APC, PDP play hide and seek over national conventions - Chuks Okocha

Chuks Okocha writes that the two major political parties-All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party are playing a waiting game to see which of them holds its national convention first; a decision that may dictate political trends around the 2023 national elections

In his lecture last Wednesday, former INEC National Commissioner, Prof. Adele Jinandu said that the two main political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national conventions to elect their national chairmen will, to a great extent, determine the political permutations of the 2023 national elections and where their presidential candidates will come from.

He delivered the lecture at the annual Abubakar Momoh Lecture titled “Security and Elections: Implications for Anambra State Governorship and the 2023 General Election.’

It has been gathered that while PDP will hold it’s national convention in late November or early December, the APC will hold its national convention in December 2021.

Specifically, Prof. Adele Jinandu said that how the APC and the PDP conduct and manage their national conventions towards the end of the year will begin to shape a direction to the 2023 general election.

This is gradually becoming the true position as it was gathered that the APC national convention will take place in December this year after the PDP National convention in November.

The APC is waiting to see how the PDP national convention goes, to decide where the national chairman of the ruling party will come from. The idea, is that the election of the national chairman of the APC will sign post where their presidential candidate for the 2023 will come from. The same goes for the PDP.

However, despite the hide and seek tactics of the APC by waiting on the PDP to first conduct its national convention, there are concrete indications that some offices have been zoned and given to individuals to ensure ease of the convention.

To this end, it was gathered that the former governor of Zamfara state, Andulkadir Yari may have jettisoned his ambition of becoming the national chairman of APC to accept the post of the deputy national chairman north.

ThIs was the outcome of a series of meetings that eventually led to the defection of Governor Bello Matawalle to the APC and the state offices and structure handed over to him. With this, Yari is out of the contention for the office of the national chairman of the party.

For the North-east, there is the aspiration of the former governor of Borno state, Senator Ali Modu Sherrif who seems to have an uphill task in the person of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and the former governor of the state, Kassim Shettima .

The position of the APC in the North-east, particularly, is that the national chairman of the APC should not come from the Borno/Yobe axis as it already has a sitting Senate President in the person of Senator Lawan. Allowing Borno /Yobe zone to have a number three position and aspiring to have the APC Number One party official will be asking for too much as there are other states in the zone

The general opinion is that allowing Senator Sheriff to become the national chairman of the APC is like setting a cold war in motion between the Governor of Borno state, Prof Babagana Zulum and former governor Shettima, which will eventually consume the APC in the state. THISDAY gathered that these were the persons that fought Senator Ali Sherrif ro a standstill in the state and this led to his eventual defection to the PDP, but he has since returned to the APC.

The next option in the line of those that want to become the national chairman of the APC is Senator Danjuma Goje. He is a former governor of Gombe State and a serving senator. But to many, he is not serious because of the way he chickened out of the race for the office of the Senate President in 2019.

He renounced his aspiration at the eleventh hour after a visit to see President Muhammadu Buhari. Many see this as a cowardly act. No reason was given why he chickened out, but many say that his action may not be unconnected with his past as a governor of the state for eight years. With his decision not to contest for the office of the Senate President, the coast was then clear for the incumbent Senate President, Ahmad Lawan. So, to many, the aspiration of Goje should not be taken serious.

The next option is the North-central zone where the likes of Saliu Mustapha, a former deputy national chairman of the Congress for Democratic change (CPC), two former governors of Nasarawa state, Senator Al Mankura and Adamu Abdullahi Adamu and the Minister of Special Duties, Senator George Akume are in the face.

One thing going for the zone is that it is the bridge between the North and South. It looks most natural that the next national chairman of APC will come from the zone. This explains the avalanche of aspirants from the North-central to become the national chairman of APC. But one thing that is not going for the former governors is that they have not been good managers of political parties.

Members of the APC are quick to point to what the former governor of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole has done to the party. They also said that the roles played by former governors in the PDP have not advanced the cause of democracy and allowing former governors to become national chairmen of political parties is like enthroning autocracy.

For instance, the history of former governors as chairmen of PDP in the past has not been palatable.

Political observers are also quick to recall the history of the opposition PDP as a lesson to the ruling APC. They argued that PDP had not gotten the best of times under the leadership of governors. They cite the current stability PDP is enjoying under Prince Uche Secondus, who was never a governor.

They also point to persons like Chief Audu Ogbeh, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, Barnabas Gemade, and Dr. Ahmadu Ali, who were not former governors, yet led the PDP well.

On the other hand, they argued that the only time the PDP had major challenges was when the likes of Senator Ali Modu-Sherif, Ahmed Makarfi led the party as national chairmen. They are also quick to mention the tumultuous period of Former Governor Adamu Muazu of Bauchi State.

“Only foolish persons wait to learn from their own mistakes. Wise people learn from the mistakes of others. Look at the harm PDP suffered under the chairmanship of the ex-governors. Look at what ex-Governors did to APC. We have to look outside of this vicious circle if the party wants to progress”, submitted Hon. Mohammed Adamu, a Nasarawa-based political analyst and chieftain of the APC in the state.

Some APC chieftains believe that the APC should never repeat what he described as the “mistakes of the past.”

“We shouldn’t be ashamed to admit that we made mistakes in APC. What we need at this point is to correct them. What we need at this point in APC is an amiable, cool-headed, listening administrator, with the capacity and experience to heal the party,” the APC scribe said in a recent interview in Lagos.

He continued: “We should resist the temptation of selecting people with known history of abandoning their party when it suits. We need committed persons, whose loyalty is to the APC and to the APC alone. We need men of character, not just anybody.”

“The contest this time would not be a contest of title but of ideas on how to use politics, progressives politics, to better the lots of the country. In other words, it is not about weather you are a former this or former that but about experience, about untainted loyalty and about strong political leadership that is capable of lining up behind the present and next government for national transformation.”