Reconcilliation halts as Tinubu stalls over Oyegun tenure extension
Party making moves to appease TinubuBy Hamza Idris, Muideen Olaniyi (Abuja), Andrew Agbese (Kaduna), Yusha’u A. Ibrahim (Kano), Abdullateef
The All Progressive Congress’ caucus and National Executive Council meetings coming up on Monday and Tuesday will consider setting up a national caretaker committee to run the affairs of the party in an attempt to appease the Bola Ahmed Tinubu clan in the party.
Findings by the Daily Trust on Sunday shows that the party leader, Tinubu has been unhappy with the tenure elongation of the Chief John Odie-Oyegun-led EXCO and has as a result gone cold on his reconciliation drive in the party.
It would be recalled that in on February 6, 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari charged a Tinubu-led committee with the task of reconciling aggrieved party members, a task the party leader took very seriously and swung immediately into action.
However, Tinubu’s peace voyage seems to have hit the wall on February 27, 2018, the day the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) took what many saw as a “divisive decision” to extend the tenure of party executives, whose current term of office should have ended on June 30 this year, across all levels.
Tinubu and the party chairman, Oyegun have been at loggerheads for a while and entrusting the reconcillliation committee by the president was seen as a crucial blow to Oyegun’s chances of holding on to the reins of the party and an indication that the pendulum was swinging in the direction of Tinubu.
But since the unprecedented move of February 27, which swung the pendulum firmly in Oyegun’s direction, TInubu has remained silent and activities of his committee have ground to a halt.
However, the noise from Tinubu’s camp has been that of discontent over the tenure elongation.
“What Asiwaju is saying is that things should be done rightly, I mean constitutionally,” Tinubu’s Media Aide, Mr Tunde Rahman told our correspondent.
He said that Tinubu’s grouse with Oyegun’s executive is not a personal thing.
“Personally, I have looked at the APC constitution and I did not see where it granted elongation of tenure in whatever form to executive committees of parties. Even the 1999 Constitution as amended speaks about what is right with respect to the periodic tenure of party executives. That is in Section 223,” he said.
But in spite of this, he said his principal has gone far on his reconciliation drive.
“Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has gone very far about the reconciliation task. That much I can tell you right away. He is even putting together an interim report for submission to President Muhammadu Buhari. I can also tell you, however, that I have heard him say to journalists who asked him how far he had gone about the reconciliation work that he would only give the progress report on his assignment to President Buhari who appointed him.
And I think we can only be fair to him if we grant him that indulgence. The president asked him to lead the consultation, reconciliation and confidence-building efforts in the party and he would render account to the president,” he said.
Credible sources in the party told Daily Trust on Sunday that the issue of caretaker committee will be raised at the caucus and NEC meetings, with a view to reversing the one year tenure extension given to Oyegun.
This, it was also learnt, was all in an effort to placate Tinubu.
However, facts have continued to emerge that Tinubu, might have backed out of the onerous task in protest over the tenure elongation.
“For now Tinubu has literally backed out of the APC reconciliation because he feels betrayed by the very people who gave him the task,” a source close to the politics playing out in the APC said.
“Let me put it this way: Tinubu has sent a strong signal to President Buhari that he will not continue with the reconciliation move provided the tenure extension stands; it has pre-empted whatever effort he would make. The grievance of some people is that Oyegun should go and the powers that be said Oyegun must stay; so Tinubu is frustrated,” he said.
It was gathered that Tinubu, who had been the lone member of the reconciliation committee, had completed his preliminary contacts ahead of announcing names of those he would work with but had to rescind after the tenure elongation.
“You are right if you say the committee is dead for now because Tinubu is the only member till date and from all indications, he might not go ahead with recruiting anyone unless the party, or rather the presidency intervenes by going back to the drawing board,” another source said.
It was not possible to speak with some leaders of the party at the national level because many declined.
“It is a moral issue, we were all part of the extension thing and it would be wrong to give personal opinion on the matter,” one of them said.
He, however, referred Daily Trust on Sunday to the APC constitution, saying, “The APC National Executive Committee (NEC) relied on Article 13.3 (ii) of the party’s constitution which states that the NEC can discharge the functions of the convention in a period of emergency.”
According to him, “Article 13.3 (ii) of APC Constitution specifically states that the NEC of the party is empowered to: “Discharge all functions of the National Conventions as constituted in between Conventions.”
These explanations have not convinced one Mr Okere Nnamdi, who had asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dissolve the Oyegun-led NWC of the party.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/219/2018, he asked the court to compel INEC to reject, cease to recognise and to stop dealing or having any official communications with the Oyegun-led NWC of the APC, effective from June 1, 2018.
He also asked the court to compel Oyegun and others to vacate their offices from June 1.
Nnamdi joined the party’s NWC, INEC, the state working committees, local government area executive committees and ward executive committees of the party as defendants.
A source, who supports the tenure extension for the APC leaders, alleged that those who instituted the case did so at the instance of Tinubu and some governors who want to remove Oyegun.
