POLITICS
Mystery of APC’s Numerous Presidential Aspirants
By Tonnie Iredia
At this year’s anniversary of Press Freedom Day in Abuja where I served as a guest speaker, I had asked Nigerian media professionals to endeavour to appreciate the efficacy of the theory of self-esteem.
My argument was that no matter one’s situation in life, an eternal positive admonition is that one must strive continuously to position one’s self favourably so as to attract public respect.
The media cannot afford to despair and lament every year the precarious position it occupies in world affairs in which its members are attacked if not killed for carrying out an approved societal mandate of public enlightenment.
Many other institutions which attack the media do so partly because they see many young people in the media who appear to them as irritants while performing their duties.
At the end of the lecture, there was the breaking news that more members of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had joined dozens of others to pick up the party’s presidential nomination form at the cost of just N100million.
It looked like a mystery for the party which many have been blaming for the woes of the nation to present itself as the party to beat at next year’s presidential election by unveiling innumerable aspirants.
A compelling posture for understanding the inexplicable strategy is to place it within the context of the theory of self-esteem which hypothesizes that those who aim high score high. Already, some Nigerians are now unconsciously preoccupied with looking out more at the possibility of the APC’s re-election instead of thinking of the deteriorating standard of living during its tenure. Indeed, some are beginning to follow the imagination that today’s woes would probably have been worse if another party was in charge.
Whoever designed the strategy must have also suggested to APC leaders to remain ebullient giving their members hope and asking more of them to declare to contest the 2023 presidential elections. So, while ordinary Nigerians appear hypnotized, APC members are enjoined to scorn lamentation as a basis for staying up there!!
Many more nominations may come because rumour-mongering is only a first step towards a declaration in the party. Goodluck Jonathan who had been nurtured by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party PDP to serve as Deputy Governor and Governor of Bayelsa State before becoming Vice President and later President of Nigeria may still pick up the APC form notwithstanding that the party had declared him clueless some 8 years ago. After all, Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele who had been rumoured along with Jonathan now has his own form.
It is not even difficult to do because there are scores of Nigerians who are positioned to act as agents on the subject. And if care is not taken, some aspirants may surprisingly get more than one form each, depending on the number of support groups any aspirant enjoys. As disclosed on national television some three days ago, Godswill Akpabio the uncommon leader (wherever he serves) had to appeal to his admirers nationwide not to get an additional form for him.
Therefore, there does not appear to be anything wrong with many more aspirants turning up because Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, popularly regarded as APC’s national leader and former governor Amosun of Ogun state has already declared that the more the merrier.
In other words, the motivation of some Yoruba leaders to bring their aspirants together in a meeting was not to reduce the figure but to put across some ethical codes on language and general disposition of the aspirants during campaigns. Such brotherhood has already been shown by two Yoruba aspirants, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state who claim to have manifestoes which present them as ideological political twins. What one is proposing to do is the same as the other’s aspiration.
In other climes, such two aspirants would compare notes and agree on which of them should be put forward. Here in Nigeria, that is not the way to go. Instead, it is seen as better for both to contest and pray for any one of them to be victorious. The additional gain of this approach is that it generates more revenue for the party just as it puts in the public domain, the strength of APC as a party with innumerable presidential aspirants.
What no one can take away from the APC is that each and every aspirant of the party is full of ideas. Unfortunately, not enough efforts have been made to get each ‘aspirant of ideas’ to put such ideas at the disposal of the party. The eloquence with which former governor Adams Oshiomhole explained how to deal with the unending strike by University teachers would no doubt have given a high score to the party if its officials and conciliator had the Oshiomhole therapy and power of persuasion.
The teachers are still on strike and their students who have always been made to spend more years than makes sense to obtain a degree are now threatening that no matter the numerical strength of presidential aspirants, the 2023 elections may not hold if the strike is not resolved shortly. It seems logical to agree with our students, that it is more fulfilling to have good governance with education as a priority than to organize a smooth census of political aspirants.
Notwithstanding the outcome of the census, citizens and politicians of Southeast extraction have; on the basis of the need to create a sense of belongingness for all Nigerians, continued to call on political parties to consider an Igbo candidate as the next Nigerian president. However, it is noted that the APC has not stopped her census enumerators of aspirants from operating in the Southeast. At least one governor – Dave Umahi, 3 federal ministers – Ogbonnaya Onu, Chris Ngige and Emeka Nwajiuba along with 3 Senators – Oji Kalu, Rochas Okorocha and Ken Nnamani from the zone are already enumerated.
