By Bashir Adefaka
In any case, Buhari, APC Governors and other NEC members present at the meeting appear very decisive and will confront anybody that goes against the decisions that were made. They will wield the big stick against those that may want to worsen the crisis facing the APC which they met that Thursday with a view to resolving.
The governing All Progressives Congress (APC) took some landmark decisions on Thursday that may restore peace to the party following long period of crisis that has been rocking it. The decisions, that is the final solution to the party’s crisis is said to have been made possible by ‘One war too big that Adams Oshiomhole staged which consumed him’. He, by himself, escalated the problem when he ignored all interventions and went in battle with Governor Godwin Obaseki telling takes that put his (Oshiomhole’s) integrity to question and went ahead to disqualify him from partaking in Edo APC primaries.
That was described as callous behaviours too open to be deciphered as all his claims against the governor were countered and dismissed and amidst that, the appeal he refused to withdraw from the Court of Appeal even after presidency’s intervention came up and finally broke his back. The appeal, which himself filed, refused to favour him because justice is blind and it ended up upholding rather than stopping his earlier suspension as member and national chairman of the APC.
The genesis of the crisis is Oshiomhole and he became the sacrificial lamb that eventually “appeased the gods of politics” and today, all members including members of the National Working Committee (NWC) that he left behind and who arrogantly and contemptuously disobeyed court judgements that installed Chief Victor Giadom as Acting National Chairman. The NWC before Thursday went ahead to use the name of a sick, “dying” Senator Abiola Ajimobi to drive home their politics. “Who between the camp leader Bola Tinubu and Oshiomhole did this?” It becomes the question that will be answered as event continues to unfold.
If Oshiomhole had left Godwin Obaseki alone, he would still be Chairman of APC. But, it is now the approval of many that he did well to have actually staged the big war that eventually consumed because, they said, if he didn’t go the way he did, he would ruin the party.
To put things right, the Acting National Chairman (ANC), Chief Victor Giadom, in his wisdom, consulted widely and with all stakeholders including the President of the country, Muhammadu Buhari, who is Leader of the Party. The outcome of his consultations was the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting that he summoned, which was held in State House Abuja on Thursday June 25, 2020.
This was the point the anti-Obaseki war by Oshiomhole and the Tinubu camp he represented turned towards Victor Giadom and the Oshiomhole-backed NWC members took it too far. They did not accept that Giadom was the leader yet they could not go to court to vacate the order that that installed him. They nearly ruined the party that Obaseki, who Oshiomhole had already blocked in APC, had moved on to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his colleagues in PDP had provided soft landing for him.
President Muhammadu Buhari had backed the court-installed acting chairman, who convened the NEC meeting of the APC on Thursday and the presidential backing for his leadership of the party changed the game as many APC governors also attended the NEC meeting.
Although, some members of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) led by Hilliard Eta rejected the invitation to attend the NEC meeting, declaring it as illegal and unconstitutional, the NEC meeting summoned by Chief Victor Giadom will continue to be remembered as the milestone that took the seven-year old party out of the quagmire it was plunged for the period Adams Oshiomhole held sway as National Chairman due to was described as his running the party as personal estate towards achieving the 2023 ambition of his own mentor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
This is because the NWC who went against the NEC called by Giadom are seen to be loyal to Oshiomhole. Also, Oshiomhole’s camp is believed to have the support of the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. The Eta-led camp insisted that the NEC meeting fixed by Giadom was illegal because he is no longer a member of the NWC, although they have failed to provide evidence of Giadom’s resignation. There are lots of evidences that have been published to prove that, rather than resigning, he was given waiver to continue to run the office of the APC deputy national secretary while pursuing his political carrier in Rivers and upon return in May 2019 he was also acknowledged and asked to continue but as Acting National Secretary of the APC the position he was until Oshiomhole’s suspension and he was asked by court to take over as Acting National Chairman being the highest office on the side of the country where that replacement should be picked, according to party constitution.
Officers in positions higher than that of Victor Giadom had either won elections as governors or got appointment by the President as Ministers. The DEFENDER findings revealed that there have been litigations on ground, which erupted when, after the suspension of Oshiomhole was stayed on his prayers to the Court of Appeal while the substance of the appeal was kept on the balance undecided. President Buhari however resolved that the NEC meeting convened to decide his fate at that time was postponed but Oshiomhole, we gathered, worsened his own situation when he refused to withdraw his appeal from court. The Court of Appeal finally decided and he was not favour hence his removal.