“It is now a war by proxy in the APC. Those against the extension were the very people who mobilized resources for their stooges to go to court. They have planted their people in many states,” he said.
The allegation could not be substantiated by this paper, but one of the states that clearly condemned the tenure extension is Zamfara. It was reported that Governor Abdulaziz Yari did not support the tenure extension during the APC NEC meeting.
And at a press briefing recently, the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Zamfara State, Alhaji Sani Gwamna Mayanchi, said they were part of the case instituted against Oyegun and others.
He said fresh elections must hold at the expiration of the NWC’s tenure by June 30, adding that the election would add fresh impetus to the party as new crop of leaders would come in to steer its affairs.
Sources within the APC said some governors preferred Oyegun to take the party to the next general elections, saying they succeeded in convincing President Buhari to agree, a reason adduced for the extension of tenure.
He said on the other hand, Tinubu and some other governors wanted fresh personalities to take over the mantle of leadership as soon as their tenure expires on June 30.
But despite this, a source said the unusual silence of Tinubu and sudden cessation of his reconciliation trips has been given party leaders causes for concern.
This development, the source added, was part of the reasons for likely meetings by the NEC and NWC of the party this week. And one of the solutions on the table, as Daily Trust has gathered, is replacing the Oyegun-led NEC pending the resolution of the matter.
“Asiwaju is not supporting the continuation of Oyegun-led NWC. He prefers a caretaker committee. The issue will be discussed at the coming emergency caucus and NEC meetings,” the source also said.
The tenure extension for Oyegun may be the last straw that broke the camel’s back in the misunderstanding between Tinubu and Oyegun.
Since 2016, the relationship between Oyegun and Tinubu has been everything but cordial. The crisis festered and blew open during the November 2016 governorship election in Ondo State where Tinubu’s preferred candidate, Olusegun Abraham was said to have been “technically knocked out” in favour of the elected governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, allegedly with the connivance with Oyegun.
In September 2016, Tinubu had asked Oyegun to quit as the party chairman. The latter never heeded the call prompting Tinubu to repeat the call on February 22, 2018 but Oyegun was adamant.
Tinubu’s camp is restive over the tenure elongation as Oyegun is seen as working against the interest of the national leader.
More shocking was the fact that in Lagos State for instance, the party chairman in the state, Chief Henry Ajomale was one of the chairmen who signed the communiqué endorsing Oyegun.
Many members of APC have frowned at the decision of Ajomale to endorse the tenure elongation from Oyegun and have equally dissociated from the decision. They claim Ajomale should have been able to read between the lines to know the position of Asiwaju on the matter.
The Lagos APC has refrained from commenting on the issue. Repeated calls and several text messages to the state chairman were not responded to.
But Ajomale had told an online medium on arrival from Abuja after the endorsement of Oyegun for another one year that he was helpless on the matter.
“Even if you oppose it, you have 37 chairmen and one person objecting to it doesn’t make any difference. And it was done at the NEC meeting anyway, the governors and everybody were there and I was not the one who proposed it.
“Everybody supported it, so it’s not a question of one person. How can one person have a different opinion among the majority?
“It’s democracy. Once you have majority who are stronger without you and at the NEC meeting, only four people objected, the others supported it, so I couldn’t have…. Out of about 152 people only four people objected to it, so how did that four make a difference?,” he asked.
But many stakeholders of the party in Lagos have taken up Ajomale over the endorsement.
The Lagos Central Senatorial Chairman of the party, Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi, had addressed journalists after a stakeholders’ meeting held at the state house, Marina, Lagos, to dissociate the Lagos chapter of the party from the tenure elongation of Oyegun.
He said, “Article 17 of the party’s constitution also provides for four-year tenure for its national and state executives, which is renewable for another four years,” he said.
Checks by Daily Trust on Sunday revealed that the controversy is raging especially in states where Tinubu has followers and loyalists.
A chieftain of the party in Lagos who spoke on the undercurrents revealed that the crisis is between those he called the ‘federal boys’ and the ‘Asiwaju boys.’
According to him, “The feeling among the Asiwaju boys is that the federal boys are trying to take Lagos State from the control of Asiwaju.”
Though he refused to name the so-called federal boys, the source said, “Unfortunately for them, they don’t have the number.”
“With crises in many APC states especially in the south-west where Tinubu hails from, the chances of APC retaining its dominance of the geopolitical zone may be blighted,” he said.
“What is happening is like an anti-climax and it has left the party even more divided and polarized. The president needs to wade in if he is serious about reconciliation,” he said.
The governors in Ogun, Oyo and Ondo were said to have aligned with Oyegun with a view to clip the wing of Asiwaju in determining who gets what in 2019.
What Tinubu did before he backed out
Tinubu’s first reconciliation move was his Valentine’s Day visit to the APC NWC members led by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
The APC national leader, whose visit to the party national secretariat was the first since the inauguration of President Buhari-led administration, said the assignment given to him included confidence building and resolution of conflicts in various states and at national level.
“I sympathize with us and we should equally look at ourselves. Since we won the election, the expectations were very high and the good will was extremely high.
