By Omeiza Ajayi, ABUJA
With the 2027 basic elections on the horizon, cracks are widening inside the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as a few of its basis members mount a robust push again towards high-profile defectors being courted into the celebration. The resistance, which has unfold throughout states like Kano, Plateau, Delta, Enugu and Osun, is fueled by fears of displacement, with long-serving APC loyalists warning that newcomers might hijack celebration buildings if allowed entry with out clear power-sharing preparations.
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In Delta, loyalists of former Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, typically cite their very own expertise as a cautionary story. They insist that since Governor Sheriff Oborevwori defected from the Peoples Democratic Celebration PDP to the APC, Omo-Agege’s camp has been relegated within the scheme of issues.
Kano: Kwankwaso’s shadow, Ganduje’s counter strikes
The state of affairs is much more unstable in Kano, the place strikes to woo former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso have unsettled celebration heavyweights. Kwankwaso, who now leads the New Nigeria Peoples Celebration NNPP, has given one situation for his return: his highly effective Kwankwasiyya motion should be totally accommodated inside the APC.
“Reality is that he doesn’t need to repeat the error of the previous the place he moved again to the Peoples Democratic Celebration PDP and even the place of vice chairman was not conceded to his group,” mentioned an official of the NNPP in Kano who requested anonymity. However this situation has put Kwankwaso on a collision course with loyalists of Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, immediate-past APC Nationwide Chairman, who’re unwilling to give up the celebration construction. Ganduje’s loyalists concern that if Kwankwaso returns, Governor Abba Yusuf – his protégé – will routinely grow to be the chief of the APC in Kano.
On September 25, Ganduje convened a technique assembly in Abuja with Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin; former Governor Kabiru Gaya; Senator Abdulrahman Kawu Ismaila (who himself had lately ditched the NNPP for the APC; Senator Basheer Lado; Kano APC Chairman, Abdullahi Abbas; and different influential leaders.
Talking after the assembly, Ganduje mentioned: “Vital APC stakeholders from Kano State determined to satisfy and study the state of the celebration and to guarantee the President that we in APC in Kano are solidly behind him. Our celebration has remained intact and due to the insurance policies of the President, we’ve been capable of appeal to high-profile figures from different events. We now have resolved to proceed to work very laborious to make sure that we succeed within the subsequent gubernatorial election in Kano State.”
Senator Jibrin bolstered the purpose, saying; “The president, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has finished properly. We took notice of the assorted appointments that the president has given to us. We’re solidly behind him as a result of we’ve by no means requested him for something that he didn’t do for us. We now have resolved as stakeholders to return house to rally our folks to proceed to assist Mr President.”
Nonetheless, celebration insiders say Ganduje’s camp is deeply frightened: “If the Kwankwasiyya motion joins the APC, solely the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, may retain his Senate ticket. Others within the Ganduje camp may lose out. That is the permutation and that’s the reason there are plenty of push backs,” mentioned an APC supply.
Enugu: Mbah’s courtship and a minister’s fall
In Enugu, overtures from nationwide APC leaders to Governor Peter Mbah had rattled the camp of Geoffrey Nnaji, till lately President Tinubu’s Minister of Science, Expertise and Innovation.
Sources say fears of displacement triggered the interior tussle that finally led to the controversy round Nnaji’s educational information and his resignation on October 7. The governor had since made his manner into the APC, following the resignation of Nnaji from the president’s cupboard.
Osun
In Osun, expectations that Governor Ademola Adeleke may defect to the APC after assembly with President Tinubu sparked sharp resistance from the camp of his predecessor, Adegboyega Oyetola, now Minister of Marine and Blue Financial system. Oyetola’s loyalists, who maintain the APC construction in Osun, stay against Adeleke’s doable entry, warning that it could tilt management away from them.
Plateau
In Plateau state, house of the APC nationwide chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, a recent storm is brewing inside the State chapter of the celebration. It’s because some “conventional” members of the celebration are reportedly mobilizing to withstand the alleged transfer by Governor Caleb Mutfwang of the Peoples Democratic Celebration PDP to defect to the ruling celebration forward of the 2027 elections. The push again, led by influential grassroots figures and a few thought of as loyalists of Prof. Yilwatda, is already widening cracks within the celebration, with considerations that the interior wrangling might undermine President Tinubu’s 2027 re-election technique within the North Central area.
