Stakeholders seek to end governors excesses
With barely ten days to the February 26 date of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention, the signs appear ominous that the APC National Working Committee (NWC) that will emerge may not enjoy the full support of major blocks within the party.
This is as news emerged that a major disagreement has arisen between the Governors of APC and the presidency on the choice of the consensus Chairmanship candidate for the party ahead of its national convention.
While the governors are said to favour Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, the President, Muhammadu Buhari, is believed to be more disposed to former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Umaru Tanko al-makura.
If this snippets of information is true, it would be the first time the President would be opposed to the governors on the choice of national Chairman of the party; recall the roles played by APC governors in the emergence of Chief Odigie Oyegun and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as party chairmen.
It is no longer news though that the struggle to constitute the new APC NWC has often ignored cracks along with the various tendencies that came together to form the party, namely the ACN, CPC, ANPP and factions of PDP and APGA now on the fringes.
A source close to the Secretariat of the APC explained that it was for this reason that President subtly re-directed the APC governors to the Caretaker Committee on the eve of his departure to Belgium for the EU/ AU summit.
The APC chairmanship position, it was gathered, had been zoned to the North-Central but was ‘micro-zoned’ to Niger, Benue, and Plateau states since the previous NWC positions were occupied by Kogi, Kwara and Nasarawa States.
That zoning arrangement, it was gathered, automatically eliminated aspirants for Chairman from those States, including Senator al-makura, and Saliu Mustapha, both of whom have made a strong claim for the Chairmanship seat.
A source said that it is for this reason the North-Central governors are presenting the former governor of Benue State and Minister of Inter-governmental Affairs, Senator George Akume, as their preferred candidate in the zone.
Based on this unwritten understanding, the source said the governors are finding it difficult to concede to the wishes of the President that Senator al-Makura becomes the National Chairman of the party. The inability of the governors agreeing with the President had made the President not to have an audience with them, the source added.
The source also frowned at the excesses of the governors, wanting to determine who gets what in the Political sharing table. According to him, Every governor wants to become a President or a Vice President and this is what had brought disagreement in the fold.
They think the only way they can achieve this is to decide and determine who becomes the National Chairman of the party”.
APC national Chairmanship is not for the North Central alone, therefore should not be left with governors in the zone. The argument that the National Chairmanship should come from a state without a sitting APC governor is a defeatist argument, as every state aspires to have an APC governor.
The party should come to a point where decisions especially those who occupy the NWC should not be made the governor alone, he stated.
