The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is now on the verge of serious implosion as different power blocs within the rainbow coalition battle for control ahead 2019 as the party’s fate continues to hangs in the balance amid irreconcilable differences of the founding fathers, The Daily Times can now report.
But the puzzle over the fate of President Muhammadu Buhari on whether or not he will seek re-election come 2019 has been another major problem afflicting the ruling party which top members believe has been drifting.
Findings by our correspondents also revealed that for some time, state governors on the platform of APC have literally taken over the control of the party, leaving the National officers to operate by the sides and with little initiative to pull the party back from imminent collapse.
Top party members in separate chats with The Daily Times affirmed that the veiled interests of some of the governors on the presidential seat is the reason they have been keen on directing the affairs of the party while positioning themselves to obtain the APC’s presidential ticket at the nick of time.
But the APC at the moment is said to be considering the necessity of holding its National Convention before the end of this year to resolve its lingering internal crises and to determine the fate of Buhari on the 2019 Presidential race.
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC, according to report, will start series of meetings and consultations with top stakeholders beginning from this week on its next National Convention which party chieftains hinted may hold either in October or November.
APC has refrained from holding its National Convention since it formed the current government, although the convention is to hold every two years to review situations, according to its constitution.
In the same vein, the ruling party has not been holding its National Executive Committee meeting as required by law, whereas the last time such a meeting held was in March 2015, a development said to have prompted the governors on the APC’s platform to take over the affairs.
The APC’s national Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, is said to have outlived his relevance among party’s stakeholders as he is often accused of presiding over a visibly polarised the NWC with failure to rally support from the founding fathers to stay afloat.
From findings, some state governors – Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna); Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto) Kashim Shettima (Borno) and Umar Gandjue (Kano) are top on the list of APC members eying the Presidential seat, with each said to have set machineries in motion underground to actualise the dream of clinching the presidential ticket of the APC.
But the interests of the governors in the presidential ticket of the APC, according to reports, are predicated on a possibility that President Buhari may not seek re-election on health grounds and in the face of incongruities trailing his government which many believe he has never been in full control of, all along.
From available reports, each of the APC governors with eyes on Buhari’s seat believe that they are sufficiently close to the President and hence may get his full endorsement to contest the party’s presidential ticket in the event of his resolve not to run by 2019.
It was learnt that el-Rufai had played a major role in convincing Buhari to contest the 2015 Presidential election after vowing earlier never to do so again with three failed attempts, whereas he subsequently became governor on Buhari’s prompting, a reason he feels confident that Buhari may endorse him as his successor in the event of his stepping aside from next presidential race.
The Daily Times further learnt that Kashim Shettima has been riding on the crest of President Buhari’s maternal affiliation to Borno State and his keen interest in the state as bait for seeking his blessing to contest the APC’s ticket ahead 2019.
President Buhari is believed to have left no one in doubt about his interest in Borno State, given the patronage he has accorded the state in the face of insurgency problems confronting it.
Reports from Sokoto are indicating that Tambuwal believes that since he bided to contest against Buhari in APC before 2015 and was persuaded to step down for him then, he stands a greater chance of clinching the APC’s ticket this time, a reason he is considering throwing his hat into the ring.
But the personal interest President Buhari is said to have in Ganduje and the manner he has helped to dislodge his predecessor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso in Kano for Buhari’s sake, is a reason some political pundits believe Ganduje may be a dark horse to emerge from the APC with full endorsement from Buhari to that effect.
Although, none of the governors had openly signified interest to run in the next Presidential race, informed party members had alluded to messages emanating from their underground moves to that effect, most especially during the long period President Buhari was out of Nigeria on medical vacation.
Making the threat of implosion in APC more real is the factor of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, as well as the strong support, commanded within the party by the former governor of Kano State, Kwankwaso.
The two politicians had challenged Buhari in 2015 and are set to make attempts again while not being unmindful of the plots to shove them aside in the ruling party.
