Fresh facts on Tuesday indicated that
the national caucus meeting of the All Progressives Congress scheduled
for Monday was cancelled because of the suspicion within the party.
The PUNCH reported that the APC
leadership called off the meeting because of reported anger of some
leaders of the ruling party in the north at insinuations by Chief Bisi
Akande that they were behind the crisis in the party.
Akande, a former interim national
chairman of the APC, had in a letter made public on Monday alleged,
among other things, that, “Most Northern elite, the Nigerian oil subsidy
barons and other business cartels, who never liked (President
Muhammadu) Buhari’s anti-corruption political stance, are quickly
backing up the rebellion against APC with strong support.”
A
member of the party’s caucus from the North-East geopolitical zone, who
spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the
matter, said it would have been a rancorous session if the caucus
meeting had held in what he described as “such an atmosphere of mutual
suspicion.”
The party leader, who in fact said he
would have spoken on the record if not for the fence- mending efforts
being made by other leaders of the party, said, “We (northerners) are
unhappy about Chief (Bisi) Akande’s outburst. It was unnecessary because
we are all trying to put out a fire that is threatening to consume our
house. And when you have a respected leader and elder making such
unguarded statements it does not help.
“I personally hold Chief Akande in high
esteem but what he wrote in that letter was nothing short of an insult
on our collective sensibilities. How can you single out a section of
your party and call them criminals who were supporting rebels to destroy
the party we all built? This is most unexpected and uncharitable to say
the least.”
Also, a chieftain of the APC, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, on Tuesday, described as unfortunate, the statement by Akande.
Baraje, in a statement in Abuja, said he
was disappointed that Akande who had led the party and served as a
state governor could author a statement in which he was allegedly
seeking to divide the nation by setting the North against the
South-West.
The APC leader, who once served as the
national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, said, “I do not know
where Chief Akande and his cohorts are getting this unsubstantiated
information they are circulating. We challenge them to provide proof and
let Nigerians make their judgment.
“Akande and co believe that they have
exclusive right to determine who occupies what position in today’s
Nigeria and whoever tries to challenge their position must be subjected
to savage attack in the media. That tactic is definitely undemocratic.
“I have known Chief Akande to be an
honest man. I got the shock of my life when he alleged that I had a
meeting in my house with ‘some old and new PDP members with a view to
hijacking the National Assembly’ through the aspiration of Dr. Bukola
Saraki as the Senate President.
“I have been quiet as a leader so as to
not to be seen as taking sides because of my closeness to Dr. Saraki,
else people will read meaning into it.
“Akande has been playing a role which I
admire. He will recall that he met some actors, with a governor from the
North-West and a leader of the party from the South-West, where the
leader from the South-West was cautioned to be reasonable in this
crisis.
“He (Akande) supported the view of the
governor from the North-West that the particular leader from the
South-West should be admonished for his action. It is therefore
surprising that Akande is now being economical with the truth and
painting a picture that exists only in his imagination.”
Baraje said the allegation by Akande
that a purported meeting took place in his (Baraje’s) house after the
general elections, where “a so-called new PDP group plotted with a view
to hijacking the National Assembly…with an ultimate aim of resuscitating
the PDP as their future political platform” was a mere fabrication.
Our correspondents learnt that renewed
peace moves were being made in the party and that the party leaders were
hoping that they would before Friday achieve an atmosphere conducive to
holding the APC NEC meeting.
The APC NEC meeting was shifted from Tuesday (yesterday) to Friday to enable party leaders to engage in further consultations.
A top member of the APC National Working
Committee, who did not want his name mentioned, said that the meeting
was postponed to allow tempers to go down.
“All leaders are in touch with one
another and I can assure you that the crisis will be resolved on
Friday,” the party source said.
However, the Deputy Senate Leader,
Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah, himself a northerner, had defended Akande on
Monday. Na’Allah said Akande must have been misquoted.
The senator said, “Chief Bisi Akande is a
highly respected senior member of this country and I am not so sure he
had not been misquoted on that issue. Even where it exists, I am
absolutely sure that it cannot be the correct statement on the
situation.
“The North holds every section of this
country high; we detest the idea of even labelling us as North because
we have passed that stage with the current development in our country.
“We are a united country whether we like
it or not with some few interests being defined at different levels of
our governance but as far as Nigeria is concerned, I don’t want to
believe that there is any conspiracy.
“If there is any conspiracy on the part
of the North, what made you think that the conspiracy will involve
bringing somebody from the Peoples Democratic Party and from the
South-East to become the deputy senate president?”
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary
of the APC, Mr. Timi Frank, on Tuesday, confirmed that the party’s
National Executive Committee would meet in Abuja on Friday to thrash out
all issues affecting the party.
“We are holding our NEC meeting on
Friday and I am sure all our issues will be thrashed out and the party
will come out stronger,” Frank said.
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