A fresh crisis is brewing in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over the ambition of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari. Although Tinubu is yet to declare his interest in the presidential race formally, he has been making consultations and visiting prominent Nigerians to notify them and seek their support.
Elder statesman Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, who Tinubu recently visited in Abuja, disclosed that the APC national leader informed him of his presidential ambition and asked for his support.
Senator Rufai Hanga, pioneer national chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and APC chieftain, who recently dumped the ruling party, said a split among the APC governors on the issue of the presidential flagbearer of the party. According to him, while some governors in the party have settled for a presidential candidate among them, with a serving minister in President Buhari’s administration as running mate, other governors root for Tinubu, saying they should rally around him for all he has done for the party.
He said, “We have about three to four factions, and it is next to an impossibility to bring them together. There are governors in the party who have carved their niche somewhere and are not ready to go with other governors.
“Just three days ago, some governors sat, and I heard it from good authority that they met and anointed one of them as presidential candidate. They have chosen his running mate from among one of the serving ministers. They are willing to go all the way and are determined there is no going back.
“There are other governors who are not willing to hear all that. These governors are all out for Asiwaju Tinubu. These say that it is unfortunate Asiwaju badly despite all he has done for the party. They are telling their colleague governors not to bite the finger that fed them. So there is division among the APC governors right now.”
Hanga, who said the APC is technically non-existent, added that there is no way the party will survive an implosion, especially with the crises in almost 13 states owing to the fall-out of the congresses.
“There is a neutral group that has come out to say they have sacked Buni, and they have a new national chairman. Under this kind of confusion, how do you expect this party to survive at this material time? We are in December now.
“APC to me is technically non-existent for now going by the Supreme Court judgment on Ondo governorship election. Yes, they have allowed Ondo to go away with the governorship, but if you go by the decision of all the seven judges, they all concurred that it was wrong for a governor to be the party chairman.
“If it is wrong and unconstitutional for him to be the governor and party chairman at the same time, it means whatever action he takes or must have taken is null and void. Anything done by him is illegal. The court will nullify anything he has done.
“To me, APC is a goner. That is why I have decided to call it to quit. They keep on shifting their national convention from now till February. You should have all gotten your candidates nominated by June or July, but the APC wants to do a federal way in February.
“In more than 13 states now, they have more than three leaderships all claiming to be in control of the party. How can they do a convention with parallel leadership in most states? From the time they had congresses in the states until date, they should have resolved it, but up till now, they are not able to do so. By February, they will still have some lingering problems,” he said.
The cracks among the APC governors were evident when Governor KayodeFayemi of Ekiti and Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State both addressed Ahmadu Haruna Zago (Danzago), who belongs to Ibrahim Shekarau faction as Kano APC state chairman.
Two factions of the party in the state had conducted parallel congresses on October 18, but the party endorsed the one conducted by the loyalists of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State. The Shekarau’s faction had elected Danzago as chairman, while Ganduje’s camp elected Abdullahi Abbas.
The National Appeal Committee set up by the APC later recognised Abbas as the chairman of the party in the state.
Not satisfied with the decision of the party, the faction led by a former governor of the state, who is now a senator, Ibrahim Shekarau, headed to the court, asking for the nullification of the congresses at the ward, local government areas, and state levels conducted by the rival faction and uphold its own.
In his ruling, the judge, Hamza Muazu, granted their quests and upheld the congresses conducted by the Shekarau faction.
The judge also made an order restraining the Ganduje faction from appointing a new executive.
Credible sources said the recognition given to Danzago by Fayemi and Badaru was to spite Governor Ganduje, whose candidate was removed by the court.
NAN
