Southeast, Southsouth APC beset with unresolved crises
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has set up a reconciliation committee to wade into the crises in many state chapters. Southsouth Bureau Chief BISI OLANIYI (Benin City), Correspondents CHRIS NJOKU (Owerri), OGOCHUKWU ANIOKE (Abakaliki), DAMIAN DURUIHEOMA (Enugu), SIMON UTEBOR (Yenagoa), MIKE ODIEGWU (Port Harcourt) and BASSEY ANTHONY (Uyo) give an overview of the crises in the Southeast and the Southsouth geo-political zones
There are many unresolved crises in many state chapters in the Southeast and Southsouth geo-political zones. Thus, the reconciliation committee recently set up by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is likely to face a herculean task to realise its mandate. The party is beset with many challenges in the two regions.
Imo:
Imo is one of the states where the APC has a protracted crisis. The party has been split in the middle, with Governor Hope Uzodimma leading one faction and former Governor Rochas Okorocha heading the second. Despite two Supreme Court judgments, these factions have been in a prolonged battle for supremacy. This internal strife has negatively impacted the party’s cohesion and effectiveness in the state, with both factions claiming the party’s leadership and engaging in legal battles for control.
Recent developments include disputes over the reinstatement of the Chief Dan Nwafor-led executives as directed by the Supreme Court. This led to conflicting letters recognizing different individuals as the state chairman. The Nwafor-led factions’ struggle for power and influence has continued to impact the party’s unity and effectiveness. It has also highlighted the deep-rooted divisions and tensions within the Imo chapter of the APC.
Ebonyi:
In Ebonyi, the APC appears to be doing well; it has taken full control of the state with massive defections from other political parties, especially from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Nevertheless, some aggrieved members of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), one of the legacy parties that metamorphosed into the APC, are still angry that they have been sidelined in the scheme of things by newcomers. Governor Francis Nwifuru and most of the current appointed and elected political office holders in the state defected to the APC from the PDP. They were led to the APC by former Governor David Umahi, the current Minister of Works.
This development has not gone down well with foundational members of the APC who have watched helplessly as Umahi, Nwifuru and others took over the party. One of those said to be aggrieved is Ogbonnaya Onu, a former minister during the Muhammadu Buhari administration who was one of those who engineered the merger and formation of the APC. Onu who passed away last week Thursday was said to be so aggrieved that he left the country after the swearing-in of the new administration and has not been seen in the state since.
However, some APC members who spoke with our correspondent said the APC national leadership was right to have handed control of the party to Umahi. They noted that without Umahi, Nwifuru and others who joined the APC, the party would not have been able to wrestle political control of the state from the PDP.
Enugu:
Some members of the APC) in Enugu State have told the national leadership to reconcile aggrieved members of the party if it intends to win the 2027 polls in the Coal City State. The members specifically called on the Southeast leadership of the party to act fast before the party went into oblivion.
Their call is coming against the background of the intractable crisis rocking the chapter, following the alleged suspension or expulsion of some of its stakeholders. Those either expelled or suspended include former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; former Governor Sullivan Chime; former Speaker of the State Assembly, Eugene Odoh; former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr Osita Okechukwu; former chairman, Dr Ben Nwoye; and recently the member representing Enugu State in the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Mrs Ginika Tor.
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One of the aggrieved members, Dr. Nwoye insists that the leadership of the APC in the Southeast must intervene to save the party from perpetual poor performance. Nwoye is also of the view that without the leaders’ intervention, the Ugochukwu Agballah leadership of the chapter would plunge the party into more crises and mar its future in future elections.
He said: “There was a reconciliation committee headed by Senator Abdullahi Adamu with former Governor Sullivan Chime as secretary. The immediate past Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, whom Agballah is abusing today, appeared before that committee to defend the choice of Agballah as chairman.
“I was there to complain that there was no congress in Enugu before the emergence of Agballah. But that’s all behind us now. Since the party has accepted him as the chairman, as a party man, I too, and other members of our party, have also accepted him.”
Nwoye expressed sadness over the incessant abuse of party leaders and stakeholders in Enugu State by the state chairman, who has also been accused of arbitrarily suspending foundation members of the party.
He called on the APC National Vice Chairman (Southeast), Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu, to caution Ugochukwu Agballah to stop his unguarded remarks against some national caucus members of the party from the state.
Bayelsa:
The Bayelsa APC is beset with years of unresolved crises, as the cracks in the chapter did not start now. But, unlike the situation before the 2019 general election when the APC formed a coalition with many disgruntled members of the PDP, there are different political camps in the APC today.
The party, under the leadership of Timipre Sylva, the immediate former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, appears heavily polarised; no thanks to Sylva’s style of leadership. Before now, the Bayelsa APC had great and prominent politicians in its fold. But most of them have either left the party or are simply indifferent about its quest to wrest power from the PDP. There appears to be a mutual suspicion among prominent chieftains of the party and the development has been allowed to fester. This was what led to the dismal performance of the party in last year’s governorship election in the state.
