APC’s Challenges and Triumphs in 2023

2023 appears a turbulent year for the All Progressives Congress at the end of which it emerge victorious even though with scars. However, the national leadership of Dr. Abdulahi Ganduje, has been able to restore peace and inject life into the party. Adedayo Akinwale writes.

Events leading to the 2023 general election within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) did not only portray a party in crisis but a party that was seriously fragmented. The reason was not far-fetched, the general election and another period of transition was in the offing.

Prior to the presidential poll, Nigerians were already groaning over the scarcity of petroleum products. While the battle against the scarcity of fuel was still on, the Naira redesign policy was already being implemented forcing Nigerians to keep vigil at ATM points.

On March 1, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  declared the presidential candidate of APC, Bola Tinubu, as the president-elect. He polled 8,794,726 votes to win the 2023 presidential election. The inability of the opposition parties to work together led to Tinubu’s victory.

Following Tinubu’sele and conclusion of the National Assembly election, the race for the election of the principal and presiding officersbof the legislative arm took the centre stage. After the meeting between Tinubu and the leadership of the party led by the former National Chairman, Senator AbdulahiAdamu, a zoning template for the national Assembly principal officers was released.

Instead of the party’s leadership working in sync with Tinubu as the President-elect to nominate candidates for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, Adamu chose to oppose and undermine  the president-elect.

For instance, on May 23, 2023, Adamu told one of the House Speakership aspirants and the consensus candidate of the party, Hon. Tajudden Abbas, not to parade himself as the Speaker of the 10th Assembly until he’s elected by the members on June 13th.

He insisted that the leadership of the party was still consulting on the recently released zoning template that was then causing  acrimony in the party.

According to him: “I want to make one correction so that we will not be misrepresented. A number of you have referred to Hon. Abbas as the speaker. Please, please he is one of the aspirants. He will become a speaker on the day of proclamation. The laws guiding that office are very clear, he will earn that on the day of proclamation by the president and Commander-in-Chief of the 10th National Assembly.

“The Clerk to the National Assembly will conduct the election, there is no option other than the election. When he comes out of that election and they raise his hand and when he is sworn in as the Speaker, that nomenclature becomes most appropriate”.

On July 4th, Adamu said the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party had no hand in the emergence of Senator GodswillAkpabio as the Senate President and the emergence of Abbas as the Speaker of the House Representatives, as well as other Principal Officers.

“…I am just hearing a rumour now from the online media that there have been some announcements in the Senate and House of Representatives. The national headquarters of the party of the NWC has not given any such information or communicated about the choice of offices. And until we formally resolve and communicate with them in writing which is the norm and practice, it is not our intention to break away from traditions. So whatever announcement is done either the President of the Senate, Deputy Senate President, Speaker or Deputy Speaker, is not from this Secretariat.”

When the President appeared to have heard enough, on July 16th, Adamu and the Secretary, Senator IyiolaOmisore, resigned their positions. Sources said they tendered their resignations following an alleged directive of Tinubu, who could no longer tolerate their excesses.

Aside from his excesses that the President frowned at, other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) also frowned at Adamu’s leadership style.

After the successful ouster of both Adamu and omisore, Tinubu anointed the immediate past governor of Kano State, Dr. AbdullahiGanduje for the national chairmanship position.

Expectedly, Tinubu’s decision to anoint Ganduje for the position of national chairman altered the zoning arrangement of positions of national officers within the ruling party.

In no time, aggrieved party members especially from the North Central were already up in arms to ensure the position was not taken away from the zone.

They argued that it was insensitive to take the position of national chairman of the party to the North-west that already has the position of Deputy Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Despite stiff opposition to the choice of Ganduje, Tinubu stuck to his gun and imposed the former governor on the party.

Those against the choice easily found an ally in the former National Vice Chairman, North-West, of the party,  Dr. SalihuLukman, who described the choice of Ganduje as insensitive.

 He said: “The related moral question is the choice of Ganduje. Sincerely, it simply means that we don’t attach any importance to the party if, with all the corruption allegations against Ganduje, we find him about the only one in the North West to be recommended.

“Perhaps, it needs to be stated without equivocation or fear of contradiction that if leaders of the North West are asked to nominate five people for consideration to serve in the capacity of the national chairman of APC, I am confident that Ganduje will not be one of the five nominees.

