Strong indications have emerged that the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress may finally get his wish to emerge as APC’s presidential flag bearer for the 2023 election....CONTINUE READING
A recent report in Daily Independent shows that the powers that be in the ruling party appear to have found a suitable power-sharing formula that will be acceptable to all the contending interests in the party. In particular, the formula may likely favour Tinubu to emerge as a presidential candidate, while the Southeast seems to have lost out.
This article will analyse the power-sharing formula and how it favours Tinubu’s presidential bid.
The powers that be in APC has allegedly agreed that ACN should get the presidency while CPC gets party chairman
In a move that many analysts have described as a realignment of forces ahead of the APC National Convention in February, the legacy parties that came together to form APC have agreed that the Action Congress caucus led by Tinubu be allowed to produce the presidential candidate. In the same wise, the CPC caucus led by Buhari will get the office of APC National Chairman while the Senate President may have been zoned to ANPP. Curiously, the South East was missing as there was no mention of APGA in the report.
This development implies that the coast may have been cleared for Tinubu to emerge as a presidential candidate of APC because he is the leader of the ACN caucus.
The storms are not yet over for APC
While this development may be a major step forward with regards calming the storms and organising a successful National Convention, yet it does not address all the contending issues threatening to cause an implosion in the party.
For example, about 20 state chapters of the APC are embroiled in one internal crisis or the other as various interests are struggling for the control of the party structure ahead of the 2023 election. And so far, the party does not appear to be making any headway to settle the disputes.
Of note is the crisis in Zamfara State, where Senator Kabir Marafa is entangled in a bitter struggle with the newly defected Governor of the State Bello Matawalle, over party structure. He has threatened to drag both the Governor and National Chairman of APC Governor Mai Mala Buni to court.
He is accusing the party of breaching laid down rules in the organisation of the Zamfara State Congress. It does not appear as the crisis will abate soon as both Senator Marafa and Governor Buni have been publicly slinging mud at each other, with Buni alleging that Marafa was a PDP agent.
Analysts have said that APC must find a way to resolve the crisis at the state chapters before its convention, if not the party faces a bleak future.