₦airaland Forum

There are strong indications that a gale of defection will soon hit the All Progressives Congress in the South-West.

It was gathered that many members of the APC, who are loyal to a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, are awaiting his directive before leaving the ruling party.

It was gathered that high-profile meetings of politicians across party lines were being held discreetly to fine-tune strategies for the emergence of an alternative political platform to fight for power come 2019.

Towards this end, governors and lawmakers, especially senators from the South-West, are said to have intensified consultations to ensure that they are not used and dumped in the next dispensation.

Confirming this development, Senator Adesoji Akanbi, representing Oyo South, said Nigerians would soon see the outcome of the new political alliances and realignments.

Speaking with The PUNCH on Thursday, Akanbi said some of those, who were part of the formation of the APC, and who had become uncomfortable with the turnout of events after the party attained power, might be considering their options.

“You know that ambition can drive people and a lot of people, when it comes to amalgamation like that of the APC, some people may feel cheated and may not be happy with the outcome of the whole thing. It is normal.

“There is no way you can form a new party in a room. Nigerians should not be too eager to see the outcome of such (secret and closed-door) meetings because they are still coming out to the public to canvass for support. Let us all wait and see.”

In a veiled reference to Tinubu, he said, “Personally, someone like me is a committed member of the APC and I still have my leader.

“Politics is about the grass roots. You have to know what your people want before you can decide on what to do. I am from the South-West and we have a way of doing our thing. We still have a leader.”

Akanbi, who declined to name names, insisted that the people of the South-West had their way of responding to political challenges when they occurred, adding that the decision of the leader, most often than not, was in line with the popular wish of the people of the geo-political zone.

He said, “I have not mentioned any name but whatever it is, it is going to be a collective decision. Personally, I am an advocate of regional integration. When I say regional, I am particular about the South-West, where I come from.”

The recently suspended Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Timi Frank, had, in an interview with The PUNCH, hinted that an alternative political platform was in the offing, which might emerge in the political space within the first two quarters of 2018.

Frank had said, “I say this without fear of contradiction; major political re-alignments are going on in this country. I don’t want a scenario whereby my party, the APC, will lose out.

“I don’t want us to lose our members to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party or any other political party for that matter.”

The ruling APC, however, remained confident on its ability to withstand whatever the opposition would throw at it in the years ahead.

The party’s National Vice-Chairman (South-South), Hilliard Eta, told one of our correspondents on the telephone that the party was fully aware of subterranean moves by some individuals, whom he did not name, to cause disaffection within the party.

Eta added, “You know, in political parties, the concept that operates is the concept of free entry and free exit.

“We are aware of the subterranean moves being made by those who want to defect. They started by trying to divide the party to pave the way for them to defect but we remain strong.

“Those who want to defect, we wish them well. I even think it is better for them to leave us to build our party instead of them remaining and undermining us.

“If they want to form a new party, good luck to them; we will meet in the field in 2019. But for those of us, who were in the trenches to ensure that the APC was born, will remain in it to build and strengthen it to give Nigerians the purposeful leadership they deserve.”

A highly-placed member of the party, who confided in one of our correspondents because of the sensitivity of the issue, said, “It is glaring we have issues.”

He said those “making noise” about forming an alliance or a new political party were either trying to draw attention to their perceived marginalisation or were simply testing the political waters.

The party chieftain added, “We will be playing the ostrich if we deny the fact that some of our members are weighing their options because their physical and material investments are not yielding the kind of dividends they expected.

“We are not under any illusion that people will leave when the time comes. We are however working round the clock to ensure those with electoral value don’t join them.”

Attempts to get a reaction from Tinubu’s media aide, Mr. Tunde Rahman, were unsuccessful.

He did not return calls to his mobile on Thursday.

Rahman did not equally respond to a text message sent to him on the subject as of the time of filing this report.

