APC, PDP as their Own Opposition Parties

BRIEFINGNOTES

As each of the 18 political parties that participated in yesterday’s presidential and National Assembly elections is counting the losses inflicted by its rival parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party will also count self-inflicted losses, Ejiofor Alike reports

As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) collates the final results of the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections held yesterday, each of the 18 political parties that participated in the elections is counting its electoral losses. While the losses suffered by 16 of the political parties were largely inflicted by the rival parties, the losses recorded by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) partly arose from their failure to successfully manage their internal affairs.

PDP was nearly torn apart by the inordinate ambition of the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike.

On its part, the sustained plots within the APC to frustrate the presidential ambition of the former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu obviously caused self-inflicted damages on the ruling party.

The extent of the damages suffered by all the 18 political parties will be determined by the overall performance of the parties in yesterday’s elections.

Cracks had developed in the APC shortly after its formation following speculations that Tinubu was nursing a presidential ambition. When it became obvious that the former Lagos State governor would throw his hat in the presidential ring, his ally and former Governor of Edo State, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole was sacked from his position as the National Chairman of the party.

The emergence of his non-associates – Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni as the head of a national caretaker committee of the party and a former Governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Adamu Abdullahi, as the consensus National Chairman of the party were also believed to be part of the plots to stop him.

All these intrigues widened the cracks in the ruling party.

Few days before the primary, the unending plots forced him to make what were considered as disparaging remarks against President Muhammadu Buhari in Abeokuta, Ogun State, where he claimed that he was instrumental to Buhari becoming Nigeria’s president.

His outburst further weakened the party’s fabrics and forced Adamu to issue a threat against him.

Even after he  had emerged as the APC presidential candidate, the cold war between his core loyalists and other forces within the party raged on.

The mutual suspicion got to a peak when he alleged that the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the fuel scarcity in the country were contrived to sabotage his victory at yesterday’s election.

This outburst was also seen by many as another direct attack on Buhari’s APC-led administration.

Many of his loyalists, including governors Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, as well as former National Chairman of the party, Oshiomhole also unleashed a flurry of attacks against the policy.

El-Rufai, who did not hide his disdain for Tinubu’s style of politics, suddenly became his ally when he emerged as the party’s candidate.

While El-Rufai alleged that the CBN policy was a deliberate plot to disrupt the elections and form an Interim Government, Ganduje claimed that Buhari was planning to destroy the APC.

Ganduje said despite the collective efforts made by the APC to ensure Buhari’s election victories in 2015 and 2019 after several losses, the president had resolved to pay the party and those that supported him back by destroying the party that brought him to power.

“Imagine someone has been contesting without winning elections until after a merger was formed. He won the election and spent four years, and re-contested again and he won, now that he is about to go, he is doing nothing but to destroy the party that elected him,” Ganduje reportedly said.

To show Ganduje’s hypocrisy, the same governor had in October 2010 suspended his Special Adviser on Media, Salihu Yakasai, for criticising Buhari.

Yakasai had accused Buhari of not showing Nigerians empathy during the protests against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

The internal crisis in the APC deepened when three governors of the ruling party – El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State dragged the APC-led administration to the Supreme Court over the naira redesign, and were joined by many other governors of the party.

The apex court had fixed March 3 for ruling on the matter.

With APC fighting the APC, it was evident that the ruling party did not go to yesterday’s polls with a united house and this might have affected their electoral fortunes.

The self-inflicted losses will only be ascertained at the end of the collation exercise by the INEC.

For the PDP, the Rivers State governor, Wike was determined to bring down the roof top when he lost the presidential ticket to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the vice presidential ticket to the Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa. Wike, who claimed to be fighting for justice and equity, could not make a case for the party to zone the presidential ticket to the South-east in the spirit of fairness and justice.

The governor had wanted to clinch the ticket despite the fact that his kinsman, former President Goodluck Jonathan handed power over to President Buhari. He was, however, rejected at the party’s presidential primary due to what his colleague-governors and other party leaders described as his “un-presidential public conduct.”

He had initially accepted the result of the election and pledged to work for Atiku. But when he lost the vice presidential ticket to Okowa, he ran amok, vowing to stop the party from winning yesterday’s presidential poll. Wike, who obviously overrated his capacity in Nigerian politics, but could not make himself a presidential or vice presidential candidate despite his deep pocket, believed he could make or mar anyone’s presidential ambition.

The Rivers State governor also forgot that his efforts to make the Sokoto State Governor, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal the presidential candidate of the party in 2019 failed woefully. He equally ignored the fact that former President Jonathan failed in his reelection bid despite his support. Despite his serial failures, he was determined to claim glory in the event of Atiku losing the presidential poll due to his frustrations arising from his inability to be on the ballot in the 2023 elections.

He vowed to inflict maximum damage on the PDP. With his unlimited resources, he was able to recruit Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Samuel Ortom of Benue State and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, to fight Atiku.

But his efforts to ensure that his G-5 governors adopted a presidential candidate also failed. While he pitched his tent with Tinubu, the other four governors abandoned him to work for their preferred candidates.

Whether Atiku won or lost yesterday’s poll, the PDP would count losses arising from the anti-party activities of Wike and his allies.