-Buhari forces in the ruling party, as Senator Saraki’s presidential ambition remains at the realm of mere conjecture.



Senator Lawan Shuaibu

Former national secretary of the defunct ACN, Senator Lawan Shuaibu is the Deputy National Chairman (North) of the APC. He played a prominent role in the uncertain days of the merger process as a trusted foot soldier of Tinubu Sunday Tribune gathered. And in the emerging scenarios with the party, his loyalty to the Lagos political icon is said to have remained intact.



Emma Eneukwu

Emma Eneukwu is the National Vice chairman (South-East). A former national officer of the defunct ANPP, Eneukwu and the party’s national organising secretary, Osita Izunaso, from Imo State, belong to the Buhari camp.



Inuwa Abdulkadir

The National Vice-chairman (North-West) of the party was perceived as a trusted ally of Atiku Abubakar until recently. Checks revealed that he was contacted by the cabal in the Presidency to reprimand the former vice-president, who early this month released a stinker, accusing the Buhari administration of running a one-man show by sidelining him and others, who contributed to the party’s victory. The fact that Inuwa Abdulkadir made himself available to rubbish the former vice-president caused a stir in the camps of other stakeholders within the party.



The fence sitters

Zakari Idde and Hillard Etta are national vice-chairmen (North-Central and South-South) respectively. They appeared to have no strong attachment to any of the contending camps within the party. While the party has no strong presence in the South-South, making it possible for Etta to be insulated from the pressures of the Presidency and the governors, Idde nurses a governorship ambition, which may have informed his rift with the governor of his home state, Nasarawa, Tanko Al-Makura. Their counterpart from the North-East, Alhaji Mustapha Salihu, who replaced Mr Babachir Lawal as zonal chairman, has not been visible at the party secretariat as he continues to struggle for relevance.



Gladiators spoiling for war

How is the trio of Atiku, Tinubu and former Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, taking the boast of Governor El-Rufai that the Buharists now hold the ace on who picks the party’s presidential ticket in 2019? The speculation is rife that the former vice-president may return to the PDP and slug it out with the like of former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido and former Kaduna State governor, Senator Ahmed Makarfi for the main opposition party’s presidential ticket, leaving Tinubu and Kwankwaso to fight within. From all indications, however, Tinubu has no sympathy for the former Kano State governor over his presidential ambition and the political annihilation he has suffered in Kano. Last July, during a condolence visit to Kano, the APC national leader endorsed Governor Abdullahi Ganduje for a second term in office. Kwankwaso was, some months after his exit from office, dealt a fatal blow in his home state as the party structures have been taken over by his successor.

In the ensuing struggle for the soul of the party, another set of gladiators are some ministers in the Buhari cabinet, who are said to be poised for a showdown with Tinubu over the control of the party’s structure. This set of gladiators, Sunday Tribune learnt, were emboldened by their victory over the Tinubu machinery in the Ondo State governorship election, a development that is said to have made them convince Buhari that the former Lagos State governor is, after all, not invincible and can be routed in South-West.

Tinubu’s most trusted ally and Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, equally suffered a defeat from a coalition of forces involving the Buhari setup in the South-West, when his anointed candidate for the Osun West senatorial election lost to the PDP. The duo of Governors Amosun and Akeredolu, as well as the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Fashola; Minister of Mines and Steel, Fayemi and the Minister of Communications, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu have all been said to be strong members of the Buhari set-up, which is gearing up to battle the Tinubu machinery, which is entrenched in the South-West. With the backing of the Presidency, Buhari’s allies in the zone are said to be unrelenting in their plot to ensure that apart from gaining control of the party machinery for their principal, only their anointed candidates would pick the party tickets in the forthcoming Ekiti and Osun governorship elections. As things stand, the next six months will offer interesting moments for the party faithful, as the APC hurries to put in place a new set of national officers to run its affairs ahead of the general election. The convention, whenever it is eventually held, will open a chapter of fierce battle for the control of its national secretariat and states chapters among the Presidency, the governors and the alienated party leaders.

http://www.tribuneonlineng.com/2019-presidency-inside-details-progressives-camps/

Politicians Sha...

But Op wait ooo

I laugh in kafanchan. Neva underestimate the power of Tinubu. Take a chill till 2019 wen he wuld unleash his political prowess