The Nation Newspaper

Tag: many

  • Yerima and his many detractors

    Ahmed Sani Yerima who before joining politics in 1988, had a successful career in both Sokoto and Zanfara states civil service where he rose to become the Director of Budget in the Ministry of Finance, and Director-General of Lands and Housing and later Permanent Secretary at different times has been at the receiving end of all types of diatribes especially in the social media since he successfully launched Sharia courts as a governor in 2002. He is derisively referred to by his political detractors as ‘Sharia advocate’, ‘child abuser’ and an ‘extremist who uses religion to serve his own purpose”. He has denied all the charges insisting he is a moderate.

    There can be no greater evidence that his people have no problem with him and his ‘sharia’ than the fact that they did not only reelect him governor in 2003, but went on to elect him senator representing the Zamfara West Senatorial seat in 2007 and 2011 on the platform of ANPP and in 2015 on the platform of APC.

    But critics who weep louder than the bereaved hardly see anything good in Senator Yerima. When his son got married few months back, the focus of the media was on the shoe worn by the bride which they claimed was sourced from ‘Ralph & Russo’ at a cost of $2,150 (N784, 750). Yet leading members of ruling APC have been arranging intra-cultural and cross-cultural marriages for their siblings within and outside the country without any one telling us the cost of the shoe worn by their brides.

    Yerima’s recent declaration of his readiness to fly the APC presidential flag in 2019 is going to be another source of nightmare for his political detractors.  After seconding the failed motion by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of APC for the president to run for the 2019 election, he has declared that while he “will support the President if he decides to run in 2019, nobody will blame him if he decides to come out if the president does not contest”. His decision not to contest against the president however cannot be a sign of weakness as Yerima trounced President Buhari when they both contested in the ANPP presidential primaries in 2007 before deciding to step down.

    Yerima however has no regret for his sharia advocacy. In an interview with the BBC at the height of the sharia controversy, he had insisted that because “Islam is a faith, no non-Muslim had the right to determine sharia’s legitimacy and  punishments  which included stoning, amputation and flogging which were legal under the constitution”.  Since Zamfara people have no problem with sharia as indicated above, if there were social dislocation elsewhere among the 12 other Sunni-dominant Islam northern states including Kano where over a hundred people lost their lives to anti-sharia protests and Kaduna where scores also died, Yerima cannot be sanctioned for the inadequacies of governors who jumped into the ‘Sharia band-wagon’ when it was obvious they were not in total control of their states.

    Besides the support of his own people, an important variable in participatory democracy, Yerima also had the constitutional backing. His critics who challenged him in court, all lost. All that the Justice Minister, Kanu Agabi  could do was to send an appeal letter to northern states pleading that Muslims should not be subjected to more severe punishments than other Nigerians.  As for President Obasanjo, his hands were tied not just by Yerima’s judicial victory but by his lack of political base having been rejected by his Yoruba people where he lost even in his ward’s election but overwhelmingly voted into power by the 12 northern states. His tame response even  as Nigeria became a centre of world attention following Safiya Husseini’s conviction for adultery and sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic court for being impregnated by a man who she said promised to marry her but later changed his mind  was ‘Yerima’s political sharia will soon fizzle away’.

    Unfortunately, Ahmed Sani Yerima is currently standing trial for allegedly mismanaging N464, 820,189.24 out of N1billion loan meant for the repair of Gusau Dam in 2006. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has already tendered 25 exhibits and called six witnesses against him for charges which among others, include giving N20m to INEC; sponsorship of government officials to Hajj; donations on behalf of his state; Ramadan feeding; school feeding; purchase of 200 motorcycles; purchase of four Peugeot vehicles and settlement of leave grants to teachers.

    But Yerima’s supporters who are ready to openly identify with his advocacy of a gender discriminatory judicial system that punishes women victims of predatory males are nonetheless asking to be shown one ex-governor who has not at one time or the other tried to influence INEC officials through what ex-governor Donald Duke of Cross Rivers described as logistics to help INEC officials who often had their allocation slashed or confiscated by government officials and party stalwarts. They also want to know if there is anyone in Nigeria who does not know that state pilgrim boards did not survive Awo, its initiator.  Governors, both military and civilians have come to regard them as source of patronage to party officials, relatives and girlfriends. It is on record that Saudi Arabia not too long ago came up with a policy that forecloses entry of unaccompanied underage Nigerian girls into Saudi Arabia.