In the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Oshiomhole’s suspension by the lower court, the FCT High Court, was not only upheld but also, it was stated that all actions he took between March 16 when he was suspended by the lower court and the June 16 when the suspension was upheld by the appellate court became null and void. The appeal court also ruled that Oshiomhole ceased to enjoy the benefits and privileges of the office of the National Chairman of the party including his security details.
By the FCT High Court judgment now upheld by appellate court, Oshiomhole has naturally been thrown out of the membership of All Progressives Congress (APC) although he was believed to still be influencing the activities of the NWC which members were largely loyal to him although their activities were seen as retrogressive by those who did not want him in the position.
In his reaction what eventually became the fate of Oshiomhole, an interested party said: “If Oshiomhole had left Obaseki alone, he would still be chairman of APC. Instead, he disqualified Obaseki, and consequently, disqualified himself. Confusius wrote: ‘Before you go on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”
Against the reality of what transpired during the Thursday’s NEC meeting, which held inside the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa Abuja, some members of the Tinubu camp believed to strive to dominate the social media to defend Oshiomhole, the meeting was planned to move the party forward not because of any unreal plot between President Buhari and Tinubu to disgrace the convener of the meeting, Victor Giadom.
“For what reason under the sky would President Muhammadu Buhari connive with anybody to disgrace anybody? If they are saying because Femi Gbajabiamila raised a point of order, when Giadom raised his hand to talk after the dissolution of NWC, the question you should ask them is this, ‘Did Gbajabiamilal say he knew what Giadom was going to say by raising up his hand to talk?’ All of these things are just hearsay and I want to warn anybody who says he believes in President Buhari and the course of Nigeria Project he leads to stop behaving like people we call wailers during the early era that we threw Peoples Democratic Party people of office,” an Abuja source asked about this matter said.
He added: “These people are just underrate President Buhari. When you should focus on supporting the president to carry governance to the Next Level as promised, you left him alone to it. Now that you incurred crisis from that hurry-hurry attitude, you expect the serious president to leave his government and start interfering in party crisis he did not know how it started? You are a journalist. Tell me if you have not see it yourself. Now that the president has decided to finally intervene, have his supporters wailing on the social media?
“They are accusing the president of dissolving NWC that he has no powers to dissolve? Tell me, did Buhari dissolve NWC? No! NEC that he presided over dissolved it. And so what?! This is where Tinubu and Oshiomhole dig the pit for themselves and their followers do not know what is going on. They don’t accept outcome but, you don’t worry, they will accept the outcome when it finally dawns on them. Buhari is innocent of their accusations. And if the sacked NWC members would allow Oshiomhole and Tinubu to continue to push them and they go to court to fight on when the party is now already settled, nobody should be blamed for the consequences they will get. Thank you,” he said.
The APC NEC took some big decisions taken at Thursday’s meeting which are key decisions that will have significant impact on the party and may affect some top officials of the party going forward. The decisions may also help to restore peace in the governing party with a view to making the APC win more elections but the fast approaching Edo governorship election as Obaseki is believed to be authentic candidate for both PDP and Buhari camp of the APC. Apart from Edo, the party will gain better consolidation thereafter. Although, the decisions will shake Oshiomhole and his camp in some ways, a media report highlighted.
One, by the dissolution of the NWC by NEC, it means that the NWC ceases to function and all the members are no longer going to be doing their normal work again. The NWC is led by the National Chairman of the party who used to be Oshiomhole before his suspension by the court and the Court of Appeal upheld it. The decision to dissolve the NWC was reached at the NEC meeting held on Thursday. In fact, according to a presidency’s source who made the development known, the decision was made as a result a recommendation by Buhari himself.
That is very significant. Buhari is the overall Leader of the party by the virtue of his office as the President of the country under the APC. Most complaints and calls for action to save the party were directed to him to wade in and save the party from collapsing as a result of the serious crisis facing the APC. Now that it was Buhari that made the recommendation and other members of the NEC agreed, it means that no one would likely oppose it, although the NWC, because they are, reportedly still listening to Tinubu and Oshiomhole’s push, had threatened to head to court. “It makes no impact,” the source said.
