APC and the ensuing bad blood has drawn assertions from its foes
that the party was only formed to win power and not to govern.
By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor
Chief Olisa Metuh, the National Publicity Secretary tried to play
down his enthusiasm over the distress of the ruling party yesterday.
“We want them to survive because the key to the stability of the
country is in the survival of the party because they are in power,”
Metuh said in a telephone discussion. That was a farfetch from the
Metuh of before who before now had been severally quoted as
describing the APC as group of power seekers only united by a
common quest for power.
Last Tuesday as the power quest by the different tendencies in the
party peaked during the National Assembly leadership contests,
references to Chief Metuh’s questions on the survival of the ruling
party inevitably came to mind.
That question was further driven by the APC’s terse rebuttal of the
election of the four presiding officers, none of whom got the
endorsement of the party.
Senator Bukola Saraki emerged as Senate President despite the
party’s inclination for Senator Ahmad Lawan while even more
agonising for the ruling party, Senator Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP
returned to office as the Deputy President of the Senate. It was the
first time in the Fourth Republic that a bipartisan leadership had
been thrown up in the Senate.
In the House, the party’s favourite, Femi Gbajabiamila lost to the
unofficial candidate, Yakubu Dogara while the favoured candidate
for deputy speaker, —Moguno was edged out by Lashun Yusuf who
strode to office on the back of the rebellion spearheaded by Dogara.
The APC’s pain was manifest in a terse press statement issued by
National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in which the
party threatened sanctions against those who masterminded the
rebellion.
“The APC leadership is meeting in a bid to re-establish discipline in
the party and to mete out the necessary sanctions to all those
involved in what is nothing but a monumental act of indiscipline and
betrayal to subject the party to ridicule and create obstacles for the
new administration “ it said.
The harsh response of the party inevitably drew references to the
situation four years ago when leaders of the APC allegedly lured
rebel members of the then ruling PDP to a similar rebellion against
the official candidates of the party in the House of Representatives
leadership contest.
The rebellion of four years ago was what paved way for the
humiliation the PDP suffered in the recent general elections.
But their rage on Tuesday evening, APC leaders refused to be
bothered by such references asserting that the insubordination and
treachery of the rebel APC members must be sanctioned.
“A strong word of rebuke must be passed to them,” a national
officer of the party said that night.
Even yesterday morning when the remaining senators-elect who
were in the frontline of the battle against the emergence of Senator
Saraki were sworn in by their foe, that disdain was very apparent.
One of the leading pro-Lawan senators refused a handshake from
Senator Saraki after the senator was given the oath by the new
Senate President.
That development has now led to fears that the party could break
up sooner than later given the schism that has been established.
The point of schism could start in the National Assembly. If the
party decides to encourage the impeachment of the elected
presiding officer it would further sharpen divisions that would
inevitably lead the two senior presiding officers, Saraki and Dogara
back into the PDP fold.
Yesterday, the PDP in unpretentious assertion of its complicity in the
pains of the ruling party admonished the APC to eat humble pie.
“Nothing can be more astonishing than the whining by the APC that
the PDP at the last minute expressed its preference for Senator
Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and
Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively after it had
earlier stated that it was not interested the positions. This calls to
question the capacity, experience and skills of APC leaders on
political matters and we have no apology whatsoever for their
naivety.
“The APC is merely suffering the consequences of the greed, lust
for power and inordinate ambitions of their leaders. They should
note that Nigerians have since moved ahead with the new leaders in
the National Assembly and stop wasting their energy on
propaganda and blackmails to heat up the polity”.
Remarkably, President Muhammadu Buhari has not toed the line of
the party in threatening fire against the presiding officers. While
claiming his vexation with their rebellion, he nevertheless
acknowledged that the election of the new officers was
constitutional, a direct opposite from party officials who had sought
to reverse the election.
Party members, who were on the losing side have barely been able
to hide their indignation of the aloofness of the president to their
predicament. Many have also questioned the actions of the National
Assembly, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun in the matter and fumed that
the national chairman has been unable to show leadership in the
face of the contending aspirations of power mongers in the party.
Indeed, it is that continuing quest for power that is going to further
test the party. Saraki’s ambition for the office of Senate President
was opposed by many party leaders simply on the fear that he
would use that platform to further his alleged 2019 presidential
aspiration.
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