    They also want to know when donations to all sorts of causes ranging from marriage of celebrities, setting up of newspapers and television stations by buddies which became a fad widely criticized by the London Economist magazine during Babangida era have become a crime. Yerima is by no means the most generous giver among his fellow former governors-turned senators.

    They are also wondering why anyone would expect Yerima to dig his political grave by deviating from a long entrenched practice of feeding government children during Ramadan with government funds. They have also reminded those who pretend not to remember that it was not too long ago that procuring second-hand motorcycles in their hundreds and ferrying same along with jobless northern youths to Lagos became northern governors’ answer to PDP mass unemployment policy.

    And how can diversion of money by governor to pay civil servants and teachers’ allowances become a crime? Could they have suddenly forgotten that the late Admiral Augustus Aikhomu as Babangida’s deputy settled that issue a long time ago when he chastised journalists for misleading the public by referring to what their government regarded as misapplication of government funds as misappropriation of government funds?

    Finally let me reassure Senator Yerima that not all of us suffer from collective amnesia. If he by chance emerges as his party’s presidential flag bearer in 2019, we will, God willing, call attention of voters to some of his northern ex-governors who sponsored some of their youths to acquire training and receive indoctrination under Bin Laden while taking political refuge in Sudan.

  • One beheading, too many

    Kano State again! That was the exclamation of a young man when the chilling news filtered that a 74 year old woman and wife of a pastor, Mrs. Bridget Agbahime was beaten to death in Kano by Islamic fundamentalists on the spurious allegation that she blasphemed Prophet Mohammed.

    But the real account of what transpired was that the woman has been having a minor disagreement with a neighbour trader over the latter’s regular habit of washing his legs in front of her shop instead of his each time he wanted to pray. Reports had it that on that fateful day, the man after being cautioned as usual to wash his legs in front of his shop, went out and raised false alarm that Bridget had blasphemed Prophet Mohammed.

    Unknown to the woman who was busy attending to her customers, some hoodlums masquerading under the guise of their religion, attacked her and were on the verge of killing her husband before he was rescued by the police. The incident has attracted wide outrage and condemnation. The presidency, Kano State government and the Jama’atu Nasir Islam JNI among others have strongly condemned the killing. For the JNI, the act is un-Islamic and perpetrated by miscreants and criminals.

    But the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) northern branch is piqued at the frequency of such premeditated killings in Kano and has called for an open trial of the alleged masterminds. The CAN summed up the contradiction in the latest killing: “this type of issue is giving Kano State a bad name and image. So if your enemy is angry with you, the best thing to do is to raise false alarm using religion as a cover to kill you”.

    Some years back, another innocent citizen, Gideon Akaluka was in a similar dastardly circumstance killed and decapitated. Then, a group of Muslim fanatics had gone after the head of Akaluka after his wife was alleged to have desecrated the Koran. The police promptly arrested and detained him. But prompted by some faceless leaders, the angry group of fanatics and killers stormed the prison, captured Akaluka and cut off his head.

    They were later to put the severed head in a spike and drove around the Kano city with it in the most reprehensible manner. There is no official record of any person apprehended and brought to book for that dastardly act. Elsewhere, there was also the case of Mrs. Oluwatoyin Oluwaseesin, a teacher at a secondary school in Gombe State who was murdered by students of that institution for alleged similar infraction.

    Her offence was that while invigilating an examination, she took away a bag which a student had brought to the hall against the rules and put it away on the floor. Incidentally, the bag was said to contain the holy book and this infuriated the students who later regrouped, burnt her car and striped her naked before killing and burning her.

    These represent a tip of the iceberg in the orgy of endless religion-induced crises in that part of the country that took serious toll in human lives and property. Curiously, Kano has been at the centre of them all including the devastating Maitatsine riots.

    Perhaps, the silence of the authorities each time such killings occur has emboldened more miscreants and hoodlums to take laws into their hands to extract punishment on behalf of their religion. A society that allows any and every body including miscreants to sit in judgment, determine what sentence to award a suspect and proceed to execute same under whatever guise, is a clear invitation to disaster and anarchy.

    That is the contradiction the CAN brought to the front burner when it contended that an enemy who has a matter to settle with another can just raise false alarm using religion as a subterfuge to kill his opponent. And that is central to the case of Mrs. Agbahime.

