Reformed APC – What goes round comes round!
Every time elections loom, Nigerians are reminded just how unprincipled and treacherous their politicians are. There is an old adage that once a person sells their soul to the devil it’s almost impossible to get it back. In order to win the 2015 elections the All Progressives Congress (APC) sold their soul to unprincipled “any […]
Every time elections loom, Nigerians are reminded just how unprincipled and treacherous their politicians are. There is an old adage that once a person sells their soul to the devil it’s almost impossible to get it back. In order to win the 2015 elections the All Progressives Congress (APC) sold their soul to unprincipled “any government in power” (AGIP) politicians from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). There can be no disputing that under the guise of new-PDP (N-PDP) they made a major contribution to APC’s electoral victory. Subsequently they have made several efforts to draw attention to their grievances about perceived inequities, injustice, and the hounding of their leader the Senate President.
As far as they are concerned they haven’t been adequately “settled” for their treachery. The simmering crisis boiled over with the split of the Party and creation of a faction calling itself the Reformed APC (R-APC) under the chairmanship of President Buhari’s erstwhile ally Alhaji Buba Galadima former Secretary to the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). They are back to their old tricks of mischief, bad faith, ill-intention sabotage and defection. The handwriting was on the wall when parallel APC congresses were held in 24 states and the National Congress descended into chaos. Disgruntled party members claim that they were marred by impunity, total disregard for the party constitution and a naked display of power and practices. Even though Galadima claims that the R-APC includes most of the leading members of the new-Peoples Democratic Party (N-PDP), All Nigerians Peoples Party (ANPP), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and Congress for Political Change (CPC), State Chairman of the CPC have disowned him.
Prof Itse Sagay Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC) condemned R-APC members controversially saying that they have contributed nothing to the development of Nigeria asides claiming assets and that “they are iterant characters no better than cattle herders who move from place to place in search of greener pastures”. He believes that the matter isn’t about national interest, but rather about the fact that R-APC think they aren’t enjoying enough chop in APC so they are looking for somewhere else to perch. This view is strengthened by the demand for “automatic tickets” for R-APC key actors to defect as a reward for their treachery.
Trying unsuccessfully to explain why aggrieved APC members broke away to form a new faction, the National Chairman of the R-APC said “after more than three years of governance, our hopes have been betrayed, our expectations completely dashed. The APC has run a rudderless, inept and incompetent government that has failed to deliver good governance to the Nigerian people. APC has been a monumental disaster worse than PDP”. Galadima added that the APC “has failed to ensure the security and welfare of our people and elevated nepotism to unacceptable height”. He further went on to say that “there is no evidence of any political will to reverse the decline of our party, while the leaders who have created these circumstances continue to behave as if Nigerians owe our party votes as a matter of right.”
These accusations that APC is seriously factionalised and divided; had a grossly manipulated nomination exercise, imposed candidates has shut out members; lacks democratic principles and is a charade, are the identical allegations made against the PDP when the N-PDP wanted to decamp. The accusations are familiar to Nigerians because they have been used time and again over the years to justify all sorts of betrayal in both military and civilian regimes. Every Nigerian government has been accused of “severely underperforming”; being “unable to meet potentials for good governance”; “betraying hopes”; “dashing expectations”; “abdicating constitutional and statutory responsibilities”; “disregarding the rule of law and constitutionalism”; “failing to ensure the security and welfare of the people”; and being “worse than the government it replaced”.
Even though he hasn’t espoused any coherent set of principles which guide his politics, it’s quite evident that loyalty is paramount to President Buhari and this isn’t the first time he is experiencing treachery and betrayal. It happened in 1985 when he was overthrown as Military Head of State by those still opposing him today. History is replete with leaders who were undone by the treachery and disloyalty of those who they trusted so much. APC’s new Party Chairman Adams Oshiomhole who himself has serious baggage to carry after his stint as Edo State Governor claims he will be able to quickly resolve the crisis facing the party. Buhari should be careful. As Edo State Governor Oshiomhole convinced him to “commission” a hospital annexe in Benin which has remained abandoned, closed and empty to date! With the new APC Chairman, the N-PDP and R-APC it’s simply the same old story, of what goes round comes round!