Two, the NEC set up a Caretaker Committee, headed by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, to run the party affairs now that the NWC has been dissolved. Against the thoughts and claims that the appoint of Buni as chairman of the caretaker committee was influenced by Gbajabiamila to protect Tinubu’s interest, the Yobe State governor is a strong loyalist of President Buhari and he will do a good job in the overall interest of APC across boundaries and the nation. Well, it is good to say that the Yobe Governor had good experience in the leadership of the APC at the national level because he was the National Secretary of the party under the chairmanship of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun for years. In fact, he was re-elected for another term in 2018 when Oshiomhole was elected before he eventually won the Yobe governorship election later in 2019. So, Buni can handle the affairs of the party based on his performance and good experience and he cannot, in any way be called Tinubu boy as the Lagos politician want their listeners to believe, it was gathered.
It is remarkable to mention that Buni’s appointment as the caretaker committee Chairman appears to have the backing of his fellow APC Governors, who are largely pro-Buhari and not opposed to Giadom’s acting national chairmanship because, our findings showed, they did not oppose it. None of the groups opposed it. Whether Buhari group in which Giadom is believed to belong or Tinubu group where Oshiomhole belongs. It will be recalled that a newspaper owned by Tinubu had published ahead of the NEC meeting called by Giadom, tagging as ‘pro-Giadom governors’ the APC governors who met with President Buhari with respect to the APC crisis. To add to that, it was the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) who is also Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, that revealed the report of Buni’s appointment and he was the governor that led the APC governors who met Buhari earlier tagged ‘pro-Giadom governors’ by Tinubu’s newspaper.
Bagudu made the development known while speaking to the State House correspondents at the end of the NEC meeting in Abuja on Thursday. In fact, the APC Governors could even be instrumental to the success of the NEC meeting so as to save the party from the lingering crisis. They also would have helped to get the backing of Buhari for the NEC to hold.
Three, the NEC gave the caretaker committee time frame to organize a convention of the APC to elect a new leadership. This arguably seems biggest decision the NEC took that will hit Oshiomhole and his loyalists very hard. Could this mean that Oshiomhole would not return as the APC National Chairman? Well, Governor Bagudu also told the state House Correspondents after the NEC meeting that after six months, the caretaker committee headed by Buni is expected to convene a convention that will produce new leadership. Do you also think that Oshiomhole will be re-elected the National Chairman of the APC at the new convention? Well, time will tell. Six months from now will be in December. By then, Edo and Ondo states governorship elections will have become a thing of the past and the picture will be clearer.
Finally, the NEC approved the Edo APC primary that produced Osagie Ize-Iyamu as the party’s governorship candidate. But for emphasis, Buhari directed that all party members should discontinue all ongoing court cases as they affect the party not persons. There are many court cases facing the APC already. Now that Buhari has directed the members to stop all the cases against the party, do you think that they will disobey the President? That is the good question that everyone had asked until the sacked NWC members believed to be acting on the instructions of their mentors threatened to head to court.
In any case, Buhari, APC Governors and other NEC members present at the meeting appear very decisive and will confront anybody that goes against the decisions that were made.
They will wield the big stick against those that may want to worsen the crisis facing the APC which they met that Thursday with a view to resolving.
Ojielo Chukwuemeka, a Buharist and APC member reacting to claims those questioning the powers of NEC to dissolve NWC, said a quick review of APC Constitution revealed the following:
Some of the functions of National Executive Committee of All Progress Congress (APC):
Article 13.3 III. V and VI states
III. Decision of the National Executive Committee shall be binding on all organs and all members of the Party, except the National Convention.
V. Exercise control and take disciplinary actions on all organs, officers and members of The Party and determine appeals brought before it by any member or organ of the Party.
VI. Create, elect and appoint any Committee it may deem necessary, desirable or expedient and assign to them such powers and functions as it may deem fit and proper.
Article 17 V and VI states :
V. Subject to ratification by the National Convention or Congress an Officer shall be relieved of his post at any time if a vote of “No Confidence” is passed on him by two-thirds of members of the relevant Party organ.
VI. Pursuant to this Constitution, where a vote of “No Confidence” has been passed on an Officer, the relevant Party organ shall appoint another person to act in his place pending ratification by the National Convention or Congress.
He then ended it by reminding all to note that NWC members are NEC members and decisions reached at the NEC meeting are as good as binding on all of them including the NWC.