    If motives are being imputed into the frequency of these decapitations in Kano, there are sufficient grounds for them. Those worried by such raging feelings and their prospects for the breakdown of law and order must do something now to stem the tide. The section of the country constantly targeted is already tired of spilling the blood of their sons and daughters for this country to stand.

    Even then, the landlord of the shop was reported to have before the latest incident, wadded into the disagreement, advising the man to confine himself to his shop. Sadly, it was the same person that went and recruited the hoodlums and street urchins that attacked and slit the throat of the woman under the spurious reason that she was irreverent to his faith.

    One can now see the danger in the entire sad episode. The same scenario must have also been at play in the case of the decapitation of Akaluka since nobody was apprehended and punished for that dastardly act.

    Those who murdered Agbahime and Akaluka may have been acting out a devious script written for them by some criminal sponsors masquerading under the guise of protecting their religious faith. There could also be other motives to it. It is however, heart-warming that unlike in the case of Akaluka, both the Kano State government and the JNI have come out to denounce the killing claiming it has nothing do with their religion but the handiwork of criminals and urchins.

    But, that raises a very fundamental question regarding on whose shoulders the responsibility for determining infractions to the Islamic faith resides. The poser has become pertinent because the impression these acts of lawlessness conveys is that every and any Muslim can determine when their faith has been desecrated and award punishment as he deems fit including taking peoples’ lives.

    And we ask, are there no extant processes for apprehending such suspects and making them face trial? Are there no laws to which those accused of one infraction or the other are supposed to be subjected to before punishment can be meted out on them? Why is there always a standing army of fanatics ready to decapitate any time such allegations arise? And on whose behest do they exist? We raise these questions because of the constant recourse to mob justice each time allegations of desecrating the Muslim faith arise in Kano especially now we are being told such killings are the handiwork of criminals.

    It would appear there are issues leaders of that faith have to straighten out with their teeming adherents especially the illiterate and those exposed to radical teachings. It is clear from these unfortunate incidents that self-help in matters of this nature is the message that subsists in the minds of many adherents.

    What the situation calls for is the intensification of enlightenment campaigns on inter-faith cooperation and co-existence which the JNI said its scholars had embarked upon. Such campaigns must centre round the sanctity of the human life and the fact that nobody has the right to extract capital punishment in the name of his religion. Such messages should be extended to the schools, market places and other places of public interest in the most engaging and aggressive manner.

    Muslim scholars and the leadership of the JNI must get it down to their adherents what steps and institutions to contact any time there is suspicion of any infraction to their faith. It is obvious there is still much work to do in this direction. Had there been sincerity and sufficient education on this, we would have been saved the unfortunate situation where Citizen Bridget had to be slaughtered like an animal just for an individual to settle personal scores hiding under religion.

    Above all, trial of the suspects in the instant case must be handled openly in such a manner as to drum the message very clearly that the era of jungle justice in such matters has gone for good. Then, we can take seriously the condemnations, claims and assurances pouring in since the killing of Bridget. We are watching!

  • ‘Many altars have been sold to politicians’

    The Deputy President, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Rivers state chapter, Rev Dr Miniabi Dagogo- Jack has lamented that most preachers have sold their altars to politicians.

    Dagogo-Jack said most church leaders have been compromised by politicians because of quest for materialism.

    Reviewing the roles of the church in the last general elections, Dagogo-Jack, who is also the International Coordinator of Good Leadership Prayer Support Initiative, said:  “Well, I will not say that the church has failed Nigeria rather I would say that politics of the world has moved into the church. A lot of altars of God were sold to the politicians.”

    He claimed he made efforts to reconcile former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi with former President Goodluck Jonathan but said the activities of some unnamed men of God stalled the move.

    “When I was working with Amaechi, I moved other senior men of God in Rivers state to say the President is a Christian, Amaechi is a Christian. Why are they fighting each other and we keep quite?

    “I told them that we should meet with Amaechi and then with the President Jonathan. We met with Amaechi who told us in confidence that he was ready for peace. He also told us the problems between him and President Jonathan.

    “We assured him that we will meet with the President and later bring the two of them together with a view to settling this matter.

