*By Abba Adakole*<\/p>\n
It is a historic fact that leadership is all in governance and management
\nof human affairs. Within this context, the disciplined management of
\npolitical parties is also a critical element for the survival of democracy
\nanywhere in the world. For the governing All Progressives Congress, APC,
\nits current national chairman and former governor of Edo State, Comrade
\nAdams Oshiomhole, has provided that critical, focused leadership to pull it
\nthrough a difficult party primary elections phase.<\/p>\n
This was despite concerted, curious efforts by party spoil-sports, which
\nwould have swamped lesser mortals, to derail the party. History has
\nfurnished examples of specific qualities and attributes that contribute to
\neffective leadership. These include clear sense of purpose or mission and
\nvision, charisma and the ability to motivate others in a way that favours
\ncompliance, dedication and devotion to the fulfillment of the vision and
\nthe mission.<\/p>\n
Drawing from a history of tough, diverse labour and political engagements,
\nOshiomhole has provided nimble guidance, intellectual spunk and bold
\nleadership to navigate a potentially explosive phase in the party\u2019s life
\nahead of a crucial general election. It\u2019s worth recalling that significant
\ndeficits in these areas led to the sacking of the Peoples Democratic Party,
\nPDP, from power in the 2015 poll.<\/p>\n
Although much of the internal political landmines that ruffled APC
\nprimaries were laid well before his ascendancy as national chairman,
\ninstructively, he was never heard to grumble about these but set about
\ndefining a new direction. That is leadership. Like other leaders of note,
\nOshiomhole disdains hazy journeys and consequently prefers to define a
\ndirection clearly.<\/p>\n
Before going into the party primaries, a critical political prelude to the
\n2019 general election, he prioritized the party constitution which spelt
\nout the rules of engagement. Flowing from deliberations reached at a
\nrelated meeting in Abuja, the Oshiomhole-led National Executive Committee,
\nNEC, settled for direct primaries as the mode of choosing the party\u2019s
\ncandidates, from the president down. All registered members of the party
\nwere to participate in the process of determining who their presidential
\nstandard-bearer as well as other candidates would be.<\/p>\n
Perhaps not surprisingly, many governors pushed for indirect primaries (the
\ndelegates system), though a few flowed with the direct primary option. The
\nAPC constitution provides indirect and direct primary election modes. In
\nthe indirect or delegates\u2019 option, numbers are quite small and much more
\nmanageable. But the negative side is that it\u2019s easily manipulated,
\nespecially by governors who usually have firm and imperial control on the
\ndelegates.<\/p>\n
However, state chapters of the party (read governors), who favoured
\nindirect primary election, met the requirements of the party constitution
\nto strictly adhere to certain spelt-out procedures. They reportedly wrote
\nto the national working committee (NWC), conveying the unanimous resolution
\nof the state executive committee (SEC) in that regard.<\/p>\n
As pretty clear as the process was, many governors who probably presumed
\nsome privileges, failed to comply with some additional rules by the party
\nleadership in the conduct of the primary election. In some states,
\ngovernors did not submit themselves to the process conducted and supervised
\nby electoral panels mandated by the national working committee for that
\npurpose.<\/p>\n
In some states, parallel primary elections were held with different
\ntemplates. In some non-APC-governed states, party leaders there attempted
\nmoves in dissonance with the party dictates. More specifically, in Delta
\nState, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Rivers State, Enugu State and Anambra
\nState, there were party leaders and some rebellious members that fuelled
\ncrises. But fortunately, the firmness of Oshiomhole has largely reined in
\nmatters.<\/p>\n
During the primaries, reports emerged where some governors even threatened
\nelectoral panels duly constituted by the NWC. In one instance, a governor
\nof a northern state, outright, rained invectives on the person of the
\nnational chairman. More, he also threatened the lives of party men and
\nwomen whose perceived sin was their acceptance to carry out party functions
\nassigned to them.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more \u2013 this rebel governor actually almost jeopardized the chances
\nof the entire party in all the elections in that state in 2019 as the
\nelectoral umpire INEC threatened that APC would not field any candidate in
\nthe state in the coming general election because of deadline and other
\nprocedural infractions. There were also pockets of dissension here and
\nthere.<\/p>\n
In all these, Oshiomhole has held firm, clearly realising that wavering
\nwould send dangerous signals to both foes and friends. The opposition
\nPeoples Democratic Party, PDP, would love nothing more than the implosion
\nof the governing party. But even then, they realise that under Oshiomhole,
\nthis remains a pipe dream. Not surprisingly, as of the time of writing this
\npiece, the dust was settling. Still there are some rebels without genuine
\ncauses calling for the sack of Oshiomhole- a laughable<\/p>\n
proposition in the circumstance.<\/p>\n
A guide-book driven leader, Oshiomhole is unwavering. A good student of
\nhistory, he knows that the undoing of the now opposition PDP stemmed from
\nits culture of uncouth imposition of unpopular candidates during the 2015
\ngeneral elections. His courage in standing up against the imposition of
\ngovernorship candidate in Ogun by the state governor, Ibikunle Amosun and
\ntwo other states is a matter of fact.<\/p>\n
In all, a calm, philosophical Oshiomhole has taken the consequences of his
\ndecision to stand firm, as much as it is possible, against the rambunctious
\nattempts by some governors to impose their preferred governorship
\ncandidates, in his strides as he focuses on the core objective of his
\nchairmanship: to lead the party to victory in the 2019 general election.<\/p>\n
Such is the measure of the man who has led the APC through a tension-soaked
\nnomination process and readying it for the all important general election
\nin 2019.\u00a0 The stakes are evidently high but Oshiomhole has the historic
\nopportunity to lead the party, more importantly, in the battle for the
\nre-election of President Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
*Adakole contributed this piece via\u00a0abbaadakole@gmail.com<\/a> *By Abba Adakole* It is a historic fact that leadership is all in governance and management of human affairs. Within this context, the disciplined management of political parties is also…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<abbaadakole@gmail.com<\/a>>*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"