Contrary to the stand of five
former governors of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) who
defected to the All Progressives
Congress (APC) that they are
automatic leaders of the
opposition party in their states,
the APC leadership has said it
has not ceded the offices to
them.
The clarification came as top
leaders of the APC, who
championed its emergence from
the defunct All Nigeria Peoples
Party (ANPP), Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN), Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC) and
Democratic People's Party (DPP),
have continued to reject the
governors as their leaders,
describing them as "strangers in
the APC fold".
The APC leadership has also
hinted that the party will hold its
first national convention to elect
its national officers in March
while the local government and
state congresses will precede it in
February.
In an interview, APC interim
national spokesman Alhaji Lai
Mohammed said the party did not
give the leadership mantle to any
of the defected governors and
urged APC chieftains in the
affected states to sheathe their
swords in the overall interest of
the party.
"We have not asked the new PDP
governors to take over the
leadership of the party in their
states. Nobody has said that.
What we agreed on was that all
the new PDP governors should be
given the same privileges being
enjoyed by the APC governors,
which is just to be given the
opportunity to appoint
representatives for the interim
committees of the party. Those
who are claiming that do not get
it right," Mohammed said.
"The defection of the new PDP
governors to the party should
make us happy because they
made us stronger in the states
where they come from. Their
coming has positive and negative
sides: the positive is that we are
stronger in their states while the
negative side is that those who
have been in charge of the party
are feeling threatened with their
ambition for one post or the
other."
He added: "There is a need to
manage the ego and interest of
those who are angry and feel
threatened that their ambition
might not being realised; but they
should all forget about their
ambition and work harmoniously
with the former PDP governors.
They should learn from our
leaders who sacrificed their
personal ambition for the merger
to become a reality."
The defection of governors Rabi'u
Kwankwaso of Kano State, Aliyu
Wamakko of Sokoto, Murtala
Nyako (Adamawa), Abdulfatah
Ahmed (Kwara) and Rotimi
Amaechi (Rivers) has caused
disaffection among stakeholders
in the states. The only exceptions
are Kwara and Rivers states
where there is no discord among
the members.
In Adamawa State, retired Brig-
Gen. Buba Marwa and Governor
Nyako are fighting for the soul of
the APC, while in Kano State
Governor Kwankwaso is at
loggerheads with his predecessor
in office, Mallam Ibrahim
Shekarau.
The same goes for Sokoto State
where Governor Wamakko and
former governor of the state
Attahiru Bafarawa are into a
supremacy contest.
At the centre of the dispute is the
condition given to the defected
governors that they would enjoy
the same privileges and rights
given to the APC governors in
their states.
To the defected governors, this
means that they are the leaders
of the party in their states, but
this has been rejected by the
founding fathers of the APC in the
affected states.
Although APC national leaders has
set up machinery to address the
logjam, the crisis is far from over,
thereby making political analysts
suggest that the party should
learn from the PDP which zoned
its offices to take care of various
interest groups in the party.
"The zoning of positions and
elective offices within the PDP
was adopted purposely to take
care of every interest group that
made up the party in 1998 shortly
before and after the Jos
convention, and this was why the
party still stays by the zoning
arrangement; and it was the
death of President Umaru
Yar'Adua and the assumption of
office by then vice president Dr
Goodluck Jonathan as president
that led to the crisis rocking the
party till date," a serving senator
said.
But Mohammed urged those who
are unhappy with the pact APC
struck with the defected
governors to put the interest of
the party and the country first in
their grievances if they wanted an
end to the poor governance of
the PDP.
He stated that the former PDP
governors came to the APC at the
right time, adding: "Our
registration would start in
February and they with their
supporters would be given the
same opportunity to register and
participate in the congresses
coming up in the same month
and in the national convention
holding in March."
Mohammed accused the PDP of
orchestrating the crisis in the
affected states, but expressed
optimism that the commission
set up by the party would resolve
all the conflicts before the
congresses.
He also allayed fears of
domination in the convention and
the primaries which would follow,
declaring that there would be no
zoning as every member would be
free to contest in the open
primaries for each office.
"By the grace of God, all the
conflicts would be resolved
before the congresses in February
and the convention in March. To
achieve this, the party has set up
a high-powered committee to
smoothen all the rough edges
and this would be done shortly
before the registration scheduled
for this month. Our congresses
would be in February and, by
March, we would have the
convention.
"There is no zoning in our
constitution. We would be guided
by our constitution. We have
been hearing a lot of rumours
and speculations that are not
true.
All our officers and candidates for
all election will emerge through a
transparent process. Nigerians
are interested in how our
presidential candidate will
emerge. We won't disappoint
them," Mohammed said.
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