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It looks like I was in a hurry the other day when I posted an article “THE
SENATE, APC, JAGABAN and TORTOISE SENSE” on the current scenario in the
National Assembly. So because going by the current discuss in the
political circle in Nigeria, the ruling party is at best in tarter or
disarray. There seem to be no one at the helm of affairs again. Tinubu the
Jagaban of Lagos and APC National leader is sulking, Lai Muhammed is
dazed, and the party chairman has compounded issues. How can all these be
reconciled so the party can move on?
This is the price being paid for inconsistency.
From the first intake of defecting PDP members to APC, I sounded a serious
note of warning to the party that they were in for a shocker and advised
that APC is better alone with her undiluted members. For me, it didn’t
matter if they remained in opposition but with men of integrity which
would have won them more sympathy and followers in the long run, but
having a mixed bag would produce very venomous snakes. There is an adage
in my place which is better understood in Pidgin English that says “e fine
nor de for snake pipkin”. Translated, it means that no matter what, a
small snake is as dangerous as the mother- catch word avoid it by all
means and at all times.
There is no rule that everyone should be in politics or belong to one
political party. For one, I am not interested and am very vocal about it.
Given all the money in the treasury of any political party, I still will
not budge.
APC says through its Commander general for Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed
“… decried a situation in which some people, based on nothing but
inordinate ambition and lack of discipline and loyalty, will enter into an
unholy alliance with the very same people whom the party and indeed the
entire country worked hard to replace and sell out the hard won victory of
the party. There can be no higher level of treachery, disloyalty and
insincerity within any part.” Hum! Hear him again on Tinubu’s sponsorship
of Tambuwal to undo PDP in 2011. The question to ask here is this does the
APC have primary democracy? If yes, why did the party field multiple
presidential candidates at their primary and choose to arm twist every
member in picking the National Assembly leadership? I am surprised at the
views of the respected Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) whose opinion is that the
president ought not to have recognized Saraki and Dogara and called it
immoral because more than 50 members of the Senate were not there in the
chamber on that day! “It is not only an act of gross impunity which
Senator Saraki has brought from the PDP but he has now demonstrated it in
the senate. It is an illegal act because there is no way a Senate can be
formally inaugurated without all the members being present – provided they
want to be present” did our very knowledgeable Prof come from the moon
that day? What did Order 10 of the Constitution/Assembly rule say on this
matter? – That only one third members of the senate ie 38 Senator need be
present! How illegal was this? We’re the senators served the necessary
notices as is customary and for a fixed time and date? Why would the party
(uncertain of its position) fix such a crucial meeting same day of the
election at 9:00am (just an hour difference to the election) at a
different venue? Were they suggesting that having won the election and
being in the majority, the party is now bigger than the country? Did the
affected senators send apologies and/or request for postponement? Why has
the Clerk of the house not been queried if he was in the wrong?
The challenges posed to the APC today was the PDP’s experience on
Tambuwal’s exploit in 2011. See how the same Tambuwal, for personal future
ambition ditched both the party APC and his illegal sponsor Tiunbu?
Did somebody hear Obasanjo warning President Muhamadu Buhari to be
cautious of Tinubu? I am really very sorry for APC.
The feudal lord of APC has been defeated and so are his stooges. Hail the
common man in the street! Look irrespective of what become the outcome of
all the nocturnal meetings of each caucus, the die is cast already. Saraki
and Dogara would hold on to their edge knowing that failing to do so would
sweep them out of office in less than no time. The South West caucus on
the other hand, if they choose to remain the stooges of their feudal lord
would remain suspicious of other movements.
To lead us out of the eventual consequences of the current debacle, we
must go back to history, study and see what happened in the first
republic. The NCNC’ Zik in the Western House of Assembly, Eyo Ita in the
Eastern flank, Action Group against Tafawa Balewa and the war of Chief
Samuel Ladoke Akintola on a coalition government. A reading on these
personalities including Chief Michael Okpara, Joseph Tarka Ahmadu Bello
among others shows that history is just repeating itself. These were
regular occurrence during the first republic. The eventual consequences
was the civil war and eventual military involvement in politics which
finally brought us back to where we are today. Must we be learning new
negativities every election year?