“If the scheming to have Ganduje emerge the next national chairman of APC succeeds with all the legal and moral questions, as a party, we would have set the stage for the destruction of our party and God forbids, we would have laid the foundation that will make President Tinubu and all our elected representatives unpopular”.

Nevertheless, all those who were against the choice of Ganduje never doubted his capacity for once. But despite the formidable opposition, they could not halt his  emergencce as natiomal chairman of the party.

Speaking after his emergence, Ganduje assured that his main focus would be to promote party unity, defending and increasing the number of executive and legislative seats the party currently holds.

His words: “It’s a huge privilege and an honour and a great responsibility to take on this job and I will do it with everything I have to the best of my ability for my party and my country. We will ensure a level playing field for all party members that want to contest elections under the party’s platform. Our primary elections would be free, transparent and fair.

“Under my watch, internal democracy will be strictly adhered to with a deliberate policy to engage in wider consultations and make the party functional throughout the year.

“More reforms will be carried out in the party in alignment with the current political landscape. We all agreed that we must unite our members to achieve support for our government to respond adequately, urgently and assertively to the challenges that Nigerians confront on a daily basis”.

Few months on, Ganduje has been able to live up to expectations. Just like in any human organisation where there might be pockets of disagreement, the ruling party has been generally peaceful. Aside from that, the former Governor of Kano state has been able to infuse life into the party.

Unlike what was obtainable in the past, where almost all activities of the party are conceived and initiated at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja, Ganduje has changed the narrative by taking the party back to the grassroot.

For instance, the inauguration of the national campaign team for the just concluded November 11 governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states were held at  various states instead of Abuja.

To ensure that the ruling party lives up to  expectation as a progressive party, the national chairman recently said the leadership of the party has concluded plans to open functional offices in all the 8,813 wards across the country, and also establish an Institute for Progressive Study.

He said, “I will like to call on all party members and stakeholders to rally round our candidate so that our party will succeed. By doing so, all the legacy projects would be sustained and there will be continuation in governance.

“As a party, we are committed to working hard individually and collectively to realise these goals and objectives. It is pertinent to also note that we have initiated and concluded plans to structure our party into a truly grassroots progressive party by opening full-fledged and functional offices in all the 8,813 wards in Nigeria.”

Interestingly, the Ganduje-led NWC has also commenced the process of registering its over 40 million members electronically to consolidate its membership strength ahead of the 2027 general elections.

This development was coming two years after Mai Mala Buni-led National Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee conducted a similar nationwide membership registration exercise, which brought the current number to over 40 million.

Ganduje explained that the essence of the electronic registration innovation is to capture the current membership strength of the party.

He  decried the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, stressing that the number of votes garnered by the party was a far cry from the actual strength of its registered members.

According to him: “If you will recall, we had  41 million members. But during the presidential election, we had only eight million. What happened to the rest? This is why we need to be digital and ensure that we are working with the correct data.

“Another step that we have taken is that we are reviewing our registration electronically now. The work has already started. You should be ready that all our members will be electronically registered so that we have an exact number physically.”

Since assuming office, Ganduje has initiated various reconciliatory moves to ensure various tendencies in the  states are united, while those that had left the party have started coming back.

Recently, in the heat of the face-off between the Governor of Ondo state, RotimiAkeredolu and the Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the  national leadership of the party set up the reconciliation committee  to resolve the political disagreement.

At the time, Aiyedatiwa was under the threat of impeachment by the State  House of Assembly over allegations of gross misconduct and had been served with notice of the allegations levelled against him by the lawmakers.

In addition, political bigwigs in Anambra state, including Senator IfeanyiUba also defected to the ruling party recently.

Few weeks ago, 27 House of Assembly members in Rivers State defected to the party.

Interestingly, Ganduje has also been able to consolidate on the successes of the party. The party recently retained Kogi and Imo state at the just concluded November 11 governorship polls.

Regardless of the positive moves under Ganduje’s leadership, the APC NWC has come under criticism for short-listing the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), NyesomWike, in the national campaign council during the off-cycle governorship election and most also the inclusion of chairman, BUA Group of companies, Abdul SamadRabiu, in the lately constituted but yet to be inaugurated committees.

In addition, the tactical handover of the leadership of the Rivers state APC to the faction loyal to Wike has not been viewed by some party stakeholders in a positive light.

Be that as it may, Ganduje-led leadership has been able to restore peace in the once crisis riddled party.