Protests threaten APC alliance with G5 governors

■We’ll take care of all interests –Party

BY ADE ALADE

There is a growing unrest among some leaders and members of the opposition mega party, the All Progressives Congress, in some states whose governors dumped the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to go into an alliance with the APC last Tuesday.

The rumbling, which is capable of causing an implosion within the fast growing party in the coming weeks, if not properly handled, Saturday Sun gathered, is a direct fallout of a

Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed between the national leadership of the APC and the G5 governors through their group, called new PDP. The agreement effectively handed over the leadership structures of the APC in the new member states to the defecting governors at the expense of the already established and existing leaders of the party in the affected states.

States where APC leadership structures have been handed over to their new entrant governors include Adamawa, Kwara, Kano, Sokoto, and Rivers states. Investigations across the five states show that while there may not be any serious contention with Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers over the effective take-over of the APC structure in his state, the same thing cannot be said of the remaining four states with strong APC leaders already in place.

The APC national leadership, which is already aware of the growing tension has, however, assured that appropriate mechanisms have been put in place to take care of the integration process and the crisis that may likely ensue.

Interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed told Saturday Sun that “all groups and individuals will have to make sacrifices i the present circumstance in the overall interest of the nation.”

It was gathered that states where there is likely to be serious problems with protests and

agitations already going on quietly include Adamawa where defecting Governor Murtala Nyako is said to have begun the process of using the APC structure to install his son, Naval Commander Azeez Nyako (retd) as his successor in 2015.The junior Nyako is said to have started holding meetings and dispensing patronage in terms of appointments and cash gifts to youth and women leaders of the defunct ACN, ANPP and CPC, called the legacy parties that merged to form APC in all the 21 local councils in the state. The same gesture was also said to have been extended to the chair-men and secretaries of the legacy parties across the local government areas.

The development, it was learnt, has been generating serious heat that may lead to an eruption within the APC in the state where a former military governor of Lagos State and the governor-ship candidate of the CPC in the 2011 elections in the state, Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd) has been the rallying point of the party’s leadership.

“If Marwa left the PDP for Nyako after he (Marwa) won the PDP governorship congress in 2011 because he was robbed of that victory by the national leadership of PDP which cancelled the election, how do you expect him or his followers to feel if the APC national leadership comes around again and asked him to allow Nyako have another eight years by installing his son in 2015. It is an issue we cant run away from in Adamawa”, a stalwart of the defunct ACN in the state told Saturday Sun.

Speaking in Yola on Thursday, Governor Nyako debunked the allegation that he mobilized his faction of the PDP to APC, in a bid to have his son succeed him in 2015, saying that neither him nor Abdul Azeez has any interest in contesting for any elective office in 2015 Nyako stated that it was a mere allegation by his detractors to dissuade him from fighting agains impunity and inequity in the PDP.

According to him, his son had repeatedly told him in confidence that he is not excited about any political office, stressing that the most exciting and memorable day in the life of his son was the day he was commissioned at the Nigeria Defence Academy, NDA, as a military office.

Corroborating the position of the governor that Abdul Azeez is not aspiring for the governor-ship ticket of APC, Nyako’s chief press secretary, Alhaji Ahmed Sajoh, debunked the allegations in some quarters that Nyako had offered plots of land and money to members of the legacy parties

.He disclosed that Governor Nyako had often times told members of his cabinet at the state executive meeting that, his son, Azeez has no interest to contest for any elective post in 2015.In Kano State, the situation is the same. The incumbent governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso will have to contend with his predecessor, Ibrahim Shekarau who has held forte as APC leader in the state. “If a governor comes into APC today and wants the structure of the party in his state to be handed over to him, we may have to critically look at it. This is because there are structures on ground in the states before such a governor came in. It is not possible to ignore this reality when you are discussing the terms under which a new person is coming into the party, else there could be confusion,” Shekarau had declared recently following the visit of some national leaders of the APC to some states under the control of seven rebel governors in the PDP to woo them.

The same development is coming up in Sokoto where the incumbent Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamako has to contend with the leadership structure already being maintained by his former boss, Dalhatu Bafarawa Bafarawa had given an indication of what to expect when he spoke on the possibility of having Wamakko join APC. “Let him go there and register for his member-ship card at the wards and local government up to the national level. So, there is no shortcut whether G7, G14 or G20, you have to follow the due process,” he said. Bafarawa, who was not at the commissioning ceremony of University of Sokoto, which had General Muhammadu Buhari, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, APC Interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande and other APC leaders in attendance, said the G-7 governors will not be allowed to use money to take control of the party.

“We don’t want the party to look like the rich people have it. We want to move away from money politics, we want to give the grassroots the right to choose their leaders. That is why we are saying that Wamakko is no different from the G-7,” he added.

It was also gathered that in Kwara, followers of the ACN governorship candidate in the 2011 elections, Dele Belgore are already grumbling over any attempt to deny their candidate a chance to test his popularity at the polls in 2015 when the incumbent, Abdulfatah Ahmed who officially takes charge of the APC leadership in the state in conjunction with his godfather, Senator Bukola Saraki will want to run for another term.

The rumblings notwithstanding, the APC national leadership said it is more concerned about the bigger picture, which is taking over the government at the centre.“For the leadership of the party, what is more important now is the bigger picture of rescuing Nigeria. But to take care of some of the grumblings and protests that may come up in the affected states, we have set up some

committees that will take care of the concerns of our leaders in those states and ensure a seamless integration of the new members. The committee will take care of whatever crisis that may ensue in the ongoing process of integration”, the APC spokesman, Lai Mohammed added.

The post Protests threaten APC alliance with G5 governors appeared first on The Sun News.

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