The Crisis APC Don’t Want Nigerians To Know

Given the enormity of the internal crises at the embattled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which is familiar in every home in Nigeria as they are often the subject of discussions in the media, you could be pardoned if you imagined that the APC is at peace with itself. The APC to its credit have exploited the PDP crises fuelled largely by the thinly veiled desire by some PDP governors to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from seeking reelection but presented as a protest over the leadership of the national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. The APC has therefore successfully “captured” five PDP governors who have defected to the party.

When the G7 governors were negotiating for their entrance to the APC they made it clear that they can only join the opposition party if as governors of their various states they are handed the APC structures in their states. Given the financial muscle that these governors are bringing to the table, it did not take the APC leaders long to accede to their demands. Once that issue was settled the governors no longer have any inhibitions to dump PDP which they did recently in Abuja where they officially left the crisis ridden PDP. But there is a big problem and if this problem is not solved fast I foresee APC members defecting to wait for it-PDP. I will tell you why starting from Adamawa State.

In Adamawa State long before PDP became too hot for Governor Murtala Nyako to stay in, the opposition CPC was firmly in the hands of the former governor of Lagos State, Brigadier General Buba Marwa(rtd) who was the party’s governorship candidate in 2011 in which Nyako won but the result was disputed by Marwa and the ACN candidate that took the matter to court. Therefore there is no love lost between  Marwa and Nyako. While Marwa wants to contest again for the governorship position in 2015, it is an open secret that Nyako has allegedly earmarked his son to be the next governor of the state. I was not surprised recently when Marwa issued a statement insisting that Nyako is not the leader of the APC in Adamawa State.

In Kwara State where the APC structure has been handed over to Senator Saraki’s lackey and governor of the state Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, there is disquiet in the party and the state in general. For years the opposition parties in the state have been trying to break the political hegemony of the Sarakis who have turned the state to their personal fiefdom. The who is who in opposition in the state are sworn enemies of the Sarakis and have been waiting for the day when that family shall be dislodged from the centre stage in Kwara politics. These sworn enemies of the Sarakis are the backbone of the APC in the state and now the national leadership of the party is making them to swallow the humble pie by forcing them to kowtow to Sarakis leadership and somebody is saying there is no crisis in APC which may soon overshadow that of the PDP.

Kano State is another state where the defection of a PDP governor to APC has become very divisive. Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and the immediate past governor of the state Ibrahim Shekarau are at daggers drawn. It was Shekarau as governor who set up administrative panel which indicted Kwankwaso of corruption which prevented Kwankwaso from contesting the 2007 governorship election in the state. On his return to power in 2011, Kwankwaso have been reversing most of the things put in place by Shekarau and as the time of writing this the pensions and gratuity of Shekarau have not been paid by Kwankwaso. Before the entrance of Kwankwaso it is Shekarau that has been financing and leading the APC, that was why he was angry when APC national leaders Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and General Muhammadu Buhari went to Kano to woo Kwankwaso without consulting him. Tinubu and Buhari had to visit him in his house in Abuja to beg him. Shekarau told the duo to go to Kano to beg his supporters because they are even angrier about the disrespect shown their leader. The leadership of APC sent a delegation to Kano led by the governor of Zamfara State Abubakar Yari to beg Shekarau’s supporters. But that is not the end of the matter. Shekarau already has those he has earmarked for the governorship position under the APC and Kwankwaso wants his own person to be the next governor of the state. Between Kwankwaso and Shekarau whoever blinked first, the APC will never be the same.