APC Internal Crisis: Is the party becoming opposition to itself?
By Odunayo Odeja
Many Nigerians predicted Crisis in the ruling All progressives Congress APC ahead of the party primary in June where the National Leader of the party Asiwaju Bola Tinubu emerged as the presidential candidate of the ruling APC.
Before the primary, there was an uproar within the party that the Northerners and Cabals favoured a Northern candidate to emerge as the presidential candidate and the name of Senate President Ahmed Lawal was brought forward.
While many believed it was a rumour and an impossible mission, Tinubu’s outburst in Abeokuta Ogun state took the nation down memory lane on how he helped President Muhammadu Buhari to attain the position after multiple attempts.
The “Emi lokan” saga raised dust before the primary which made it crystal clear that there was conflicting interest in the party.
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The issues in the party were downplayed after Tinubu’s trusted ally in the north, the Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai led governors in the region to President Muhammadu Buhari to pledge their support towards a Southern Presidential candidate.
This made the coast clearer for Asiwaju as he beat his closest rivals in the South, the then Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi and Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
The victory led to perceived cohesion and unity of purpose as all party members including president Muhammadu Buhari pledged their unwavering support for Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the party although there were controversies within and outside the party over the choice of Former Borno Governor Kashim Shettima as Vice President and the Muslim -Muslim Ticket.
The new naira policy and fuel scarcity then again brought to the fore the unforeseen crisis in the party as Ahmed Tinubu in Abeokuta openly condemned the policy saying it was targeted against his presidential ambition.
According to Tinubu, he would be elected Nigeria’s next president despite attempts by some persons in the government to sabotage his chances in the February 25 poll.
“They said petrol will rise to N200/litre and N500/litre, let your mind be at rest. They don’t want these forthcoming elections to hold. They want to scatter it but that won’t be possible.
“They thought they could cause trouble; they sabotaged fuel but with or without fuel, with or without motorcycles and tricycles, we will vote and win. This is a superior revolution.
“We will take over government through our PVCs. Even if they say there is no fuel, we will trek to the polling units.”
Tinubu and his campaign team have been dissociating themselves from Buhari‘s Administrations failure since the inception of his campaign as he carefully chose his campaign strategy from his Lagos antecedents as a governor while shying away from continuing the Legacy of president Buhari who was voted for under his party.
The internal wrangling in the party reached its crescendo when the Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai insisted that some elements in the presidential villa were undermining the chances of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.
According to him, the conduct of the federal government depicted “a government disowning own party by Tinubu’s allegation that the currency redesign policy and the persistent fuel scarcity were targeted at his candidacy.
El-Rufai said the elements were creating stumbling blocks to make it difficult for Tinubu and the party to win the February 25 poll.
He explained that the “influential” elements in the villa sold the idea of the naira redesign project to the president to achieve a particular objective without giving a thought to the implication.
Reacting to the crisis, a political analyst and University Don Professor Busuyi Mekusi said APC is an amalgamated party and it is obvious that everyone in the party has different interests which might be different from the collective interest of the party.
Mekusi Harped that the party is becoming opposed to itself because there is no cordial relationship between the candidate of the party and some elements in the presidency.
” It is very amusing that the APC seems to be an opposition to itself, unfortunately Nigerians are eluded to look at this. Things are not adding up between the presidential candidate of the APC and certain elements in the presidency.
“Fani Kayode a member of the presidential Campaign Committee of APC went on International television to tell us that they are prepared for these individuals.
“For me it is an interesting time we are in and certain things will still unfold. APC is at war with itself, we do not know if it will be able to manage its internal wrangling to be able to retain the presidency.
He said the internal crisis is not just against the party candidate but some people in the presidency are also supporting the candidate of the opposition party which in turn may affect them at the poll.
“There are also insinuations that these elements are working in cohort with the candidate of the opposition party, particularly the PDP.
” This is politics and Buhari has nothing to lose even though he spoke openly of his support for Tinubu, but we all know that he was not very keen on his candidacy, he behaved like a little child who was forced to swallow a bitter thing.”
