Adamu Scatters APC; Tinubu Declares War; Akeredolu: Adamu Is A Joker; Governors Defy Buhari: NWC Disowns Adamu

The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is reeling in an unprecedented crisis. It is not yet confirmed who is  singing the tune its National Chairman is dancing to. But he has scattered the Party, literally. And the Presidential  Primaries is under threat.

Adamu woke up Monday morning to shock not only the Presidential aspirants under the APC who had paid a whopping N100m, each, to purchase both the Expression of Interest  and Nomination Forms, but he shocked most APC stakeholders and Nigerians who believe in democracy.

While Nigerians waited for who the APC would produce  as its Presidential aspirant to face former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at the February 2023 Presidential Election, Adamu became a one man riot squad. He became a dictator and, without carrying members of the National Working Committee, NWC, along, announced who the Party’s candidate will be.

The Primaries have not been held. It is scheduled to begin in earnest today, Tuesday, June 7, 2022. But Adamu, like an Emperor announced who the candidate will be.

In a majestic manner, Adamu told the NWC members that the Party’s consensus candidate is the Senate President, Dr Ahmed Lawan. Overwhelmed, the members wondered how he  came about Lawan. Adamu had a ready answer.

He flaunted President Muhammadu Buhari’s name.  He said he had consulted with Buhari. And, as far as Adamu is concerned, nobody else matters.  Nobody else needed to be consulted.

Since Adamu’s endorsement of Lawan, things have not been the same in the APC. There is a raging fire on the mountain.

And reactions have been coming like claps of thunder.

The NWC members have disowned Adamu. They said that he neither consulted them, nor discussed it at the meeting on Monday. Adamu, they said, simply dropped it on them like a bomb. And there was no other discussion on it.

President Buhari, perhaps, taken aback at the reaction, distanced himself from Senator Lawan’s endorsement. He said he had no particular aspirant in mind, and that he had an open mind. But not true, say not a few people.

They  disbelieve him. They argue that Adamu could not have brazenly flaunted President Buhari’s name if the two of them had not discussed it; if the President  had not given him a go-ahead order.

Since the news broke, mum has been the word from Adamu. He has uttered nothing. But not so frontline Presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Not so the mourning Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu,  SAB, who doubles as the Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum. Akeredolu, in a statement, dismissed Adamu as a joker. And not so I1 Northern APC Governors and Stakeholders who, a few days ago, in an advisory, urged Buhari to endorse the rotation of the seat of the President to  Southern Nigeria after Buhari’s eight years in office.

At a meeting with Buhari Monday evening after Adamu had announced Lawan as the Party’s consensus candidate, the Governors told the President that they stood by their statement that the Presidential seat should go to Southern Nigeria.

Tinubu Spoils For War

Upset over the endorsement of Lawan as the consensus candidate without any consultation with even the aspirants, or he, as the National Leader of the APC, Tinubu has authorized the Legal Adviser of his Campaign Organisation, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, to issue a statement on points of law, denouncing and disagreeing  with Adamu and the consensus arrangement. It is a legal impossibility, the statement said.

Quoting the relevant sections of especially the extant laws, the statement  asked Tinubu’s teeming supporters to ignore Adamu’s consensus pronouncement. “Any declaration of a consensus candidate would be premature and a violation of extant provisions of the law. We are confident that as a law-abiding entity, the APC will not be part of such.

“We are further persuaded to urge our supporters to disregard this report considering that the overwhelming majority of the APC Northern Governors who, after meeting with the President, re-affirmed their preference for a president from the Southern part of Nigeria. This patriotic decision is widely accepted by all Nigerians as a demonstration of deep understanding of the nuanced fault lines of our nation.” It emphasised that the idea of a consensus candidate is a legal impossibility.

Opinion is that Tinubu is likely to go to Court to challenge any consensus arrangement.

Following,  the full text of Tinubu’s Statement.

