APC Crisis: Progressives Governors Castigate Buhari Over ‘Apathetic Indifference’

BY AMOS DUNI, ABUJA – Governors on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on the aegis of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), on Friday expressed their frustration and disappointment over what they described as “the apathetic indifference” displayed by President Muhammadu Buhari in the unfolding leadership crisis rocking the party.

The Progressives Governors specifically warned that President Buhari’s deafening silence in the face of clear signs that the party is embroiled in a very traumatizing leadership anomie could damage his legacy.

The PGF stressed that the inability of the APC to resolve the leadership crisis, makes it traumatizing for those caught in the hair strings of the crossfire, including Comrade Oshiomhole, National Vice Chairman (South-south) Hilliard Eta, Deputy National Secretary, Chief Victor Gaidom and their accomplices in and out of the National Working Committee (NWC).

The Progressives Governors said; “As part of the treatment, it is very clear we need an organ transplant by way of replacing the members of the current NWC who constitute the problem. By provisions of our party’s constitution, it is only the National Convention that can discharge that function.”

These were contained in a statement by the Director General of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) Dr. Salihu Lukman, in which he noted that within a space of 24hours, the Party has witnessed four different candidates emerge to claim leadership of the party.

According to the PGF; “What makes the situation more frustrating is the reticence of President Buhari in the face of what obviously could damage the legacy he will bequeath to the nation.

“While, we must celebrate the fact that his leadership style is required to ensure that the party is managed independently and therefore made possible for the exercise of supremacy of the party based on decisions of organs, ‘old ambition-Virus 2023’ may have weakened the capacity of the party to benefit from the commendable leadership approach of President Buhari.”

“Is it possible for a ruling party in control of the federal government, with President Muhammadu Buhari, who is incontestably the moral leader, not to be able to resolve a matter as important as who presides as the National Chairman of the party?”

The PGF said while it was no longer news that the APC is facing a leadership crisis, what is news now is that the party is collapsing with no leader in charge, following Tuesday’s Appeal Court ruling sustaining the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole as the APC national chairman.

The Governors expressed worry that members of the National Working Committee (NWC) are already making desperate claims as to who is the Acting National Chairman, as if the APC has no constitution or those who operate the constitution are either ignorant of its provisions and have decided to set aside the constitution and embark on a free-for-all.

The PGF further said; “How can a party so blessed with experienced and very skillful leaders such as Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Ognonnaya Onu, Chief Tony Momoh, etc be incapable of resolving the problem of leadership vacancy? With twenty governors and in control of the National Assembly leadership producing the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, shouldn’t that serve as a source of strength to be able to solve any leadership dispute in the party, no matter how complex?”

The PGF noted that in March when the simmering crisis exploded, it took the combined efforts of President Buhari, APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, governors and other leaders to create the temporary reprieve, which ended with the Appeal Court ruling of June 16, 2020.

It noted that before the intervention of these leaders in March 2020, the controversy around who has the authority to convene meetings of the National Executive Committee (NEC) given the suspension of Oshiomhole as the National Chairman of the party was the dispute and wondered why no NEC meeting was convened by the NWC since March.

According to the PGF; “May be the NWC members, including Comrade Oshiomhole are conscious of the high possibility of the party’s NEC taking steps to apply the right treatment to the ‘old ambition-Virus 2023’, which may include terminating the tenure of the NWC members responsible for the crisis. “Termination of the tenure of any of the NWC members responsible for the crisis could mean destroying the ambition of the godfather behind the affected NWC member”.