THE Reformed All Progressives Congress(R-APC), an erstwhile splinter group of the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), early in the month, finally made public their prolonged clandestine moves to break away from the ruling party. For many players and observers of political developments in the country, the decision did not come as a surprise as the body language of the disgruntled members of the nPDP in APC had long shown that they would leave the ruling party and commence another round of political flirtation. The group, on July 4, eventually announced Buba Galadima, a former Director General of the Nigeria Maritime Authority (NMA) as the chairman. Galadima is a long time associate of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Their relationship dates back to their days in the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) , the platform on which the incumbent president contested for the presidency in 2003 and 2007. They both later left the ANPP. The relationship between the duo apparently got better and stronger when the Congress for Progressive Change(CPC) was formed by Buhari in 2009 to enable him contest and actualize his ambition of leading the country in 2011.
Galadima served as the National Campaign Secretary of The Buhari Organization (TBO) from which the CPC originated. He was also appointed a member of the Board of Trustees of the CPC, after the party was registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission( INEC). Obviously riding on his mutual relationship with Buhari, Galadima became one of the signatories to the merger agreement between the three political parties that came together, with a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA): Congress for Progressive Change(CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), to form the All Progressives Congress (APC). The bond continued until recently when the nPDP members in the ruling party wrote to the leadership under Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, grumbling aloud that they had been relegated to the background in the scheme of things.
They alleged among other things that they were no longer consulted in the way the party was being run and that they had no fair share of major appointments despite working for the ruling party’s success in 2015. Since his announcement as the chairman of the R-APC, Galadima has never stopped serenading the public with how his group would in 2019 replicate the feat that saw the then nPDP joining the merger that led to the ouster of the PDP from power in 2015. In a statement announcing the breakaway, Galadima, who signed as chairman of the group claimed, among others: “I stand here before you as the chairman of the reformed APC to remind you that preparatory to 2015, the nPDP merged with APC to wrestle power, but the contents of that agreement were breached.
“The APC in the last three years has performed poorly and refused to sustain its core values. The APC government was a monumental disaster even worse than the government it replaced.” In a direct reply to the statement, the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, dismissed the group and its sponsors, saying: ”There is no breakup in APC. If one Galadima of no particular political address says he is not happy, that is fine. He has the right not to be happy. ”And if he chooses to call himself what he wants to call himself, I won’t miss my sleep over that. “We know those who are in the system.
Those who are in the politics for bread and butter, that is their problem.” But how far can the Galadima-led RAPC go? And what are the hurdles before the group in fusing into the PDP and actualizing their ultimate goal to snatch power from APC? The first odd against the R-APC is that the group is divided. Prior to their exit from the APC, the group issued a letter in which they listed their grievances with the party and gave a 7-day ultimatum to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari. In the May 9 letter jointly signed by the chairman of the nPDP, Kawu Baraje and former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the group complained that they had been neglected in the scheme of things by the APC-led administration despite the role they played in bringing the party to power in 2015.
The group’s grievances contained in the letter partly reads: “In the constitution of the Federal Executive Council, (FEC) the New PDP block was generally sidelined as virtually no position was conceded to it. The only member of FEC that belonged to former New PDP block comes from a state that contributed virtually no vote to the APC in the 2015 presidential elections. “There has been no significant patronage and appointments to executive positions in various government agencies such as Chief Executives and Executive Directors of government agencies and parastatals as members of our block of the party continue to helplessly watch as these positions are shared by the erstwhile CPC, ACN, ANPP and even APGA blocs of the party and those who have no party at all.
“In appointments into boards of various government agencies, very few former New PDP members were patronised. These are however not commensurate with our contributions to the growth and victory of the party. “When members of the former new PDP block showed interest in running for the offices of President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, they were subjected to a vicious and relentless political opposition as if they were not legitimate members of the APC family. “During the party primaries preparatory to the 2015 General Elections, most of the promises made to sitting members of the National Assembly, who belonged to the former new PDP in terms of a level playing field were reneged upon or observed more in breach.
“There has been general lack of consultation, non-recognition and even persecution of former new PDP members and leaders by the party and government. For example, some of our leaders are denied the security cover necessary to visit their constituencies even though they are elected representatives of the people in a government they sacrificed so much for. “Harassment, intimidation and persecution of former new PDP leaders by the government, is still an ongoing affair. We do not want to overstate the obvious by cataloguing names of former new PDP stalwarts that are targets of this political pogrom”. They subsequently held separate meetings with the party and the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to press home their demands. But shortly after that, another group within the fold, led by Abdullahi Adamu, a senator from Nasarawa State, refuted the alleged marginalisation of nPDP members, saying the APC had been magnanimous in the distribution of positions and offices to the various blocs that merged to form the party. Adamu went on to enumerate the key appointments of stakeholders of the nPDP and consequently cleared the air on the issue. The second odd before the group is four demands for negotiation it reportedly placed before the PDP.
The demands include: conceding party structures in states to RAPC on 60 to 40 per cent basis; automatic ticket; change of PDP’s name and governorship ticket in some states. Their demand that the PDP changes its name is said to have been condemned by members of the Board of Trustees of PDP, the National Executive Committee and National Working Committee (NWC). The group faces a herculean challenge of fusing into the PDP as it is seen purely as a transit name and not a political party.
The position of the state chairmen of the PDP on the group’s request that the PDP concedes 60 per cent of the officials of ward, local government and state executive committees (SEC) to its members is another hurdle that stares the group in the face. The state chairmen of the PDP were said to be opposed to the demand. How the R-APC would circumvent this remains unkown. The automatic ticket requested by the group as a basis for negotiating with the PDP may not be obtained ala carte and this could be another headache for the former members. While the PDP might concede to giving automatic tickets to the ‘big fish’ that might join the R-APC later, the former ruling party might not be so generous in doing so to other members of the group. Would the R-APC be satisfied and still team up with the PDP even if their demands are not adequately met? Time will tell even as many observers of the unfolding development have expressed doubts that the R-APC would be willing to live in the shadows of the PDP if their demands are not adequately satisfied.
