Oshiomhole’s reforms versus aggrieved party stalwarts
It is, therefore, not surprising that we could have forgotten too soon, some conflict of interest which arose within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) towards the end of John Odigie-Oyegun’s tenure and at the wake of Adams Oshiomhole as the national chairman of the party. We may have also forgotten the hurdles that Oshiomhole […]
It is, therefore, not surprising that we could have forgotten too soon, some conflict of interest which arose within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) towards the end of John Odigie-Oyegun’s tenure and at the wake of Adams Oshiomhole as the national chairman of the party. We may have also forgotten the hurdles that Oshiomhole crossed to become the national chairman of the party because some individuals did not support the reforms which President Muhammadu Buhari intends to bring into the party through a personality like Oshiomhole.
However, it is a thing of joy that after the whirlwind, peace and calm is returning to the APC. Oshiomhole, on Wednesday, inaugurated a National Peace and Reconciliation Committee for each of the six geo-political zones of the country. Their mandate is to reconcile all aggrieved members of the party ahead of the 2019 general elections. Oshiomhole told them: “Your mandate is to help reconcile those who are aggrieved for whatever reasons, do everything that will help in your wisdom to bring peace in your zone”. Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, on behalf of the committee responded: “Be rest assured that we will put in our best to ensure the reconciliation of all aggrieved party members ahead of 2019 general election”.
We could recall that President Buhari wanted a truly democratic party for all Nigerians. The APC is a marriage of diverse bedfellows, most of whose do-or-die political ambitions have not been tamed. Such political approaches by some individuals who profess to be progressives had started tugging on the walls of the party. And there was an urgent need to assure Nigerians that the APC meant well for them because a large number of the electorates were already being apprehensive about the future of the party.
The sure way of making the party strong again and reassuring Nigerians that the party will win the 2019 elections is to return the political powers of the party to the people. The political power must not reside in any other organ of the state rather than the people.
When Oshiomhole came in, this is one of the visions he caught. The party supported, canvassed and endorsed voting options: direct, indirect and consensus, acceptable to all stakeholders at the state levels.
It is instructive to note that the direct primaries option is not a decision of the national chairman alone. It was a collective decision of the party. As expected, the primaries, which were strictly manned and monitored by committees set up by the APC national body, did not produce desired results for some ‘very powerful’ individuals. And instead of them to accept the election result as divine, they have been doing all things within their powers to blackmail Oshiomhole, get him removed as the national chairman of the party and thwart the collective will and aspiration of the people.
The conduct of APC primaries across Nigeria was largely peaceful and successful if out of 36 states of the federation, only three are complaining, for obvious reason. Oshiomhole and his group should take credit for a job well done and not discrediting him unnecessarily.
But the records are there for people to see. Instructively, President Buhari, the APC and Nigerians have not lost faith in Oshiomhole. If we must get it right as a people, we must know what we want and stick to it.
Sometimes we forget what we swore to. We want a society that works, we want credible elections, we want free and fair elections, we want our votes to count, we want the best people to represent us, but we do not want to take the drastic decisions to engender all these wishes.
No matter how fast a bandwagon of lies runs, truth will just stand at one corner and pull all of them down. That is why the confidence is there that the APC family cannot be divided. The credentials and experiences of the members of the National Peace and Reconciliation Committee will be brought to bear in smoothing the rough edges occasioned by the outcomes of the party primaries so that the APC will be stronger.
Baba Ahmed Abdullahi, Abuja