by Ike Aboni
In 1983 Presidential election, the Great Zik of Africa, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, then Presidential candidate of the defunct Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) was asked by journalists to assess his colleagues in the race; Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Mallam Aminu Kano of the defunct People’s Redemption Party (PRP0; Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim of the defunct Greater Nigerian People’s Party (GNPP) and Chief Tunji Braithwaite of the defunct Nigeria Advance Party (NAP). Zik took time to describe all of them in witty words to the amusement of the journalists.
But when he got to Mallam Aminu Kano, he cleared his throat and stated that among all of them, Aminu Kano was the man who has the poor and the downtrodden in his heart most, but that the problem was that should he be elected as President and he became confronted by the challenge of bureaucracy of government, he may find himself jumping into the street with placards to protest against government, forgetting that he was the President.”
The importance of that observation from the great Zik is that Aminu Kano of the takalawa fame had gotten well known as a defender of the poor and may not be able to fit into any other role. When the five political groups, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the break-away group from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) then known as the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) decided to merge and form the current ruling party All Progressive Congress (APC), they came with varying characteristics unique to them.
None of them came with real national character but they all enjoyed somewhat unique territorial, religious or tribal character. The ACN, which was dominant in the South West, carried the political character of the region, which is more associated with opposition and regional politics than national. The CPC, with its base in the north also lacked national status, ditto the ANPP.
The APGA, which has its politics domiciled in the South East was also local in nature and its character can be observed in the way it joined the merger with a fraction of the main. The PDP that could have boasted of being the only true national outfit in the fold also failed the test because it took only a fraction of its main into the group.
All the groups apparently hid their individual characteristics until victory came their way and with their emerging clashes the APC aircraft with President Muhammadu Buhari as chief pilot is having difficulty taxiing off the tarmac. In fact, the leadership crisis of June 9th in National Assembly that threw the APC off guard only provided an avenue to bring to the fore what has been raging since December 2014 when the party held its national convention/ Presidential primaries.
The ACN that has haughtily arrogated to itself the status of senior partner in the project has refused to see reason in allowing the election of Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively stand. Not even the rational argument of the other group in accommodating all the geo political zones in the power sharing has made sense to them. The South West that already has Deputy Speaker is still insisting on producing the House Leader to the disadvantage of other zones. The same scenario it is in the Senate where they did not want to properly accommodate the two zones of South South and South East.
Apparently because they did not have their way, the ACN group in the project appears to have obliquely returned to their old way of playing opposition role to the Government even to the one they are not just part of but also occupy number two in the hierarchy.
That was the message most political observers got when South-West states’ chairmen of the APC openly decried the pattern of appointments by President Buhari, complaining that all of them had ethnic slant. They noted that aside President Muhammedu Buhari’s spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, who is from the South West region, every other appointment so far made by Buhari have been from the core North and all of them Northern Muslims.
The party chairmen vowed not to recognize the emergence of Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara until the crisis in the National Assembly is resolved by the party. In a joint statement, the chairmen vowed to resist any attempt by some elements in the party to humiliate their leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The statement was signed by Chief Henry Ajomale (Lagos), Prince Gboyega Famoodun (Osun), Alhaji Roqeeb Adeniji (Ogun), Chief Akin Oke of Oyo State, Chief Olajide Awe (Ekiti) and Mr. Isaac Kekemeke, (Ondo). According to them, if this move is not halted, the reaction of the region could have dire consequences.
They warned that they would soon break their silence over the ill-treatment of Tinubu by some elements in the APC. The chairmen urged “those trying either to intimidate or embarrass Tinubu to retrace their steps as the South-West’s response will shock everyone to the foundation.”
Tinubu had rejected the emergence of Saraki, insisting that the Senate President should apologise to him for the coup. If the South West APC thought they could browbeat President Buhari into changing his slant, they must have been disappointed looking at the list of Monday’s shake up of security chiefs with six top security chiefs, south West got one, south south one the rest from the north. About 15 key appointments so far none has mistakenly come from the South East.
The Secretary to the Government of the federation said to have been slated for the region ran into a hitch that may lead to eventual denial. Not surprising because some APC leaders are arguing that federal character is not justifiable.
This is despite the President not belonging to anyone and not being for anyone. While no one, not even Governor Rochas Okorocha, the sole Administrator of South East APC can complain, the story can’t be the same as indicators are strong that unless ACN get through their way, Buhari may be in for a strong opposition from within.
This picture appears certain as it does not seem feasible that the Sarakis and Dogaras backed by the Abubakar Atikus would ever have amicable situation in the party with the Tinubus and the Bisi Akandes. Moreover, Buhari’s body language is nowhere malleable to either.
That would send them back to a role they are more suited for, opposition politics and that returns this discourse back to Zik’s Aminu Kano scenario that if you take away a player from his familiar wing where he enjoys some mastery, he may find a way of returning to his familiar terrain. Former Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Chief Bode George may not have been too off the track when he said gleefully over elections at the National Assembly on June 9th that Lagos political strong man Bola Tinubu had learnt some lessons that that being a master in South West politics automatically makes him a master in national politics. Hear the former naval officer in his own words, “You know I predicted weeks ago that the APC is just a congregation of strange bedfellows.
The most beautiful thing about what has happened is that Bola Tinubu’s political influence in Nigeria is coming to a sunset and it is about five minutes to midnight for him.
If he cannot see this now, then it will be foolish of him. He brought in the APC national chairman and the vicepresident and he thinks Nigeria belongs to him.
So, he thought what he did in Lagos was what he could replicate at the national level and they have shown him that he cannot continue to be the lord of the manor.” May these machinations not knock the APC change vehicle conveying the long list of promises that Nigerians are still anxiously awaiting.
God bless Nigeria.
Ike Abonyi is deputy managing director/deputy editor in chief at New Telegraph Newspaper where this article was first published. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