    “A very senior minister of God assured us that he will use his influence to ensure that we meet with the President. But the doors were not opened at the Presidency for us to meet with him and that stalled that reconciliation move.

    “I made efforts to ensure there was peace and if every minister of God had taken such a decision, this would not have arisen.

    “A lot of ministers were giving wrong prophecies. Two brothers will be fighting and a Pastor will go and tell one that God says you will be victorious and another pastor will go and tell the other brother the same thing.

    “Can God be an author of confusion? I think it is time for ministers of the gospel to know their mistakes and comeback to the altar of God.”

    He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to set up a ethics and discipline committee to campaign against corruption across the country.

    Dagogo-Jack said: “It seems that the fight against corruption is targeted at those in government alone.

    “Corruption also means unethical practices and today, it is everywhere including the church. It is unethical for a policeman to say that he bought his uniform with his own money.”

  • One kidnapping, too many

    Many were shocked to the marrows when news filtered last Monday that former Secretary to the Federal Government SGF and elder statesman, Chief Olu Falae had been kidnapped by suspected Fulani herdsmen who invaded his farm. The upset is neither because kidnapping is new in this country nor the first time high profile people will fall prey to the devilish machinations of sundry kidnap rings.

    For, hardly does any day pass-by without reports of the malfeasance in one part of the country or the other. In the last three weeks, the crime took a dangerous dimension with the kidnap of two women; a columnist of the Vanguard Newspapers and the wife of the deputy managing director of The Sun newspapers. Both women spent several days in the den of the criminals before they were released. These are just a tip of the iceberg.

    However, there is something striking and unusual in the circumstances surrounding the kidnap of Falae from his farm in Ilado village, Akure North, Ondo state allegedly by Fulani herdsmen. The elder statesman was said to have been beaten up by his assailants and dragged to the ground before being whisked away.

    Before now, Fulani herdsman were said to be having issues with his workers  over the invasion of their farm by grazing cows and the attendant destruction of their crops. Curiously also, the kidnappers contacted the family demanding N100 million ransom before their victim could be released.

    By demanding ransom, new complications were added to the episode. The Ondo State Police Command admitted that much when it claimed that a kidnapping ring may have hijacked the process initiated by the herdsmen. This suggestion is seen as a veiled attempt to exculpate the herdsmen from the ransom demand since it has not been in their character to kidnap let alone demand for ransom. But that argument cannot be taken too far without running into more problems. The same police command that admitted from the onset that the attack was perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen is now floating a questionable theory of professional kidnappers hijacking the process to make money. This theory cannot fly for two basic reasons.

    First, it is a fact that Falae and his workers were attacked by Fulani herdsmen. This is not in doubt. Secondly, the same assailants also took him away when they were fleeing. Therefore, if there is any harm that comes the way of their captive, the responsibility for it squarely rests on the shoulders of his attackers. In this case, the Fulani herdsmen will take responsibility for whatever happens to the old man.

    If we admit the theory of a hijack, the hijackers could not have been doing the bidding of any other group than those who whisked Falae away from his own farm. The police may have been forced into this rationalization given that Fulani herdsmen have not been known for kidnapping and demanding for ransom. But it will be naïve to completely rule out this possibility. It could well be a new dimension to the recurring clashes between farmers and the herdsmen in parts of the country. We needed more time to study the new development. The police was therefore in a hurry to have seemingly exculpated the herdsmen from the consequences of an action they planned and effectively executed.

    It is not surprising that the people of the South-west did not take the matter lightly. The Oodua Peoples’ Congress OPC has threatened reprisals while farmers in Ondo State also threatened to wage a war against Fulani herdsmen that will have national impact, if the federal government failed to heed their ultimatum of effecting Falae’s release within one week. Such was the level of emotions and outrage.

    It is largely seen as an affront on the people of the South-west for Fulani herdsmen to have attacked and abducted such a personage as Falae in his homeland. If this could happen to him, then all small farmers in the state are at the mercy of the herdsmen. That is why the incident should not be treated lightly by the authorities. It may be for the same reason that President Buhari directed the Inspector General of Police and all security agencies to do all within their powers to free the senior citizen. Good thing, Falae has eventually regained freedom after four days in captivity. Whether his release was a consequence of the high interest shown by the president or threats from the South-west, the nation has been saved the trouble of any harm that would have followed his continued incarceration or possible death.