Consensus Candidate A Legal Impossibility

“The media is inundated with reports that the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (“APC”) has unilaterally announced the purported adoption of a certain candidate as the consensus presidential candidate of the APC for the forth coming presidential election in 2023.

“While the National Chairman is yet to deny or offer any clarification on the alleged declaration, it is necessary to state that such a declaration is a legal impossibility. This is because the under the regime of the Electoral Act 2022, consensus, though provided for as one of the means by which a political party may produce its candidate, must specifically occur in a precise form.

Section 84(9) (10) and (11) of the Electoral Act 2022 are the relevant provisions and they state as follows:

‘(9) A political party that adopts a consensus candidate shall secure the written consent of all cleared aspirant for the position, indicating their voluntary withdrawal from the race and their endorsement of the consensus candidate’.

“(10) Where a political party is unable to secure a written consent of all cleared aspirants for the purpose of a consensus candidate, it shall revert to the choice of direct or indirect primaries for the nomination of candidates for the aforesaid elective position.

“(11) A special convention or nomination congress shall be held to ratify the choice of consensus candidates at designated centers at the National, State, Senatorial, Federal and State Constituencies, as the case may be”.

Instructively, none of the above conditions have occurred in respect of producing the presidential candidate of the APC. Therefore, any declaration of a consensus candidate would be premature and a violation of extant provisions of the law. We are confident that as a law-abiding entity, the APC will not be part of such.

We are further persuaded to urge our supporters to disregard this report considering that the overwhelming majority of the APC Northern Governors who, after meeting with the President, re-affirmed their preference for a president from the Southern part of Nigeria. This patriotic decision is widely accepted by all Nigerians as a demonstration of deep understanding of the nuanced fault lines of our nation.

“In the circumstance, a unilateral declaration by the National Chairman of a consensus presidential candidate for the party will not only violate the law, but set the party on collision cause with its Governors who are critical stakeholders in the party.”

Akeredolu’s Anger Boils Over

From Ondo State, a mourning Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, said Adamu is on a frolick. A shocked Akeredolu, who is also the Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, said Adamu was joking.

In the months running to the Party Primaries, the Forum had taken a stand that the Presidential seat must go South. And even though the PDP refused to adhere to it when they chose Atiku, Akeredolu was confident APC will not toe the line of the PDP.

His confidence rose to high heavens when the 11 Northern APC Governors and Stakeholders issued a statement in support of a Southern candidate.

It was, therefore, an outraged Akeredolu who read Adamu’s utterances endorsing Lawan as the APC consensus candidate.

In a statement titled Abdullahi Adamu On A Frolic Of His Own, Akeredolu said that Adamu’s pronouncement is contrary to the position of majority of Northern Governors in APC and their counterparts in the South.

Said he: “Let it be known that the Chairman or anyone who holds a contrary opinion does so at a personal level. He is at best embarking on a frolic which reasonable people will consider dangerous.”

And he emphasised, not forgetting the tragedy that befell his State on Sunday thst; “We are grieving but have not forgotten that Power MUST shift to the South. On this we stand.”

Following is his statement.

Abdullahi Adamu On A Frolic Of His Own

“My attention has just been drawn to the expensive joke purportedly enacted by the National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu. The speculation is rife that the Chairman took a flight of fancy and decided to make a pronouncement beyond his competence. He has, allegedly, made public his preferred choice as the candidate of the APC for the Office of the President in the next general elections.

“This alleged pronouncement runs contrary to the position of majority of Northern Governors in APC and their counterparts in the South. Our agreement is unanimous on this issue.

“The office of the President should be contested for by qualified persons from the Southern part of the country if the move to get a consensus candidate fails. There has been no shift from this settled issue.

“Let it be known that the Chairman or anyone who holds a contrary opinion does so at a personal level. He is at best embarking on a frolic which reasonable people will consider dangerous.

“We are grieving but have not forgotten that Power MUST shift to the south. On this we stand.”

Will the APC survive this storm? Today, June 7, will decide.

By Gideon Njoku.