Last week, all the political parties were expected to round up on their choices of candidates for next year’s general elections. At the expiration of the deadline, October 7, it was a potpourri of the good, the bad and the ugly from across the states, especially for the two leading political parties; the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In some of the other parties too, like the Alliance for a New Nigeria, there is a dispute between Gbenga Olawepo Hashim and Fela Durotoye, as to who will fly the party’s flag come next year.
For APC, the crisis did not begin now. It has been finding it hard to get its act together since after winning the presidential election in 2015. Indeed, it has been one crisis after the other. Initially, the thinking was that the then chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, was not providing the right leadership the party desired. However, with the coming of former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, the tide has not changed. Oshiomhole seems to be doing a bad job managing the party’s many demons.
Getting to the top is a lot easier than managing life at the top. APC under Oshiomhole requires some serious level of re-engineering especially given the fact that the party is on the threshold of yet another round of electioneering; an election that appears to be coming at a faster pace than they are prepared for. If an election is to take places today, APC will certainly find it hard to cope. At least, Ekiti and Osun are still fresh in our minds. But thank God there is still some ample time for them to get their acts together before the elections in 2019.
As things stand now, the APC will have problems after their not too pleasant primaries across the states. In Zamfara State, which is easily the most contentious, the party risks not fielding candidates in the elections if the position of the political umpire, the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), is anything to go by. INEC had, last Monday, declared APC ineligible to field candidates for all elective positions in Zamfara State on the basis that it did not hold primaries in the state before the expiration of the stipulated deadline.
In the INEC’s letter titled, “Failure to conduct party primaries in Zamfara State within the stipulated time-frame,” the commission said APC failed to conduct its primary elections in Zamfara within the stipulated time-frame”.
In Adamawa State, a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and a brother in-law of President Muhammadu Buhari, Mahmood Halilu, have called for the cancellation of the APC governorship primary.
Ribadu and Halilu rejected the election, saying the rescheduled primaries which started late across 226 wards in the state were marred by irregularities. Halilu, a younger brother of Aisha Buhari, described the rescheduled direct primary as a charade.
He also lamented that the late arrival of electoral materials was responsible for the primaries proceeding into the night, adding that Gov. Muhammadu Bindow used the cover of darkness to award figures in his favour.
Also, Ribadu urged the NWC to cancel the exercise. He observed that no accreditation took place anywhere in line with the guidelines stipulated for the conduct of the exercise. In Imo, six out of the nine governorship aspirants, in Abuja, declared the conduct of a fresh primary in the state a nullity. They said it was done despite a subsisting court order.
Spokesperson for the group and Deputy Governor of Imo State, Eze Madumere, said critical stakeholders in the election agreed that the election had already been conducted and that the result ought to be released. He said the result of the primary conducted by Ahmed Gulak, signed and agreed to by the majority of the aspirants which declared Senator Hope Uzodimma winner should be declared.
“We have rejected it and have already gone to court and the processes have already been served on the national chairman and all the relevant stakeholders of the party have rejected it and we will stand firm on that.”
On his part, Senator Uzodimma, said six out of the nine governorship aspirants were not in Imo for the rescheduled election.
He said, “The remaining three in the election include son-in-law to the governor (Rochas Okorocha), his brother in-law and the third is the manager of his real estate in Owerri.”
In Ogun State, two factions emerged with separate candidates. Dapo Abiodun won the primaries conducted by the NWC panel, while a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Adekunle Akinlade, emerged victorious in the election conducted by the state chapter of the APC.
In Rivers State, a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, on Wednesday, sacked the Ojukaye Flag-Amachree-led APC executives.
The court annulled all congresses held in the state, as well as the governorship’s indirect primary election held by a faction of the party, led by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi. It’s been a tug of war between Amaechi and his estranged confidant, Senator Magnus Abe, who has vowed to soldier on in his dream and ambition to govern the state against Amaechi’s interest, desire and wish.
Thank God that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, saved them what would have been a major crisis with his decision to lie low after what was clearly an unfair treatment meted out to him by the party. As the ruling party, it is to be expected that APC primaries would be more contentious for obvious reasons. Everybody wants to belong to where it is happening.
Unlike the APC, PDP’s primaries from presidential to the state houses of assembly positions were relatively rancour-free. The reason for this is not far-fetched.
However, one aspect of the PDP’s primaries that would have taken many by surprise was how its presidential primary went in Port Harcourt. There were 13 aspirants jostling for the party’s presidential ticket. At the end, Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and an itinerant politician emerged the winner. The worst was expected. But surprisingly that never happened; at least for now. All the other contestants have since congratulated Atiku on his victory.
For APC, the presidential ticket was not in contention as it was already in the pocket of President Muhammadu Buhari. The major task before them now is to resolve the backlash of its gubernatorial, senatorial and other primaries. The earlier they sort this out and come together as one family, the better for the party. One thing is certain, the 2019 presidential race will not be a stroll in the park as it was in 2015. If they lose the presidency to the opposition, most of the blame will go to the party for clearly failing to put its house in order. The party will need to put on its thinking cap and strategise on how best to go into 2019 general elections in one piece.
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