patriotic9jaboy:
[s]This is to appeal to every southerners that our future is in our hands. A united south is what we need now to stand against northern oppression and divide and rule tactics. We must ensure we work together to restore power to the south by 2019. The north obviously has a grand plan of retaining power for so long and this is obvious in the way Tinubu is been put in check so as to limit his influence in the party decisions and made irrelevant in the scheme of things. We never expected such treatment from the north after all we did to support Buhari in the last election. Oyegun is obviously been used to fight a proxy war with Tinubu by the born to rule caliphate up north who will do anything to render his power bloc handicap so as to ensure their grip on power. We need the support our SS/SE brothers to make this happen. Lets us unite and forget all grievances. A united south can wrestle power away from the north with the support of Christian minorities in the middle belt and the north. GEJ was a bad president contrary to our thoughts in 2011 when we supported him massively with our votes. He failed woefully and corruption thrived to the highest heavens during his tenure. Contrary to the believe of our SS/SE brothers, yoruba's did not vote Jonathan out because of hatred or betrayal. He simply under-performed and did nothing for the SW region and even boasted that Igbo's are the backbone of his presidency forgetting that the SW supported him massively in 2011. Buhari appeared to be the messiah but so far, the hardship in the land is so unbearable and there is no end in sight to the present predicaments facing us as a nation. Buhari has no economic blueprint and his style of governance is archiac and filled with bad policies like banning forex for importation of consumer goods and releasing the same scarce forex for Islamic religious pilgrimage. It's a bad situation we are in and we need to co-operate to undo this mistake in 2019. Every one is facing hardship and bearing the brunt of inflation and recession irrespective of our tribes and regions. This is why we need the support of our SS/SE brothers in 2019 to vote buhari out. Let's form an alliance and forget past mis-deeds. We are better united in the south than been ruled by a primitive caliphate who believed they are born to rule without positive results....



God bless SW /SS and SE[/s]

patriotic9jaboy:
This is to appeal to every southerners that our future is in our hands. A united south is what we need now to stand against northern oppression and divide and rule tactics. We must ensure we work together to restore power to the south by 2019. The north obviously has a grand plan of retaining power for so long and this is obvious in the way Tinubu is been put in check so as to limit his influence in the party decisions and made irrelevant in the scheme of things. We never expected such treatment from the north after all we did to support Buhari in the last election. Oyegun is obviously been used to fight a proxy war with Tinubu by the born to rule caliphate up north who will do anything to render his power bloc handicap so as to ensure their grip on power. We need the support our SS/SE brothers to make this happen. Lets us unite and forget all grievances. A united south can wrestle power away from the north with the support of Christian minorities in the middle belt and the north. GEJ was a bad president contrary to our thoughts in 2011 when we supported him massively with our votes. He failed woefully and corruption thrived to the highest heavens during his tenure. Contrary to the believe of our SS/SE brothers, yoruba's did not vote Jonathan out because of hatred or betrayal. He simply under-performed and did nothing for the SW region and even boasted that Igbo's are the backbone of his presidency forgetting that the SW supported him massively in 2011. Buhari appeared to be the messiah but so far, the hardship in the land is so unbearable and there is no end in sight to the present predicaments facing us as a nation. Buhari has no economic blueprint and his style of governance is archiac and filled with bad policies like banning forex for importation of consumer goods and releasing the same scarce forex for Islamic religious pilgrimage. It's a bad situation we are in and we need to co-operate to undo this mistake in 2019. Every one is facing hardship and bearing the brunt of inflation and recession irrespective of our tribes and regions. This is why we need the support of our SS/SE brothers in 2019 to vote buhari out. Let's form an alliance and forget past mis-deeds. We are better united in the south than been ruled by a primitive caliphate who believed they are born to rule without positive results....



God bless SW /SS and SE

patriotic9jaboy:
This is to appeal to every southerners that our future is in our hands. A united south is what we need now to stand against northern oppression and divide and rule tactics. We must ensure we work together to restore power to the south by 2019. The north obviously has a grand plan of retaining power for so long and this is obvious in the way Tinubu is been put in check so as to limit his influence in the party decisions and made irrelevant in the scheme of things. We never expected such treatment from the north after all we did to support Buhari in the last election. Oyegun is obviously been used to fight a proxy war with Tinubu by the born to rule caliphate up north who will do anything to render his power bloc handicap so as to ensure their grip on power. We need the support our SS/SE brothers to make this happen. Lets us unite and forget all grievances. A united south can wrestle power away from the north with the support of Christian minorities in the middle belt and the north. GEJ was a bad president contrary to our thoughts in 2011 when we supported him massively with our votes. He failed woefully and corruption thrived to the highest heavens during his tenure. Contrary to the believe of our SS/SE brothers, yoruba's did not vote Jonathan out because of hatred or betrayal. He simply under-performed and did nothing for the SW region and even boasted that Igbo's are the backbone of his presidency forgetting that the SW supported him massively in 2011. Buhari appeared to be the messiah but so far, the hardship in the land is so unbearable and there is no end in sight to the present predicaments facing us as a nation. Buhari has no economic blueprint and his style of governance is archiac and filled with bad policies like banning forex for importation of consumer goods and releasing the same scarce forex for Islamic religious pilgrimage. It's a bad situation we are in and we need to co-operate to undo this mistake in 2019. Every one is facing hardship and bearing the brunt of inflation and recession irrespective of our tribes and regions. This is why we need the support of our SS/SE brothers in 2019 to vote buhari out. Let's form an alliance and forget past mis-deeds. We are better united in the south than been ruled by a primitive caliphate who believed they are born to rule without positive results....



