Bola Bolawole

By Bolanle Bolawole

As chairman of the All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun has not performed to expectations. I must confess that I rooted for him to be chairman when the contest was a three-horse race between him, Tom Ikimi, and Timipre Sylva. I had reckoned that Oyegun towered head and shoulders above his competitors. When he won, I was ecstatic and when Ikimi left APC as a result, I said good riddance to bad rubbish. Oyegun’s stint as governor of Edo state recommended him to many people as a level-headed and principled person. Unfortunately, his outing as APC chairman has been dismal. It has turned out that Oyegun is weak; he is not assertive at all. It does not even appear as if he appreciates the value and importance of the position he occupies. Little wonder, then, that APC under Oyegun has been rudderless and mission-less like a ship tossed here and there by the waves.

Some have defended Oyegun’s lacklustre outing as arising from APC’s internal contradictions and irreconcilable differences amongst the legacy parties that have found it difficult to mesh. If we go by the standard definition of a political party, APC falls far short in some very important regards. A political party is an alliance or coming together of like-minded people who work together to win elections and control of the government to put their philosophies and policies into effect. The operative words here are “like-minded people”; “working together”; and “having agreed policies and philosophies”; which they collectively strive to “implement”.

The four-and-half legacy parties that formed the APC, namely ACN, New-PDP; CPC; ANPP, and APGA were like-minded up to the point that they agreed to jettison their individual and separate identities to come together as one political party, which was novel. Before that time, we had only been having alliances, which did not work. The legacy parties were also agreed on the need to compete with the ruling PDP for power, at which they also succeeded, snatching power at the Centre and in most of the states of the Federation.

That, unfortunately, was where the agreement ended. When it came to power-sharing, they fell apart. CPC got the President, ACN got the Vice-President and there appeared to be no concrete plan to compensate the leaders of the other groups, leading to the forcible hijacking of the National Assembly by Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara. That rupture that this created, rather than mend, has festered.

The first litmus test that Oyegun’s leadership failed was how to resolve the logjam and contain the dispute from becoming a conflagration. A clay-footed Oyegun could only muster hardly audible pleas and threats with no positive action. In the end, the coupists had their way. Only Dogara made some “tiny, tiny concessions”, to quote the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, while Saraki played the winner-takes-all, until lately when, for reasons of his own self-preservation, he made a change in the Senate leadership that appeared to coincide with what APC leaders had earlier failed to get him to agree to.. The disgrace of the APC leadership by a rebellious National Assembly, led by APC members, set the tone of what to expect from the APC chairmanship of Oyegun. It was so bad in the Senate that a PDP member was elected Deputy Senate President. Since then, nothing of note has been heard from Oyegun, except, of course, when recently he reportedly acted the script of Presidency cabals to sway the Ondo governorship primary in favour of one of the candidates.

At APC, it has been difficult to hold statutory meetings. It is like Oyegun is waiting for someone to lead the party while he follows. He does not appear to have the instincts of a chief executive but of a follower. Unfortunately, APC has no clearly defined leader; the party is so fractured it has so many leaders all struggling for a piece of the action. In the beginning, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was called the National Leader but immediately the party won the election, the rug was pulled off his feet. That was why Tinubu’s efforts to have the leadership of the National Assembly structured in a particular direction was torpedoed by those who were determined to cut him to size, And they had President Muhammadu Buhari on their side. Efforts by Tinubu to push Oyegun to act decisively and stamp his authority as chairman against the National Assembly coupists failed miserably. Sometime afterward, Buhari himself showed his hand when he said publicly that he was still dragging the “National Leader” title of the APC with Tinubu. Since then, Tinubu, in communications, has been reduced to “a National Leader” and not “National Leader” of the APC. Some have argued that the President ought to be the National Leader of the party; that this had been the tradition in the PDP. Must the APC follow in the footsteps of the PDP? Did APC not promise CHANGE? If, for the purpose of argument, Buhari as president should also be the National Leader of the APC, has he found the time, belly, and energy for the task? Right from the outset, Buhari shirked that responsibility when he neglected to stamp his authority on the National Assembly.

