Uduegbunam ChukwujamaThe National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday was successful, at least in the context of the reverberating victory songs across the country.
It, however, did not end without inflicting unusual wounds on usual actors. These are ‘Buhari’s men’ – the very power brokers that have clearly held up President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘political’ hands and called all the shots in key departments of governance and on many issues of national importance, or of controversy; those whose ears Mr President have always sought when the chips are down and those to whom he freely gives his ears at every turn and twist of familiar controversies.
They lost to the more resilient and politically-savvy (or so it seemed) APC governors – the actual winners in the just-concluded National Convention of the APC at the Eagle Square Abuja. The governors won almost everything in the victory of Senator Abdullahi Adamu who himself had defected to the ruling APC from the now opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after serving two terms as governor of Nasarawa State.
Although it does appear that Senator Adamu, the new APC national Chairman is President Buhari’s candidate, Prime Business Africa reports that the President did not personally nominate Senator Adamu. Sources within the Presidency and the ruling party confirmed that ”the same APC governors who dictated what became Mr President’s official stance on the protracted Electoral Amendment Act also prevailed on Mr President to endorse Senator Abdullahi Adamu.”
An impeccable source in the Presidency said, ”President Buhari did not actually have a candidate in this Convention; he simply succumbed” to the wish of the all-powerful APC governors.
”Adamu was clearly the choice of the APC governors,” another high-ranking member of the APC who was privy to the decisions preceding the National Convention told Prime Business Africa early Tuesday morning in Abuja.
The back-and-forth regarding the appointment of Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello to replace the former Caretaker Committee Chairman, Mai Mai Buni and the latter’s dramatic reinstatement by President Buhari was all ‘broken scenes’ in the overall drama in the making of the new Chairman on March 26.
Prime Business Africa had, in fact, exclusively reported two important London visits to the president who was at the time on a medical rest in London – trip by a ‘high-ranking minister’ and confidant of President Buhari, and another by three APC governors, all in the same week.
READ ALSO: BREAKING: Bello, El-Rufai, Fayemi Meet Buhari In London
”President Buhari was torn between his loyal and trustworthy presidential actors and the powerful governors who would ultimately determine the fate of the party in their respective states. So, the president will always cave in to the demands of the PGF as you saw in the case of the Electoral Bill,” the source said.
READ: Electoral Act: Buhari Declines Assent Over ‘N500B’ Direct Primary Costs
Apart from the National Chairman, there were three other battlegrounds between the ‘powers and principalities’ in Buhari’s Presidency and the powerful APC governors – the positions of Deputy National Chairman (North), Deputy National Chairman (South) and most importantly, the National Secretary of the party.
While the Presidency, led by a high-ranking Minister, had preferred Farouk Adamu (from Northwest) and Senator Ken Nnamani (from Southeast) as candidates for the respective positions, the governors were pushing for something else. Much more interested in pandering to the whims of their individual state governors (with 2023 election outcomes in focus) than pleasing ‘presidential forces,’ the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) was pushing in a different direction that ultimately produced the March 26 Convention ‘winners’ list.
Although he won the hearts of Buhari’s men for the position of Deputy National Chairman (South), Nnamani was given the stoutest resistance by his Southeast Caucus, He was alleged to have betrayed the region for his interest in clinching that position. Sources close to the presidency had told Prime Business Africa that the APC in the Southeast region had negotiated and secured a more practical position of National Secretary but that the former Senate President traded it off for his ambition of becoming Deputy National Chairman (South). ‘
‘This made the presidency to zone the position of National Secretary to the Southwest and Deputy National Chairman (South), for which Senator Ken Nnamani had lobbied the Presidency, to the Southeast, ” a member of the Southeast Caucus said.
READ ALSO: Zoning: Southeast APC Leaders Move Against Nnamani
On that plank, Senator Nnamani’s expected emergence, therefore, suffered a serious setback.
Tinubu’s Setback On Buhari Men’s Loss
The emergence of Senator Abubakar Kyari as Deputy National Chairman (North) and Osun State’s Iyiola Omisore’s for National Secretary of the party is seen as a major win by the PGF but also a very big blow to former governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s bid for the Presidential ticket of the APC.
Prime Business Africa gathered that Tinubu had, in his latest moves, pitched tents with former senators and lawmakers as well as Buhari’s allies in Abuja to ensure that Ife Opeyemi from Lagos State became the party’s national secretary.
In conjunction with some ‘presidential forces’, he was also said to have preferred a Farouk Adamu as Deputy National Chairman for the North. Both dreams fell flat on APC governors victory of March 26.
It was gathered that when it became clear that the governors in the consensus negotiation for the ‘Unity List’ would not give in on any of their demands, especially on removal of Farouk Adamu and Opeyemi’ from the list, the ‘presidential forces’ tried to ensure that President Buhari did not come to the Eagle Square venue to authenticate the ‘Unity List’, a move that also failed, according to sources.
While the crowd-filled Eagle Square was bubbling on the D-day, strong Villa forces were, until the last minute, still working hard to torpedo Mr Buhari’s attendance just to whittle the credibility of the exercise when done, Prime Business Africa learnt.
With its National Convention done and dusted and with the dramatic gains and losses of its major political actors, the ruling APC will be facing a much more stormy season in the coming months as it prepares to pick its presidential candidate.
Containing implosion amid these injuries and taunting victory dance, will, perhaps, be the real test of APC’s Abuja Convention ‘success.’ Its worst nightmare, the PDP, will be facing the same test amid potential injuries as well.
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