Party Crisis: APC should learn from PDP, By Bilyaminu Gambo Kong-kol

Party Crisis: APC should learn from PDP, By Bilyaminu Gambo Kong-kol

AREWA AGENDA – The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was the strongest party in Africa before it was sabotaged by its stakeholders towards the 2015 general election. Just like the trending APC crisis between Suspended APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomole and his state Governor, Godwin Obaseki, PDP started its own too between the then National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur and his then state Governor, Murtala H. Nyako.

The crisis rose from state to national level leading to factions within the party. The r-PDP faction under the leadership of Kawu Baraje had defected to All Progressive Congress, APC following the ruling of an Abuja Federal High Court which ordered the faction to stop claiming to be leaders of the PDP, and declared Bamanga Tukur-led leadership as the authentic leaders of the party.

Those defected as of then include Governors Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano, Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers States. Others were Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and many serving senators and members House of Representatives as well as state House of Assembly members.

The unaddressed intra-party conflict and insecurity bedevilling the North-East had led to the retirement of PDP at the National level and in some states thereby opening doors for APC to rule the country. The development had shocked most of the loyalists of PDP -being the first time in 16 years the party is losing at the Aso Rock Villa. However, six years down the line, the reverse becomes the case, APC, the party which benefited from the PDP’s crisis and failure, is gradually becoming the victim of the same problem. Is APC leadership handled democratically?

One of the reasons why APC is dangling and continuously losing its members is lack of internal democracy. Those at the helm of the affairs of the party at state and national levels do use iron hands, selfish interest and injustice on some members to achieve their goals instead of adopting a democratic way of progressing the party. It could be recalled that the party members who were not treated equally worked against the party in the 2019 general elections. It is obvious that the failure of the party to retain its seats in Adamawa, Zamfara, Bauchi and Oyo can also be attributed to these aforementioned factors shown by the then governors.

Now that the party’s fate is drooping in Edo state following the exit of Governor Godwin Obaseki, APC must adopt new techniques that would help in solving its internal crisis if the party wants to survive 2023 battle.

It is high time for the president to note that keeping tight-lipped on issues that deserve his words will not go down well with the party. The success or failure of APC lies in President Buhari’s hands, and therefore, taking appropriate measures to stop any member of the party from achieving his interest at the expense of the party becomes imperative. The party deserves a Chairman who specialized in problem-solving, human relation and reputation building.

I, therefore, suggest that the party should treat every member equally and subordinate individual interest to general interest to prevent mass detection towards 2023 general elections.

Change yourselves to circumvent being changed in 2023!

Bilyaminu Gambo Kong-kol, Bayero University.
[email protected]

Arewa Agenda is a Publication of young writers from Northern Nigeria towards peaceful coexistence and national development through positive narratives.