APC: The Undertaker Within!

By SOC Okenwa

Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is the national Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The APC ruling party is now more embattled than the opposition Peoples Democractic Party (PDP) was prior to the historic defeat it suffered in the presidential poll of 2015. Then the incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan, was perceived generally as a weak leader who was incapable of providing sound leadership in a complex nation as ours. He demonstrated irredeemable incompetence. And corruption festered uncontrollably under his watch.

Today few years after his departure from the Aso Villa we have known how ‘Diezani-gate’ and ‘Dasuki-gate’ happened with manifest impunity. We now know better why GEJ had famously described stealing of public funds as not amounting to corruption! The problem could have been that the man of immense ‘goodluck’ was not sufficiently equipped with enough knowledge to know the difference between bribe-taking, looting and corruption in general.

For months running we have been hearing and reading interesting tales of the millions of Dollars and billions of Naira the former First Lady, his wife, Patience, had looted while the connubial presidency of the Otuoke ‘Prince’ lasted. Apart from Mama Peace many other PDP prominent members had been docked while others had negotiated their ‘freedom’ by surrendering part of what they had stolen as the ‘feast’ lasted.

Now the opposition PDP has reformed itself somewhat positioning herself for power re-conquest. By their ambitious rebranding, provocative politicking and aggressive oppositional antics the party seems poised for some electoral exploits come the general elections of next year.

Recently we have witnessed mass defections of the APC legislators to the opposition PDP camp. And just yesterday the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the Kwara State Governor, Ahmed Abdulfatah, had announced their defection. Before them the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, was the first to make his exit from the ruling part known publicly.

The political drama of last week involving the executive and legislative arms of government had done a lot of damage to our fledgling democracy. Early last week we woke up to read online how the state security operatives had invaded the homes of the Senate President and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu. The unwarranted assault had lasted for hours. Rumours were flying in different directions as to the motive behind the invasion.

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It was learnt that the Buhari regime was getting jittery over plans of mass defection of some federal legislators. And a counter plan appeared to have been hatched by the executive to strike before the ‘enemies’ could strike first! So Saraki and Ekweremadu must be ‘detained’ temporarily while some legislative pro-power elements effected a legislative coup d’etat aimed at deposing the principal officers of the red Chamber.

However, Saraki, ever smart and ruthless in his political calculations, outsmarted and outmanouvered the Aso Rock master-planners by reportedly driving himself in a rickety car to the Senate and presiding over the proceedings of the day. The coup bid was therefore foiled by his presence!

Apart from the parliamentary defections the gale of defections that hit the ruling party lately could be interpreted to mean just one thing: the looming defeat that awaits the APC at the polls come early 2019! Governor Ortom, an orator in his own rights, had said before his exit that he had been “red-carded” by some powerful forces within the ruling party. Following his threat of defection Oshiomhole had hosted him making it clear that the APC could not afford to lose him to the ‘share-the-money’ opposition party!

But suddenly after publicly announcing his membership withdrawal from the ruling party the Comrade from Edo State, himself a former Governor and the NLC President, had begun singing a bitter tune. Oshiomhole took Ortom to the cleaners calling him names and berating him. He said that the Benue Chief Executive became the APC candidate in the state in the first place “by accident” alleging that he had terribly underperformed — owing workers backlog of salaries, knowing something about the herdsmen/farmers clashes and killings in the state and underdeveloping the state with little or no projects slated for commissioning.

Governor Ortom had fired back accusing the Chairman of “talking about everybody and everything”! He lambasted Oshiomhole for his tirade against him threatening to institute a legal action against him for defamation and vengeful accusations. The Governor was measured in his reaction giving certain credence to what Adams had said.

The vindictiveness of the APC has become all visible with recent developments in Benue state. Suddenly the EFCC has ‘exhumed’ an old report of embezzlement against the Governor. The anti-graft body had reminded Governor Ortom of a pending charge of fraud to the tune of N22bn! Some eight state house of assembly members (in their baleful minority) had reportedly served an illegal note of impeachment on the embattled Ortom. And the drama from Makurdi is still unfolding!

The truth remains that if Ortom had remained in the ruling APC party none of these things would have happened to him. But now that he has chosen to leave all manner of vindictive actions are being manufactured to bring him to his knees. There seems to be an organized desperation to annihilate him politically. Yet the truth of the matter remains that cross-carpeting is part of a democratic enterprise.

Days preceding the Benue bombshell Comrade Oshiomhole was involved in another ‘battle’ with the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, another former Governor of Anambra state. Following his refusal to reconstitute
the board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) because of reports of alleged diversion of funds to the tune of N48 billion the garrulous APC Chairman had publicly descended on Ngige threatening to expel him from the party if he continued to refuse to make the NSITF board functional again. Minister Ngige hit back by saying that the diminutive man from Edo was talking “out of ignorance” daring him to go ahead and suspend him saying he was not afraid of suspension.

Comrade Oshiomhole is biting more than he could chew from all indications. He is antagonizing many people and alienating allies with his unguarded comments. While party discipline and cohesion is paramount in any political party the apparatchiks ought to carry everybody along if they hoped to succeed in their mission. It is, therefore, ludicrous to always want to wash the dirty linen in the public domain. In politics we are often told that there are no permanent ‘enemies’ but interests.

The Comrade, wittingly or otherwise, is making more enemies for the ruling party by his derogatory speeches unbecoming of a a party Chairman. This amounts to crass and impudent exhibition of uncivilized conduct. To the opposition PDP: “Adams Oshiomhole has abandoned the path of wisdom expected of him and has become noisy, loquacious, rapacious and completely immodest in all his actions and utterances”. We cannot agree more with this assertion.

Oshiomhole must be reminded that he is no longer an Executive Governor who had constitutional executive powers to hire and fire. His strategic top job requires of him certain diplomacy, compromise and fairness to all.

He is uncouth and undiplomatic in his public utterances. He must be told that he is not a college principal who is at liberty to dish out orders to his students for which obedience is a fait accompli. By his ‘dictatorial’ methods and tactics the APC Chiarman may well turn out to be the undertaker within, one whose chairmanship tenure could signal the arrival of an undertaker who would undertake the electoral burial of the ruling party come 2019.

 

 

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