Truth be told, the title of National Leader fits Tinubu and he, of all APC leaders, is best cut out for the job. He has the political sagacity and acumen. What those afraid of his rising profile or intimidating credentials ought to have done was find a way to build checks and balances around him, not uproot him as they did. Their shoving him aside has left a yawning gap in the leadership structure of APC, which Oyegun has not been able – or has not been allowed – to fill. For the first time since they came to power, the APC leadership just held its first meeting with its party caucus in the National Assembly! And they only did after push had become shoving. The National Assembly is on rampage; it has drawn the battle line with the Presidency over issues that the party leadership should have nipped in the bud a long time ago. As far as I know, a lame-duck Oyegun did not even as much as fiddle; he simply was fast asleep and snoring while the party he claims to lead tore at one another. He was rudely roused from sleep like the Biblical Jonah when the ship had begun to sink. Now, his leadership has visited the National Assembly and dialogued with the rebellious legislators; now his leadership has also warned the obviously irresponsible Presidential aides stoking the embers of discord between the First and Second Estates of the Realm to stop their silly and provocative shenanigans. These it should have done a long time ago.

Three tasks before the Oyegun leadership if it must retain its job: It must summon the courage to look Buhari straight in the eye and tell him the truth. Let Buhari concentrate on running the country. He is not making a good job of this at the moment anyway. His health challenges have made matters even worse. A president who is conserving energy; who is working only a couple of hours daily; and who most time works from home will be fool-hardy to load himself with managing a party as divisive and rancorous as APC. Let him leave that job for the party leaders to handle. If it is not too late, they should reinstate Tinubu fully into his position as National Leader with full powers but with checks and balances erected around him. Two: Presidential aides, Ministers, and other appointees must be brought under control. Powerful and influential nephews, cousins, friends, and other relations and acquaintances of Mr. President who have constituted themselves into a shadow Cabinet running the government unofficially must be disbanded. Their activities and excesses are ruinous to APC. Three: APC must put its house in order and begin to exercise firm control in the National Assembly. They have left the fire on top on their roof for too long and if they do not now work assiduously round the clock to quickly put it off, their edifice may be gutted before long.

How Oyegun will resolve the jig-saw puzzle in the National Assembly remains to be seen. The committee set up by Buhari to handle this assignment also has an uphill task on its hand. The National Assembly members have enjoyed their freedom and relished the absence of party discipline for too long that it will not be easy to rein them in again. The Presidency has also demonstrated so much bellicosity towards the legislators that it will take a lot of effort to build confidence between both. What trade-offs can the two warring parties agree? Will the Presidency drop all on-going corruption charges against Saraki and the other legislators? How will the public perceive this and how will it impact the so-called anti-corruption war of the government? Corruption on all fronts – the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary – is killing the country already. Will the Senate eat its vomit and confirm Ibrahim Magu, who it has twice rejected, as EFCC boss? Will “arrogant” Hameed Ali be excused from wearing Customs uniform?

Ideally, APC needs a new chairman to help put things right; a fresh blood, with fresh ideas and who can command the confidence of both groups or, at the very least, have the opportunity of being given the benefit of doubt. The other time I heard former Edo state Gov. Adams Oshiomhole being mentioned; APC should take the search further afield. A new broom, as they say, sweeps better than an old one. APC, the party with the broom, needs a new broom to sweep clean its Augean stable.

Pastor Adeboye at Tafawa Balewa Square

Be my guest at a special Sunday service of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Region 11 (aka Victoria Island/Ikoyi Family) taking place today at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Onikan, Lagos. According to the Regional Pastor, Charles Kpandei, it is tagged “Enlarge 2017”. Time is 7.00 am and ministering is RCCG General Overseer Worldwide, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye. See you there!

–By Bolanle Bolawole, [email protected] 0705 263 1058