    In verity, this is the first time we are hearing of herdsmen kidnapping people for ransom. Yes, Fulani herdsmen have been notorious for attacking, killing and maiming people over disagreements on grazing lands for their cows and cattle rustling. Such incidents have been a recurring decimal. They came to an all time high in the last couple of years especially since the Boko Haram insurgency. The level of havoc wreaked by the herdsmen in parts of the country especially in Benue State was such that generated heated controversy as to whether they had the capacity and sophistication of the unmitigated calamity they wrought on several villages.

    In one of such invasions, herdsmen attacked Ise Aekenyi in the Guma local government of Benue State destroying 72 villages even as 25 residents lost their lives with over 50,000 displaced. The governor of the state then, Gabriel Suswam who went to the area to assess the level of damage, escaped by whiskers as his convoy equally came under serious gun attack from the herdsmen.

    The destruction was so much so that Senator Barnabas Gemade who then represented the area in the senate, raised alarm on the possible annihilation of the Idoma and Tiv ethnic groups by the herdsmen, warning that the development could destabilize the country if not checked. He also alleged that the attackers were not herdsmen but hirelings from Chad, Niger and Cameroun with the intent of causing internal crisis or war in the Middle-belt.

    The allegation bears some semblance with the suggestion by the police in the case of Falae’s kidnap that those who were demanding N100 million ransom could be professional kidnappers who hijacked the incident for some gain. Whether the hirelings are from neighboring countries or are professional kidnappers make no difference. The key thing is that they were doing the bidding of those who had scores to settle. They are therefore, as culpable as those for whom they were doing their bidding. That is the real issue.

    More fundamentally, the predicament of Falae has brought to the fore two serious security concerns which the current regime has to confront. They are the twin issues of clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers over grazing lands and kidnapping. These are extant challenges the attack on Falae has raised for attention.

    These two security concerns are loaded with frightening prospects of destabilizing this country. The increasing resort by sundry rings to kidnapping for scores’ settling portends danger for this country. Our security agencies must rise to this challenge and tame the monster. It is equally important to take a serious view of the threat to national security which clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers across the country have become.

    It is obvious from these recurring clashes that nomadic rearing of cows can neither endure nor is the suggestion for the mapping out of grazing areas in the six geo-political zones a viable alternative.  The solution lies in embracing modern trends in animal husbandry.

  • Too many cooks

    •Plans by security agencies to deploy 360,000 men for polls may be counter-productive

    Conduct of elections could be the primary function of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but other agencies of state are involved in ensuring that things go well and the results are generally accepted. For example, we have the security agencies that are to ensure provision of adequate security. It is not just about the quantity, but the quality. How many are deployed for the purpose; how well are they equipped; what training did they receive and who coordinates inter-agency relationships? These had posed great challenges in the past.

    At a training workshop in Abuja, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Suleiman Abba, and the Commandant-General of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr. Ade Abolurin, disclosed that 300,000 police officers and men, and 60,000 NSCDC operatives would be sent to the states to provide security cover at polling units and collation centres on election days. The IGP said those to be used for the purpose had been specially trained and were awaiting instructions. He had also released manuals to guide all policemen that would be used for the purpose.

    On the surface, this appears laudable, especially with the involvement of INEC in the training and coordination of the agencies. But, the number of men and materials being deployed is enough to frighten people and could be counter-productive. Is election being equated to war? At the level of polling units in the country, there would, on the average, be about three operatives, many armed, for every unit. Yet, the United Nations has advised that armed men be kept away from voting centres as their presence could intimidate voters. The security chiefs should be reminded that voting is a civic responsibility of all qualified citizens and the net of participation should be made as wide as possible.

    Apart from the police and the NSCDC that have made their plans known, other security agencies usually drafted for election work are yet to speak out. The Department of State Security (DSS) is usually involved as are the Armed Forces, the Prison Service and the Department of Customs. Releasing all the men would amount to overdramatising what is at stake and suggesting that elections in Nigeria are as deadly as war. If the police plan to release 300,000, what remains for the important purpose of securing other important sectors of the society on those days, and at what cost?