But far as a former National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Senator Victor Umeh, is concerned, South-West politicians jostling to occupy the presidency in 2023 are not helping the cause of one Nigeria. Umeh’s position is that it is premature for the presidency to return to the Southwest from where it began in 1999 when it is yet to go round the 3 major tripods of the Nigerian nation. This criticism must however recognize that even the leadership of the socio-cultural organization of Yoruba people – Afenifere, has severally made the same point.
The APC will do well to effectively manage its huge figure of presidential aspirants without allowing the process to end in imposition which will no doubt create political tension. Already, there are fears in some quarters that a withdrawal form which is expected to operate as a sworn affidavit may have been designed to meet such an end.
It would probably be difficult to expect persons who are required to sign sworn affidavits well before the day of primaries to believe that there were no premeditated intentions. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can be of help here if it ensures that the conduct of primaries irrespective of the chosen mode is transparent. She can do this by ensuring that all the rules of the game are adhered to.
It is expected for instance that she would insist as promised to retrieve authentic political party membership registers.
In the area of voter education, the caution to voters at all levels is for them to look out for the best candidates. The hope is that on account of all the difficulties the nation has passed through in recent years, voters would prioritize a good record of previous performance in determining who to vote for.
It would not make sense for example to vote for candidates who as governors could neither pay workers’ salaries nor help to improve the living standards of their people. It is not difficult to identify them. Apart from eyewitness accounts, there are credible reports by reputable organizations such as UNICEF which has just released a list of 22 states in Nigeria which are facing malnutrition and food insecurity. It is obviously a better guide than the numerical strength of aspirants.
Iredia is former Director General of the NTA
A Chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Dr Adetokunbo Pearse, says the state chapter of the party will find its bearing after the yet-to-be-fixed state congresses.
Pearse, a former member, Atiku Abubakar 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, disclosed this in an interview on Saturday in Lagos.
The PDP has been faced with some internal crisis among the party leaders and state executives, which led to the poor outing in the 2023 general elections.
Pearse revealed that the state leaders had inaugurated three different committees to help the party find its way ahead of the 2027 general elections.
According to him, the Lagos State PDP is now being run by the three committees to bring members together.
“The PDP congresses will begin soon and this will make the party find its way. The status quo is intact in the PDP.
“The PDP is now running through three committees that were formed about three or four months ago,” he said.
Pearse listed the committees to include the Disciplinary Committee under the leadership of Mr Tai Benedict, the state Deputy Chairman of the party and the Reconciliation Committee under the chairmanship of Alhaji Muritala Ashorobi, a former PDP state chairman.
Pearse added that the Finance Committee had been put under his leadership.
The chieftain said that despite the infighting within the party, the PDP’s structure in the state was still intact across electoral wards and local government areas.
Pearse said that all the 20 PDP local government chairmen and ward leaders were within the party main structure.
Speaking on PDP’s poor performance in the 2023 governorship election, Pearse blamed the development on the party’s national leadership and the gubernatorial candidate, who he said, failed to carry elders along.
“That was an exceptional election in the history of PDP. We have never had it so bad where our governorship candidate scored five per cent and the presidential candidates scored six per cent.
“What happened in the last election was that, going to the primaries, the national leadership made the mistake of handing over the selection of delegates to whom they perceived as the leader of the election at that point in time.
“The national leadership handed over the selection of delegates to the party’s Governorship Candidate, Dr Abdul-Azeez Adediran (Jandor).
“However, Jandor had just come into the PDP. It was about six or seven months when he got the opportunity to select delegates to the primary election of the PDP in Lagos State.
“So the party was in disarray, that was what happened in 2023
“The structure of the party at the ward and the local government areas did not work because the structure had rebelled against imposition. That is what happened,” Pearse recounted. (NAN)
Caretaker Committee Chairman of APC in Rivers, Chief Tony Okocha, says unless Gov. Siminalayi Fubara abides by the law, the political crisis in the state will persist.
Okocha said this at a news conference on Friday in Abuja while reacting to the recent court ruling on the state with regards to the disbursement of local government allocations.
An Abuja Federal High Court had, on Wednesday, retrained the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from further releasing local government allocations from the Federation Account to the state.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in her ruling, held that the presentation of the 2024 budget by Fubara before a four-member Rivers House of Assembly was an affront to constitutional provisions.
She described Fubara’s receipt and disbursement of monthly allocations since January 2024 as nothing short of a constitutional aberration that must not be allowed.
The judge further held that Fubara’s action in implementing an unlawful budget stood as a gross violation of the 1999 Constitution he swore to protect.