God bless SW /SS and SE

omofunaab:
Guy what's wrong with you.

Everything shouldn't be about the presidency.

Infact we progressed better when we were in the opposition.

What south west need is regional integration.

I don't believe in all these political alignments.

Every region should fight its own course..

Those that wants resource control should fight for it.
Those that wants federalism should do so
Those that want a new country should do so without calling for genocide of other tribes.


Patrotic9jaboy pls stop disgracing us with this your united south.. It just ain't possible.. We don't like ourselves and we can't force the love on each other.

Only regional integration will benefit the people of the south west.. Political alignments will only favor power seeking politicians

ShinnBet:
Never ever in your life put SW and SS as one interchangeable entity

ShinnBet:
Pls remind your brother how you guys were fighting yourselves in your glorious wild west region. Operation weti and all your past kiriji wars.

Count us out of any political, regional or United southern alliance.

xcommando:
Bross you dey vex oh ,
Why u dey para now

omofunaab:
Who and who were fighting? And nobody wants any alliance with you guys. .I have said it severally.. it just cannot work. .you guys are too emotional in everything and you don't allow your brains to do the thinking.

Southwest can stand on it's own.
We don't do attache by force.. All those SS/SE rubbish u do.

delectablegyal:
Wow! Politics, i'm not good at that, i'm good in romance.


Check my dp for affirmation.

omofunaab:
Guy what's wrong with you.

Everything shouldn't be about the presidency.

Infact we progressed better when we were in the opposition.

What south west need is regional integration.

I don't believe in all these political alignments.

Every region should fight its own course..

Those that wants resource control should fight for it.
Those that wants federalism should do so
Those that want a new country should do so without calling for genocide of other tribes.


Patrotic9jaboy pls stop disgracing us with this your united south.. It just ain't possible.. We don't like ourselves and we can't force the love on each other.

We have been talking about unity since independence. When do you think we will all be united? Only politicians are united.. The people aren't

Only regional integration will benefit the people of the south west.. Political alignments will only favor power seeking politicians

omofunaab:
Who and who were fighting? And nobody wants any alliance with you guys. .I have said it severally.. it just cannot work. .you guys are too emotional in everything and you don't allow your brains to do the thinking.

Southwest can stand on it's own.
We don't do attache by force.. All those SS/SE rubbish u do.

patriotic9jaboy:
This is to appeal to every southerners that our future is in our hands. A united south is what we need now to stand against northern oppression and divide and rule tactics. We must ensure we work together to restore power to the south by 2019. The north obviously has a grand plan of retaining power for so long and this is obvious in the way Tinubu is been put in check so as to limit his influence in the party decisions and made irrelevant in the scheme of things. We never expected such treatment from the north after all we did to support Buhari in the last election. Oyegun is obviously been used to fight a proxy war with Tinubu by the born to rule caliphate up north who will do anything to render his power bloc handicap so as to ensure their grip on power. We need the support our SS/SE brothers to make this happen. Lets us unite and forget all grievances. A united south can wrestle power away from the north with the support of Christian minorities in the middle belt and the north. GEJ was a bad president contrary to our thoughts in 2011 when we supported him massively with our votes. He failed woefully and corruption thrived to the highest heavens during his tenure. Contrary to the believe of our SS/SE brothers, yoruba's did not vote Jonathan out because of hatred or betrayal. He simply under-performed and did nothing for the SW region and even boasted that Igbo's are the backbone of his presidency forgetting that the SW supported him massively in 2011. Buhari appeared to be the messiah but so far, the hardship in the land is so unbearable and there is no end in sight to the present predicaments facing us as a nation. Buhari has no economic blueprint and his style of governance is archiac and filled with bad policies like banning forex for importation of consumer goods and releasing the same scarce forex for Islamic religious pilgrimage. It's a bad situation we are in and we need to co-operate to undo this mistake in 2019. Every one is facing hardship and bearing the brunt of inflation and recession irrespective of our tribes and regions. This is why we need the support of our SS/SE brothers in 2019 to vote buhari out. Let's form an alliance and forget past mis-deeds. We are better united in the south than been ruled by a primitive caliphate who believed they are born to rule without positive results....



God bless SW /SS and SE

omofunaab:
Who and who were fighting? And nobody wants any alliance with you guys. .I have said it severally.. it just cannot work. .you guys are too emotional in everything and you don't allow your brains to do the thinking.

Southwest can stand on it's own.
We don't do attache by force.. All those SS/SE rubbish u do.

basilo102:
so they are they only people good to experience genocide?? thank God you now recognize their right to call for a separate country, but your people want them all dead for doing so, and when they wish you dead too you start complaining.