Whereas President Tinubu and the APC nationwide management have been quietly pursuing a broad-based rapprochement with opposition governors nationwide — a key component of the President’s “Renewed Hope” political outreach — the Plateau faction seems to be taking a unique route, insisting that the APC should not “reward those that fought towards it” within the final election.
On the centre of the controversy is Governor Mutfwang, who, regardless of his present authorized tussles and strained relations with some PDP heavyweights, has reportedly been courted by some Abuja-based APC strategists to cross over to the ruling celebration. His defection, in response to insiders, could be a serious increase for Tinubu’s political base within the North Central, particularly after the APC misplaced the state in 2023.
Nonetheless, opposition inside the Plateau APC has been fierce. Sources near the state management confirmed that at a stakeholders’ assembly held in Jos final Friday — chaired by Prof. Nentawe himself — a movement was allegedly moved and adopted to bar the governor from becoming a member of the APC. The decision, seen by some as a direct affront to Tinubu’s inclusive nationwide technique, has since drawn sharp condemnation from pro-presidency components.
In a strongly-worded assertion, the Renewed Hope Advocates of Nigeria (RHAN) — a pro-Tinubu political assist group — accused Prof. Nentawe of permitting private grievances from his 2023 electoral defeat to dictate the celebration’s path. Comrade Prince Miaphen, the group’s Nationwide Coordinator, mentioned the choice to dam Mutfwang was “reckless, self-serving and politically suicidal,” warning that Plateau’s political disunity might as soon as once more value the APC invaluable votes in 2027. “At a time when the President is constructing bridges throughout celebration traces, how can Plateau APC be the one closing doorways? Blocking a sitting governor with over two million registered voters from becoming a member of the APC reveals a harmful disconnect from nationwide actuality”, he mentioned.
Miaphen steered that Yilwatda’s posture is perhaps motivated by his personal governorship ambitions, claiming that the celebration chairman “nonetheless nurses bitterness from his 2023 loss” and is “jealously guarding the 2027 ticket.” Past private politics, nevertheless, the disaster highlights a deeper ideological rift inside the Plateau APC – between the “conventional” members who constructed the celebration from the grassroots and a brand new, Abuja-aligned bloc that favours a extra inclusive and pragmatic method.
Outdated guard
Whereas the previous guard argues that accepting Mutfwang would “betray those that suffered for the celebration,” the pro-Tinubu camp believes that politics is about numbers and timing. “Tinubu’s victory in 2027 can’t depend on sentiment or revenge politics,” one celebration chieftain mentioned. “It’s going to require growth, even when it means embracing former rivals.” Observers say the Plateau saga mirrors a recurring problem inside the APC: balancing loyalty to the celebration’s founding buildings with the President’s broader nationwide coalition technique.
Related tensions reportedly exist in different states the place opposition leaders are being courted forward of 2027. Because the controversy deepens, strain is mounting on the APC nationwide secretariat to intervene. RHAN has already referred to as on President Tinubu to personally wade into the matter and warning Yilwatda’s camp towards “enjoying native politics with nationwide stakes.” “The Plateau state of affairs is just too delicate to be left to ego and bitterness. The President’s re-election map relies on inclusion, not exclusion”, mentioned Miaphen.
For now, Governor Mutfwang has not publicly confirmed any defection plans, however political watchers in Jos say the hearsay itself has uncovered the fault traces inside the Plateau APC — a celebration nonetheless struggling to search out unity after its 2023 setback. As of the time of submitting this report, Prof. Yilwatda was but to reply to media inquiries.
Celebration insiders acknowledge that “energy sharing is on the core of the disaster in states the place basis members are pushing again at defectors.” From Delta to Kano, Enugu to Osun, the frequent denominator is the concern of being politically displaced by new entrants who arrive with incumbency benefits. As one APC supply put it: “It’s not simply in Kano however even in another states.
The state of affairs can also be not simply in APC but in addition within the opposition African Democratic Congress ADC, the place their very own basis members are pushing again proper from the nationwide to the ward ranges.”
With barely two years till the subsequent basic election, the APC’s problem might not be in defeating the opposition however in managing its personal inner battles that would decide who actually controls the celebration’s buildings earlier than 2027.
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