    It is even the more frightening that the NSCDC plans to bring in 25 dogs from the United States of America. How many Nigerians would be so committed to dare ferocious dogs by moving close to areas where they are deployed? Political participation is the soul of democracy. It has always been said that turnout at elections in Nigeria is usually low, sometimes below 50 per cent of registered voters. At a point when voter card production and distribution remain great challenges and are capable of disenfranchising many would-be voters, measures that could keep those with the Permanent Voter Cards away from the centres should be avoided.

    We are also worried about effective coordination of the agencies. INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, has disclosed that the commission would be involved in ensuring that the operatives conduct themselves in acceptable manner. However, the fact that the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) is a co-chairman bogs the mind as his recent utterances tend to paint the picture of a man who lacks faith in the process.

    As is the case in India, the capacity of the electoral commission to fully take responsibility for the conduct and management of elections should be boosted before the next general elections. All agencies and operatives deployed for election purpose should abide by rules and guidelines drawn up by the electoral commission and should subordinate themselves to the body throughout the period of electioneering.

  • 2015: APC’s many battles within

    2015: APC’s many battles within

    In this report, Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, gives insight into the on-going reconciliation efforts of the leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) aimed at strengthening the party ahead 2015

    Following its loss to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Ekiti State gubernatorial election few weeks back, leaders and chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been reiterating the need for the party to re-strategise ahead of the 2015 general election.

    Speaking on the election shortly after Ayo Fayose of the PDP was announced as the winner of the poll, APC’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said his administration will leave no stone unturned in its effort to position the party as the one to beat in the 2015 contest.

    According to Oyegun, the leadership of the party is aware of the many grievances within its ranks as well as the crises rocking some of its state chapters. He assured Nigerians that immediate actions towards resolving all issues would be taken in due course.

    The APC’s emergence as Nigeria’s major opposition party was predicted by many pundits even before it came into existence in February 2013.

    The party, a result of a merger between the country’s three frontline opposition parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), was formed with the intention of wrestling power from the ruling PDP in 2015.

    The resolution was signed by Tom Ikimi who represented the ACN; Senator Annie Okonkwo on behalf of APGA; former governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, the Chairman of ANPP’s Merger Committee; and Garba Sadi, the Chairman of CPC’s Merger Committee.

    Eight months after it was formed, five PDP governors joined APC alongside numerous legislators and leading chieftains of the ruling party. This gave the party wider spread as the states of Kano, Adamawa, Borno, Rivers and Sokoto fell into its kitty.

    Determined to shove the PDP aside, the party embarked on vigorous membership drive that yielded immense fruits when it registered members nationwide few months back. And at its first national convention held recently, former Edo State governor, Odigie-Oyegun emerged National Chairman through a consensus arrangement.

    Odigie-Oyegun’s rivals, former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva and former Foreign Affairs Minister, Tom Ikimi stepped down following a resolution by stakeholders to allow for consensus.

    Though the convention has been adjudged as commendable both locally and internationally, it may also have resulted into one of the major challenges the party will have to contend with on its way to electoral victory in 2015 because PDP is said to be wooing those uncomfortable with the emergence of Odigie-Oyegun as National Chairman.

    Reports say the party has launched covert talks with ex-Foreign Affairs Minister, Tom Ikimi, ex-Borno Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, a former National Secretary aspirant, Mallam Kashim Imam, and Borno State Deputy Governor, Zannah Umar Mustapha.

    It was gathered that although the PDP tried to convince the affected APC leaders to pull out of the National Convention, it did not succeed.

    Consequently, Ikimi stepped down for Odigie-Oyegun while Kashim Imam, who had aspired to be the National Secretary, gave up his ambition for Mallam Ibrahim Gubi from Yobe State.

    The group was said to have lost the position of the National Vice-Chairman for the North-East.

    “Some PDP leaders have held discussions with some aggrieved APC leaders to prevail on them to defect to the ruling party in order to decimate the opposition. Their initial plan was to scuttle our convention but they failed to achieve that,” a source said.

    Worried by the development, Alhaji Imam Iman Saulawa, a national officer of the APC Youth League, said the party must immediately take steps to address the numerous grievances that came about as a result of the outcome of the national convention.

    “It is not enough to say we have a new leadership. It is time for us to address all issues that came out of the process. We cannot afford to ignore the likes of Modu-Sherrif and Tom Ikimi. These are leaders of our party in all ramifications.

    If for nothing else, Ikimi it was who signed the merger deed on behalf of the ACN. Sheriff played vital roles in popularizing APC in Borno State. If they are aggrieved, we must console them,” Imam, a chieftain of the party in Borno State, said.