But where are we today?
“The solution is to seek opinion and advice on the various complexities around some states or if there is any national one, to reconcile, move the party in a cohesive manner and reposition if any and build the confidence among ourselves,” he said.
Oyegun on his part said the NWC would give the needed assistance to the Tinubu committee.
“There is no question at all that we have major issues with the National Assembly, major issues in Kano, Kogi, Benue states which the current challenge that we are facing,” he said.
Within a few days, Tinubu had also met separately with Senate President, Bukola Saraki and former governors Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano). He also met Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko and other chieftains of the party in Sokoto State.
What is left to do
In Ogun and Oyo where the governors are on the last legs of their tenure, the battle for the souls of the states has been very fierce. For instance in Ogun, Senator Olamilekan Adeola representing Lagos Central in the National Assembly is a frontline aspirant but he is not in the good books of the out-going governor, Ibikunle Amosun, who is fighting tooth and nail to install a successor.
“With this kind of scenario, how will Senator Adeola, a loyalist of Asiwaju to the core, survive the onslaught against his aspiration,” the APC chieftain asked.
In Ondo State, findings show that there are more than three camps of APC. Since last year, the state chairman of the party, Isaac Kekemeke has been suspended with Ade Adetimehin appointed as acting chairman believed to be in the governor’s camp. Kekemeke on his part belongs to Senator Ajayi Borrofice’s camp. Borrofice is also believed to be close to Tinubu.
The Director of Media and Publicity, Ondo APC, Mr Steve Otaloro in a chat with Daily Trust, said Tinubu’s reconciliatory mission is welcome in Ondo, but quickly added that there is nothing to reconcile.
“If there is anyone to reconcile it is Senator Borrofice”, he said, adding that Ondo APC unanimously endorsed Oyegun’s tenure extension.
In Kogi, nothing has been done by the Tinubu committee in terms of reconciling the aggrieved parties within the APC in the state.
Sources said that the actions of some stakeholders in the state, working in collaboration with the national chairman of the APC seem to be sabotaging genuine reconciliation moves.
Particularly, the emergence of a parallel EXCO said to be loyal to Governor Yahaya Bello despite the belief that Tinubu’s reconciliation committee is the wrong signal as far as the resolution of the lingering impasse is concerned.
Various groups within the APC in Kaduna State have waited for Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his team in vain.
There are no less than three blocs within the Kaduna APC, with one, loyal to the state governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, the other known as APC Akida, led by Tom Maiyashi which has people like Senator Shehu Sani and Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, and the Restoration Group which has people like Senator Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi and Tijjani Ramalan.
One of the leaders of the CPC component that fused into the APC, Alhaji Yunusa Saeed even resigned from the APC about two weeks ago out of frustration saying the party is confused as it does not even acknowledge the presence of his group in the bid towards reconciliation adding that there’s no need for him and his supporters to wait for the Tinubu committee to come to Kaduna.
Spokesman of the APC Akida group, Murtala Abubakar confirmed to our correspondent that the Tinubu committee has not shown any sign that is either doing or intends to do anything about Kaduna.
“They’ve not come here; it is only the Segun Oni committee that was set up by the NWC that was here.
“But after extending the tenure of the EXCOs, there’s hardly much the committee can do anymore,” he said.
Our correspondent observed that the secretariat of the party on Ali Akilu Road, which is the one recognized by the national secretariat of the party and has the backing of the governor, has been upbeat with activities ahead of the local government elections.
But the other groups are having serious meetings towards taking concrete steps that would put them at advantage ahead of the elections, our correspondent learnt.
In Kano, apart from the recent allegation by the Kano State Commissioner for Community and Rural Development, Alhaji Musa Iliyasu Kwankwaso, that the former Governor of the state, Dr Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso had rejected the Tinubu-led committee’s invitation, nothing has been heard about the committee.
According to the commissioner, Kwankwaso deliberately shunned the committee that invited him to Kano for a meeting during the wedding of the daughter of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
He said, “The reconciliation committee has invited senator Kwankwaso to come to Kano on that very day for a reconciliation meeting slated to hold shortly after the wedding fatiha but he refused to come,” the commissioner alleged.
However, Kwankwaso’s political associate, Dr Yunusa Adamu Dangwani disputed the allegation, saying there was no iota of truth in the claim.
Dagwani, who served as chief of staff under Kwankwaso’s administration, said Iliyasu Kwankwaso had said so many things about his boss, which later turned to be untrue.
He said, “Kwankwaso has never been invited by the Tinubu committee for reconciliation meeting in Kano. After all, Iliyasu Kwankwaso is not in the position to disclose this information because he is not a member of the committee and he is not Senator Tinubu’s spokesperson,” he said.
With so many pieces of the APC to pick up and patch together, this may just be another case of Humpty Dumpty, which this disgruntled kings man may eventually not be able to piece together in time for the 2019 elections. https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/apc-mulls-caretaker-committee-as-party-holds-caucus-nec-meetings-tomorrow-tuesday.htmllalasticlala |