Okocha, in his reaction, said blackmailing President Bola Tinubu and Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), over the court ruling would not solve the political crisis in the state.
He described Fubara as Wike’s political investment who was a mere civil servant before he was lifted from a state of relative political obscurity to political crescendo by the FCT minister.
Okocha further stated that the governor was brought to politics and limelight by Wike.
“Wike is not, in any way, suffocating Fubara as is being alleged.
“Blackmailing President Tinubu and Wike psychologically over the recent court ruling will not help the case in Rivers because the law has to be followed.
“We stand with and by the court, and not with any strong man’s morality. It is not right for anyone to start proclaiming self-righteousness.
“Wike is innocent in the political crisis in Rivers and should, therefore, not be dragged into it,” Okocha said.
He said the only way to bring peace to the state was for Fubara to follow the law and abide by the court ruling, adding that “the law does not recognise sentiments but facts as presented.
“Wike brought Fubara to where he is today. He lifted him from obscurity to political crescendo. Nobody is suffocating anybody. The fight in Rivers state is between Fubara and Fubara,” he said.
The APC chairman added that the political crisis would have long ended if Fubara had obeyed Tinubu’s intervention in the first place.
According to him, Fubara has been running the state without an approved budget, which is against the law.
He said it was unfortunate that those playing up unnecessary sentiments and backing the governor failed to see the illegality going on under his administration.
The way out of the political crisis, according to him, is for the governor to obey the law of the land, including the law regarding the state budget.
“We use this opportunity to speak against attempts to disparage innocent persons, namely: Nyesom Wike, the FCT minister. In all the cases in court, they are about 32, he is not a party to any of them.
“If the governor had obeyed Justice Omotoso’s judgment; if he had listened to the counsel of President Tinubu; if he had listened to the Court of Appeal recently, all of these would have disappeared,” Okocha stated.
On the recent attempt by some stakeholders and elders in the Niger Delta zone to reconcile the gladiators in Rivers crisis, Okocha said such a move was too late.
He added that there was no point crying over spilt milk, wondering where those elders were when the political crisis started.
“If you ask me, the only other hurdle to escape is the Supreme Court. What are the elders coming to do at this late hour, if they actually would want to come?
“They are the same people who told the governor that he is a know-all and do-all; they encouraged him to believe that his head was bigger than his pillow.
“They told him his powers are elastic and the governor agreed to that,” he said.
Okocha added that most of the elders had disappeared into thin air after lining their pockets while the governor was now on the hot seat.(NAN)
Gov. Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi, on Friday, said he assented to 18 Executive Bills in his one year in office.
Nwifuru made the disclosure in a speech at the 2024/2025 Judiciary Year celebration in Abakaliki.
He said that his administration had so far employed at least 150 judiciary staff.
He also said that the judiciary would remain the last beacon of hope, fairness and justice to all citizens.
The governor expressed the need to uphold the integrity of the Bench “to do justice to all men without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”.
Nwifuru described the theme of the celebration, “Law as an Instrument for Social Engineering” as apt in shaping the society.
“I commend the organisers for echoeing the power of law, which our government wholeheartedly believes is critical to social engineering.
“In the context of the law, it is critical in shaping societal behavior, norms and values.
“As social engineers, legal professionals have the power to advocate for reforms that address the pressing issues of our time, setting the foundation for a society that is equitable and just for all.
“The judicial arm of the
government remains the only and last beacon of hope, fairness and justice to all citizens,” he said.
According to him, the legal profession has a vital role to play in promoting the cause of justice, protecting human rights and upholding professional standards.
“It is for this purpose that the Government of Ebonyi has been quite responsive, supportive and understanding on many issues that affect the judiciary.
“I want to assure you that within the limit of our resources, we shall continue to strive to improve on the welfare of our judges, magistrates and, indeed, the entire workforce of the judiciary,” the governor said.
Earlier, the state Chief Judge (CJ), Justice Elvis Ngene, thanked the governor for his support to the development of the judiciaryand pledged more commitment to qualitative justice delivery system.
Ngene said that 13,919 cases were pending in the High Court at the beginning of last legal year.
“A total of 5,343 cases were filed.
“The cases disposed off stands at 10,250 and the pending cases at the close of the period is 9,012.
“At the Magistrate’s Court, 4,213 cases were pending at the beginning of the period, 2,145 were filed, 2,318 were disposed off and 4,040 were pending at the end of the period under review.
“At the Customary Court of Appeal, 893 cases were pending at the beginning of the last legal year, 71 were filed within the period.
“A total of 86 cases were disposed off and 878 were pending at the end of the period,” the CJ said. (NAN)
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