This article takes a cursory look at the petition received from the aggrieved members of the All Progressive Congress under its past national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and the current leadership of Mai Mala Buni....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
The comparative analysis will afford the readers to know what has changed in terms of managing the internal crisis of the party and the effectiveness of the reconciliation mechanism put in place to resolve all the issues.
The ruling party came into being by a merger of different political parties to form a formidable force against the then incumbent party, People Democratic Party, PDP.
The merger worked and it made the victory much easier coupled with other factors. The party defeated PDP in the 2015 general elections after the latter ruled the country for a solid 16 years. However, because of APC composition, the crisis was much anticipated!
The two former national chairmen namely Odigie Oyegun and Adams Oshiomhole were elected substantially through convection but later thrown out of the party due to crisis. Mai Buni who also doubles as Yobe Governor was appointed as a caretaker.
The Buni-led committee which was first inaugurated with the assignment of organizing a national convention has been reappointed many times as the party kept postponing its convection. Currently, he is battling with all sorts of crises as some aggrieved members are calling for his sack.
However, it is believed that, if other things are being equal, the party would hold its national convention this time around following the endorsement of February 2022 by President Buhari.
It is becoming more realistic considering the governorship elections that will take place in both Ekiti and Osun next year.
So far, the party has held ward, local government, and state congresses but grossly riddled with crises as many parallel congresses were held in most APC-controlled states.
The latest development, if not resolved on time might cause an implosion of the party before the 2023 general elections. Now, let us look at the petitions received after holding the congresses under the leadership of Oshiomhole and Buni.
1. Governor Mai Mala Buni: 35 petitions received nationwide
Following the aftermath of the state congresses held nationwide in recent times, the Buni-led committee on October 11, constituted National Reconciliation Committee to reconcile aggrieved members of the party, especially those who were aggrieved by the outcome of the party’s Congresses from its various state chapters.
The reconciliation committee is being spearheaded by Senator Abdullahi Adamu and they have so received about 35 petitions from the party’s aggrieved members. This is contained in a report published by the Vanguard.
Meanwhile, the committee has promised to meet the members to resolve the conflicting issues raised in the petitions and expressed optimism that they would deliver on the mandate before February 2022.
2. Adams Oshiomhole: 70% of Petitions received were from Ondo in the South-West
In 2018, the former Governor of Edo State had a similar issue. He had equally constituted the APC National peace and reconciliation committee which included Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno serving as chairman.
Others were Governors Nasiru El-Rufai, Akinwunmi Ambode, former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, former deputy governor of Ekiti State, Professor Modupe Adelabu, Dakuku Peterside, and Barrister Bugaje.
While laying their recommendations, the committee had submitted that the 70% of petitioners were gotten from Ondo with many of the complainants observing that the governor was intolerant of other party members. This is contained in a report published by the Vanguard.
However, the committee had observed that persuasion was a way to go to resolve all the issues and reconcile aggrieved tendencies.
My opinion: Petitions received were much higher during Oshiomhole’s time. If 70% of complaints could only come from Ondo State alone, this simply means that the party was much more riddled with the crisis than that of Buni’s time.
In all, the reconciliation committees set up under the two party’s chairmen were up and doing at the assignment given to them.