    Speaking on the development, Odigie-Oyegun, said: “We have started our reconciliation, right from day one; we will extend our hands of fellowship to those aggrieved. In my acceptance speech, I called for forgiveness and healing of rifts.”

    Speaking similarly, the Borno Deputy Governor said the party would appeal to the aggrieved chieftains to put the interest of the nation above all things. According to him, he would rise and fall with Governor Kashim Shetttima instead of leaving the APC.

    “I have worked with His Excellency, Governor Kashim Shettima in the last three years and I can tell you that he is the best boss any deputy governor can have in Nigeria. He is so humble, kind; he is a good listener and very consultative. He respects me and protects my integrity as his deputy. What more can I ask for from a governor?

    “I will rise or fall with him; I will stand by him through every step of the way, no matter what. Insha Allah, he will be the last governor I will serve as deputy because I don’t see myself being a running mate to any serving or past commissioner or anyone at all.

    “Wherever Shettima stays, I stay; wherever he goes I go. This is my kind of person. I am an APC man and a committed one for that matter. My governor is an APC man and I will support him.

    “Together with leaders of the party at the national and state levels, we will move the party to a grand victory at all levels of the 2015 elections in Borno and the rest of Nigeria”.

    On the APC congresses at the state and national levels, the Deputy Governor urged those aggrieved to embrace peace.

    He added: “It is God that gives power to anyone and it is also He that takes it or deny it to anyone.

    “Politics is give-and-take and it is a game of strategising and re-strategising. Sometimes, we don’t get what we want and sometimes we get it either as individuals or as groups, the important thing is for us to move forward,” he said.

    Away from Bornu, the APC is also troubled in Ogun State where a severe rift between Governor Ibikunle Amosun and former Governor Segun Osoba, a national leader of the party, has led to rumours that the later is on the verge of dumping the party.

    Speaking recently, an ally of Osoba’s, Senator Akin Odunsi (Ogun -West) said although the Chief Olusegun Osoba supporters are not thinking of leaving the party despite the crisis rocking the state chapter, the crisis could only be resolved if the national leadership does the right thing.”

    Confirming fears that the group may be receiving overtures from other parties, Odunsi said; “Though our group appears to be a beautiful bride for a lot of groups to approach, we are not leaving because APC is our party.

    “But it will be disastrous if the party insists on taking wrong decisions on the parallel congresses conducted by the Osoba and the Governor Ibikunle Amosun factions. Which of them followed the party’s guidelines that say only candidates with bank tellers are qualified to contest?

    The party leaders should be guided in their decision by the party’s guidelines on the conduct of congresses. If the party takes the bull by the horn, I assure you that a lot of our members who are drifting today will come back.

    “The national secretariat seems not to understand the gravity of the problems at hand. If it decides to ignore the complaints of members of the National Assembly from the state, it appears the party leadership is treating the matter with levity. Before the matter got to where it is today, we intimated the national leaders but nothing was done.”

    Osoba and his group boycotted the APC national convention held in Abuja. Another ally of the former governor, Senator Gbenga Kaka (Ogun-East) said he and his colleagues boycotted the convention because they were not formally invited.

    “The moment the APC national leadership decided not to review the appeal committee’s report on the parallel congresses in Ogun and decided to recognise the Amosun faction, we lost interest in what was going on,” Kaka said.

    Also recently, feelers from Ondo State showed that the APC may need to do some fence mending in the state too. A member of the state chapter of the party, Bola Ilori, said trouble was being caused by external bodies who do not understand the internal workings of the state politics.

    “People that do not understand the history of the state, by the time they are at the driving seat of events, you will always have trouble. This is a new party coming together, let the legacy parties be at the driving seat of events,” he said.

    This was just as the crack in Nasarawa State chapter of the APC took another turn with the rift between Governor Al-Makura and members loyal to the representative of Nasarawa North in the National Assembly, Solomon Ewuga, widening.

    Loyalists of the ex-Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory was alleged to have walked out on a peace meeting with the governor in attendance sometimes back, fueling fears that they may also ditch the party soon.

    Given its commitment to the task of defeating the PDP at the general election in 2015, the APC will have to first confront and conquer its internal challenges if it intends to make good its vow.