By SKC Ogbonnia
March 18, 2020
It did not come as a surprise that Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole would survive
the latest move to sack him as the National Chairman of the All
Progressives Congress (APC). His opponents have been hitting the tail
instead of the head. The gist is that Oshiomhole’s tenure of crisis
cannot be divorced from the overbearing ambition of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
to rule Nigeria at all costs. Therefore, instead of chasing shadows, it
has become imperative to muster the courage and go all out to tame the
former Lagos State governor.
Make no mistake: Tinubu, the National Leader of APC, has every right to
seek the presidency. More essentially, his role in the Nigerian
democracy can never be belittled. This informs why I had to admonish
President Muhammadu Buhari earlier in his first tenure for alienating
the Asiwaju. I asserted then (and still believe) that, “if dynamic
opposition is the life-wire of a democracy, it is very fitting then to
name him (Tinubu) the saviour of Nigeria’s current democratic
journey.” Regrettably, the manner Tinubu has been pursuing his
presidential ambition is not only becoming an existential threat to APC
as a party but also to the same democracy he helped to save.
The problem is rooted in Tinubu’s naked godfatherism. The canker began
to grow when the Asiwaju was made to believe that he solely influenced
the nomination of Buhari. Further, after his failed bid to grab the
vice-presidential ticket, Tinubu was allowed to handpick his longtime
ally for the position, so that peace could reign. Worst still, the
former Lagos State governor would retain the titular title of National
Leader, thereby creating an impression of two captains in one ship. As
if that was not enough, he attempted to also dictate the leadership of
the Legislature but failed. This failure, remember, led to the first
major crisis in the party and the mass decampment that followed before
the 2019 general elections.
The most mystifying, however, is that, despite the fact that his primary
fiefdom, Lagos, is constantly ranked as one of the worst estates on
earth, it has not deterred Tinubu from the morbid desperation to rule
other Nigerian states by proxy. The more troubling is his do-or-die
approach. For instance, the next major crisis after the National
Assembly debacle was his plot to hijack the 2016 Ondo State governorship
primary election against the rightful winner, the current governor,
Rotimi Akeredolu. The outcome was a nasty fallout between the Asiwaju
on one side and both the then National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun and
President Buhari on the other side. In attempt to restore a sense of
normalcy before 2019 elections, Buhari had to go out of his way to
appease Tinubu by easing out Oyegun.
Enter Adams Oshiomhole. President Buhari misread him as a simplistic
khaki-wearing independent-minded party man who could contain Tinubu. But
Oshiomhole was understandably desperate for attention after leaving
office as Edo State governor and did not want to end the Oyegun way. The
new chairman quickly accepted to function as a mere lackey.
Oshiomhole’s main function, therefore, has been to perfect Tinubu’s
plot to install his cronies across the country towards a presidential
bid.
Not surprisingly, the APC would go on to suffer the most crisis-ridden
party primary exercise in the national history. Every APC structure,
from the states to the federal, including the Legislature, and President
Buhari and his cabinet, had a bitter taste of the crisis. Only
Coronavirus could have been as toxic and widespread. The saving grace
for the APC in the 2019 electoral cycle was that the Peoples’
Democratic Party (PDP), the main opposition party, fielded a deeply
flawed presidential candidate in Atiku Abubakar.
Tinubu’s style of godfatherism is a threat to national unity and has
worsened since Buhari won a second term. Recall how the Asiwaju
shamelessly cornered all the important positions zoned to the South to
himself or his cronies from Western Nigeria, as if somehow the APC in
the South is a one-man show. Lest we forget, the APC came into being as
an amalgamation of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) led by
Buhari; the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) led by Tinubu; the All
Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) led by Ogbonnaya Onu; a faction of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) led by Rochas Okorocha, and the new
PDP led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje. Needless to mention the powerful roles
of Southern Igbo, such as Pat Utomi, Chibuike Amaechi, Osita Okechukwu,
Chris Ngige, Annie Okonkwo, Joe Igbokwe, among others.
Yet, today, there is no meaningful office holder within the APC as a
party or its government from the entire Eastern Region besides statutory
ministerial appointments, thanks to Tinubu’s southern strategy of
divide and conquer. In short, at no time in post war Nigeria has a
region suffered this type of political blackmail. The height of the
hypocrisy is that Bola Ahmed Tinubu—in terms of shrewd godfatherism
and shadiness—is even far worse than his targets in the East, Rochas
Okorocha not excluded.
Now, consider that Tinubu now believes that he has successfully humbled
the East with a montage of opportunistic politics. Combine that notion
with the assumption that the North is now under his palm, especially
given the fact that the Asiwaju dictated the content and the character
of the current government—from the leadership of the ruling party to
both the executive and the legislative arms of power. Visualize such
political oddity with the reality that the former Lagos governor is now
zeroing in on his potential 2023 opponents in the West, as can be
gleaned from the current crisis blazing through Edo and already rearing
its ugly head into Ondo. There and then emerges the danger inherent in
Tinubu’s role within APC and beyond. Even Vladimir Putin of Russia
Republic has not shown this type of pestilent appetite for power. O to
ge!
This is a perfect time for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to step aside. He no
longer has the credibility to grandstand as the face of the APC. His
exit as a National Leader will solve two fundamental problems. First, it
will effortlessly sweep off Oshiomhole’s tenure of un-ending crisis.
Second, it will not only reposition the party leadership with men and
women of impeccable character, but also in line with true democratic
ideals, particularly a level playing ground for electoral offices,
including the presidency.
Dr. SKC Ogbonnia, an APC member, writes from Ugbo, Enugu State, Nigeria
Twitter @ SKCOgbonnia