The Feudal lord of APC was simply defeated in his own plot/game. I
expected the party members to be shouting free at last but even now most
of the South West members are in secret jubilation afraid of the Octopus!
What a pity.
It must be immediately understood that the current internal bickering has
nothing to do with President Buhari who has made his point clear from
inception. He told everyone who cared to listen that “…I belong to
everybody, I belong to nobody”. This he has demonstrated first by ignoring
all parties in the hoolabaluu by maintain a single mindset raising the
fear in the heart of almost every APC leader. Jagaban and his associates
ought to have praised him for this instead of the displayed hostility.
Imagine a Lai Muhammed telling the world that Tinubu, not Buhari is their
leader. This is one of the most unguarded statement of Lai. Let’s see if
awards of juicy contracts will come from the way of Tinubu or Buhari in
the next four years.
At the home front, supremacy war is on already. Former Vice President
Atiku Abubarkar has raised the bars in the game he knows best. Atiku is
of the Peoples’ Democratic Movement (PDM) and PDP extraction. Given his
painful exit from the PDP twice, his flirting with ACN under Jagaban
Tinubu before now, he is certain who the enemies are and when to sting. It
would be unnecessary to go to the records to reproduce statements made by
these politicians against themselves in their earlier political campaigns
between 1999 and now. Listening or reading Tinubu, Lai, Atiku, Obasanjo
and Buhari making a mincemeat of themselves on pages of newspapers and
television screens, and seeing them all together gathered ostensibly to
save Nigeria at Obasanjo’s home leaves us wondering. Can this house really
stand?
At the formative stage of APC, I thought that the founders had considered
serious prerequisite for membership but they started failing. Former
Governor Balarabe Musa was right when he said in an interview that neither
the PDP nor the APC is good for the country as both of them are one and
the same group of people. Right now, even the staunchest members of the
APC cannot beat their chest about the views and expectations of the party
even at Central Working Committee level because loyalty is gradually
fading away.
Back to the realities on ground. It please my sense of humor that the
powers that be are beginning to come out of the dull drum and they better
be fast. Unanimity alone will win the day. See the way the party has been
polarized even by immediate past beneficiary Tambuwal.
If all are not settled soon enough, it will be seen that the party is
living true to its negative acronym Aggrieved People’s Congress (APC) this
will be a bad omen for the taunted victory of the party.
As I write, visitors from the British parliament have paid homage to the
Senate President assuring him of support. This has jolted the leadership
of APC forcing them to swallow their pride and forcing the party to accept
the verdict of the election and so endorsing Saraki and Dogara as the
President and Speaker of the Senate and the House of Rep respectively.
Good. The saying goes that we should say nothing when we are angry. But
given that we have an unforgiving spirit which rules among the leadership
of the party what are the expectations of the members? From my obscure
corner, I can foresee danger. Yes, Tinubu still own Lagos as he pleases,
but his wild dream to dominate Nigeria has been effectively quashed.
Somehow, the secret things have been made public now and it is good for
the betterment of the country as we now know the desires of most of them
either in the PDP or APC. All these confirms that between the APC members
and the Jagaban of Lagos the permanent feature is treachery, deceit and
inconsistency and they will deal treacherously among themselves in the
coming days, weeks and months.
As things stand now, the insinuations from every quarter that the black
sheep in the party would be punished with serious sanction has been seen
as unpopular and is temporarily dropped. But irrespective of which side if
the divide they all belong, one thing is certain – greater CHANGE among
the change agents. There will be alignments and realignments among the
members and loyalists. Whichever way they may go, it is foregone that
Saraki/Dogara team will never be accepted wholeheartedly to the Tinubu
fold. This polarization will lead to clipping the power, influence and
gradually pushing to obscurity, the man Jagaban of Lagos. Oh my God!
Former Vice President Atiku Abubarkar is not just watching! This is a
topic for another day.
The struggle continues. God bless Nigeria.
Mike Akpati is a Public Affairs Analyst based in Port Harcourt
Mike Ossai Akpati
God Is All Sufficient
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