APC BATTLES POST-G5 GOVS’ DEFECTION CRISIS •BAFARAWA, SHEKARAU REJECT BUHARI’S COMMITTEE •I HAVE NO CANDIDATE - BUHARI ALL may not be well within the All Progressives Congress (APC) following the defection of the new Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into its fold. Latest reports indicate that many state chapters of the party in the Northern part of the country have rejected retired General Muhammadu Buhari as the chairman of the harmonisation committee set up by leaders of APC and new PDP. It was gathered that while signing the memorandum of understanding for the fusion of the two groups, General Buhari was tipped to head a committee that would decide what would go to the two groups. The nomination of Buhari was said to have triggered immediate rejection from the camp of two former governors who alleged that the former head of state could not be trusted for the assignment. Sources disclosed to Sunday Tribune that the former governors of Kano and Sokoto, Ibrahim Shekarau and Attahiru Bafarawa objected to Buhari’s chairmanship on the ground that Buhari had alleged hatred for leaders of APC in both states. Some other state chapters were said to have expressed worries that Buhari would not be fair to them due to original rivalry between old members of the defunct ANPP and CPC. A source in Kano particularly said Buhari will “favour Kwankwaso if tasked with harmonisation assignments. We know he actively worked to get Kwankwaso into the party and he cannot be an impartial mediator between our leader, Shekarau and the governor. “So we in Kano and Sokoto states then rejected Buhari and I can tell you that as at now, the committee has not been constituted. We are also angry because they are hoarding the MoU they said they signed. We have not seen it in Kano and Sokoto,” the source said. Sunday Tribune gathered that it took the intervention of Bola Tinubu to calm frayed nerves even as reports indicated that office sharing was a major point among the new partners. The crux of the matter, according to inside sources, is that the coming of the new PDP is threatening the interim arrangement of the APC in which the Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress for Progressive Congress and the All Nigeria Peoples Party shared key positions among themselves. The ACN holds the national chairmanship; the CPC, the national secretary and the CPC the board of trustees, among others. The interim arrangement is to hold till the party holds its national elective convention where party offices will be thrown open. As the new PDP joins the APC, two opinions allegedly emerged with the first one asking for the retention of the old interim arrangement since the elective convention will soon hold. Other strands of opinion were said to favour conceding some offices to the new PDP especially as the new group is coming on board with five sitting governors and about five former governors. Tinubu and Buhari were reported to have supported the second position especially as the new PDP was also said to have bargained hard for declaration of the sitting governors as the leaders of the party in their respective states. Further checks showed that that the demands of the new PDP for their sitting governors to automatically become leaders of the party in their states ignited further rupture which both Buhari and Tinubu were said to be struggling to tackle. For example, original APC leaders in Kwara, Adamawa, Sokoto and Kano are said to be kicking against the sitting governors becoming the leaders of the party in their states. As at the time of going to the press, the APC is yet to finalise the composition of the harmonisation committee even as the leaders of the APC including those from the defunct new PDP are scheduled to meet in Abuja on Tuesday. The Tuesday meeting is billed to finalise the fusion of the new PDP into the APC. I have no anointed candidate - Buhari However, Muhammadu Buhari, has said that he has no anointed candidate for any political position in the country. Buhari said this on Saturday in Kano at a sensitisation workshop, organised by the Kano APC Forum for Peace and Equity. He said that he had no candidate and urged anybody who wanted to aspire to any post to feel free to do so. “Buhari has not anointed anybody as a candidate, so whoever people want is his candidate. Whoever emerges for the party as the people’s candidate at the local, state or presidential level is Buhari’s candidate. So Buhari’s candidate is the people’s candidate,” he said. According to him, the APC as a party is not concerned about Buhari as a person or anybody but about the future of Nigeria and Nigerians. He urged members of the parties which merged to close ranks so as to ensure the success of the APC in future elections. Police seals Kwara PDP office Mobile policemen in Kwara State have sealed up the new Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secretariat in the state following the merger of new PDP with the All Progressives Congress (APC). The secretariat, located on Nupe road GRA, Ilorin is being claimed by members of the old PDP in the state following the defection of the new PDP to APC. Yesterday, scores of mobile policemen blocked all roads leading to the secretariat where SENATOR BUKOLA SARAKI was reportedly expected to address his supporters. Sunday Tribune also gathered that the presence of policemen was informed by a planned meeting of PDP members at the secretariat. Several police patrol vans were seen in and around the secretariat including a lion Squadron truck loaded with heavily armed mobile policemen. The Kwara State command’s spokesperson, Mr. Femi Fabode, who was also at the secretariat told journalists that the presence of policemen was to forestall any breakdown of law and order. He, however, said the secretariat would be sealed off while asking the two claimants to go to court to settle the score over the ownership of the secretariat. Speaking on the development, the former chairman of new PDP, Ishola Balogun-Fulani, said that the property did not belong to the PDP but SARAKI, adding that with SARAKI’S defection to the APC, all PDP logos, banners, flags and pamphlets had been removed. “Where you are today is SARAKITE office belonging to our leader, DR ABUBAKAR OLUSOLA SARAKI. Though this place used to be PDP secretariat but since our defection to APC, we have turned it to SARAKITE office because the person that pays for it is SARAKI and this is the receipt (displaying it) and the receipt bears my name and we paid N800, 000 for this place not in the name of PDP but in the name of ABUBAKAR OLUSOLA SARAKI. So, nobody can occupy this place. If PDP wants to use an office, it should go and rent its own office,” he said. However, members of the PDP relocated to a building along Offa road/Flower garden where they eventually held their meeting. A member of the House of Assembly representing Ipaye/Oloru/Malete constituency, Iliasu Ibrahim addressed newsmen, debunking Balogun-Fulani’s claim that the building did not belong to PDP. Ibrahim added that “it is a bloody lie” to claim that the building did not belong to PDP. “That party secretariat has been in existence before the emergence of SARAKI and since they defected to the other party, then they should leave our party secretariat for us. “Because we are law-abiding citizens, we believe things must be done properly. We put up our letters to inform the Commissioner of Police, Kwara State and the Director of SSS to inform them of our meeting today (yesterday) and we went to the air to inform all our supporters. But just at midnight, we learnt the APC had barricaded the PDP secretariat,” he said. APC’s emergence in Kwara is for progressive agenda - SARAKI Meanwhile, SENATOR BUKOLA SARAKI has said that the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State would adopt the progressive agenda and prevent the impunity and lack of inclusiveness in PDP. In a message to party faithful in Ilorin, on Saturday, SARAKI promised existing and new APC members that the party would ensure inclusiveness and internal democracy to give all stakeholders a sense of belonging and ensure participatory governance. He also assured party supporters that the progressive ideals of good governance, respect for the rule of law and inclusive governance would be the hallmark of the emergent party, stressing that the fusion of the two groups would positively transform the face of governance and deepen democracy in Kwara State and indeed the whole of Nigeria.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 08:58:20 +0000
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