A chieftain of the party in Bayelsa, Festus Daumiebi, a lawyer and former governorship aspirant, said there is an urgent need to resolve the crisis in the chapter. He said there had been a deep-seated crisis in the chapter that required the personal intervention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, to guarantee the existence of the APC in Bayelsa.
Daumiebi stated: “The truth is that the APC in Bayelsa State requires more than a peripheral reconciliation. There are deep-seated issues, he added, that require a holistic and sincere approach. He said: “The national leadership will require more than just sitting in Abuja to discuss with one or two persons and think the issues are addressed. We are faithful and committed party members. We have been in this party since its inception and we do not intend to leave this party, provided the right thing is done.
“It is a good step that a reconciliation committee has been set up. It is the prayer of every party man that the issues are resolved; that is if they are done honestly and holistically.”
Edo:
There is little or no reconciliation to be done in Edo. This is because the leaders of APC in Edo and at the national level have already reconciled the aggrieved parties, after the recent governorship primary in the Southsouth state. As a result, the governorship campaign, which is scheduled to begin on April 24, is likely to be smooth and it would pave the way for the APC to compete favourably to produce Governor Godwin Obaseki’s successor.
Dennis Idahosa, who currently represents Ovia Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, was on February 17 declared winner of the direct governorship primary conducted by Imo State’s Governor Hope Uzodimma. But, owing to the controversy surrounding the exercise, a fresh primary was held on February 22, which produced Senator Monday Okpebholo, as the standard bearer of the party.
After a reconciliation effort that followed the fresh exercise, Idahosa accepted to be the running mate to Okpebholo. The strategic combination is expected to help the party garner votes in Idahosa’s Edo South senatorial district, which has the largest voting population.
Rivers:
The situation in Rivers State is a bit complicated. Therefore, the APC reconciliation team has a herculean task on their hands. The crisis rocking the party in the oil-rich state is unique. Since the APC failed to make the ballot in the 2019 general election, the party has been in tatters. The same leadership crisis that tore the party apart in 2019 by compelling the court to stop its participation in the elections has refused to go away.
At every point in the life of Rivers APC, party leaders are always at daggers’ drawn, while party members are divided into various camps. In 2019, the unresolved disagreement between Senator Magnus Abe and the party leader, former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi ensured that the APC did not participate in the poll. In 2023, Abe went his separate ways with his supporters by joining the Social Democratic Party (SDP) where he became the party’s governorship candidate. He later lost the election.
Amaechi’s decision to stick with Tonye Cole as the governorship candidate of the party in 2023 created bad blood among the remaining leaders, who also opted for other opposition political platforms to actualise their ambitions. However, the party became more divided following the presidential ambition of Amaechi. Though Amaechi lost the APC presidential ticket, he failed to close ranks with the winner and now President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the elections.
Amaechi’s body language and positive disposition towards the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, brought confusion to the party. It created a lacuna and forced other party leaders like Tony Okocha to ally with the then Governor Nyesom Wike, who though was a PDP leader mobilised support for Tinubu.
While the state executive committee of the APC backed Amaechi, Okocha and others disagreed with him and worked with Wike to support Tinubu. Those, who supported Wike also worked against the governorship candidate of the APC, Tonye Cole, who was backed by Amaechi. They reciprocated Wike’s support for Tinubu by working for the then-candidate of the PDP, Siminalayi Fubara, who later won the election.
Undoubtedly, the victories of Tinubu and Fubara relegated the Amaechi-led Rivers APC to the background. The camp of Amaechi believes that there is nothing that will come out of the reconciliation committee set up by the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje.
The camp is furious that Ganduje met with the state exco in September last year, and gave members a directive only to turn around and dissolve the same exco without consulting them. They are angry that Ganduje set up a caretaker committee to manage the affairs of the party and made Wike’s man, Tony Okocha, the chairman of the committee.
The immediate past Publicity Secretary, Darlington Nwauju, cast serious doubts on the reconciliation committee set up by Ganduje, saying the circumstances surrounding its establishment lacked sincerity. He said: “We feel like we will likely not get the kind of attention that we deserve as persons who have laboured to give the APC a footing in Rivers and as persons who have suffered all manner of attack.”
Nwauju said Ganduje dissolved the state exco without consulting them despite making promises to them when they met with him shortly after his emergence as the APC chairman. He described the way and manner Ganduje dissolved the state exco as an insult.
Akwa Ibom:
The situation in the Akwa Ibom State is no different from that of many other APC state chapters: the house is divided because of the selfish interest of the party’s major stakeholders. The State Executive Council of the party, otherwise known as the State Exco, is still struggling to gain legitimacy because most stakeholders see it as loyal to only the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
As a result, there is no unity and cohesiveness in the chapter. There are perpetual personality fights among the heavyweights of the party, including Senator Godswill Akpabio, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Okon Umana, former Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang; and former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Nsima Ekere. This has resulted in the Akwa Ibom State APC chapter breaking into factions, with each of the major stakeholders heading each faction.
There is equally discontentment among party members over allegations that they have been sidelined in the distribution of appointments, contracts etc.