By Omoniyi Salaudeen
BUT for a few states where there are skirmishes, the storm in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is now relatively calmer compared to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party PDP which has been bogged down by leadership tussle.
That notwithstanding, every move is being made by the national leadership of the party to ensure that the festering crises in the affected state chapters are resolved as quickly as possible. These include Kano, Bayelsa and Kogi, among others.
In the case of Kogi State, the crisis was occasioned by the impeachment of the Speaker, Mr. Momoh Jimoh-Lawal, by five out of the 25-member legislature. He was impeached on Tuesday, February 16 for not carrying members along in the affairs of the state. Umar Imam, representing Lokoja 1 constituency, was subsequently elected as the new Speaker.
Lawal had been earlier impeached last December by 17 members out of the 25 members of the Assembly. He, however, denied being impeached and continued to carry on as the speaker following the intervention of PDP national secretariat.
The majority leader, Friday Sani, who addressed journalists at the Assembly complex shortly after the February 6 impeachment said: “The Assembly cannot be led by anyone as a soul enterprise whereby all house rules are ignored and the house remained closed perpetually. He added that due process was followed in the impeachment, adding that fifteen members signed the impeachment notice, whereas only seven members were required to form quorum to remove the principal officers. “With the court of Appeal ruling which sacked five of our members, reducing it to 20, only seven members are required to form quorum and we have more than that” he said.
Following the ensuing power struggle in the state assembly, the House of Representatives passed a resolution in March to intervene in the crisis and assume control of the legislature. There were also allegations that the Governor of Kogi State, Mr. Yahaya Bello, was fuelling the factional crisis in the state House of Assembly supporting the lawmakers to flout a judgment of an Abuja Federal High Court, which reinstated Jimoh-Lawal as the Speaker.
On June 6, in a bid to re-assert the powers of the National Assembly under Section 11 (4) of the 1999 Constitution, the House set up a committee to investigate the governor. It further passed a fresh resolution to summon Bello and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, over allegations that Bello used soldiers to protect five members of the Assembly to sit in defiance to a resolution of the National Assembly, which assumed control of the Assembly.
However, there are indications that the House of Representatives may suspend further investigation into the alleged involvement of the governor in the crisis following the fresh move to reconcile the warring factions in the state assembly. The outcome of that reconciliatory initiative will determine how soon peace returns to the troubled legislature.
Trouble started in the Bayelsa State chapter of the APC soon after the governorship election won by the incumbent Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson. Ex-governor Timipre Sylva had slugged it out with Dickson but lost out in the December 5 governorship poll. No sooner than the APC lost the election that the state Chairman, Chief Tiwei Oruminigha, announced the suspension of Timipre Sylva and other party chieftains, including Hon Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri prior over allegations of anti-party activities.
In a counter reaction, the party’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Panebi Fortune, also accused Oruminigha of collaborating with Governor Dickson to destabilize the party andconsequently declared him and his accomplices suspended saying, “It has become compelling for us to expose the under hand dealings between the governor, Hon Henry Seriake Dickson and the suspended state chairman of the APC, Chief Tiwei Oruminighe alongside two of his accomplices.” The party accused Dickson of being the brain behind the crisis rocking the party in the state.
The National Vice Chairman (South-South) of the APC, Hilliard Eta, in his intervention into the crisis, ordered a return to status quo. Eta called on all the warring factions to sheathe their swords and allow a committee set up by the zonal organ to examine the remote and immediate causes of the conflict and submit its report before further action. He said: “The spate of suspensions, counter-suspensions and general disorganisations of the Bayelsa State chapter of our great party – the All Progressives Congress, is disheartening. The result of the reconciliation is yet to yield the desired result, as peace continued to elude the party in the state.
As for the Kano State chapter of the APC, the lingering crisis is more of supremacy clash between governor Ganduje and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso. This got to a head when supporters of the Ganduje threatened to suspend Kwankwaso for staging a “violent rally”. There had been close ties between Kwankwaso and Ganduje, the latter being the deputy governor for eight years and also a Special Adviser when Mr. Kwankwaso served as Minister of Defence.
The crisis of confidence between the two got to a crescendo when Kwankwaso recently visited Ganduje town on a condolence visit to his successor, Ganduje, who lost his mother recently. The Kano APC said the condolence visit was deliberately turned to a violent rally to cause mayhem in the state. The State Chairman, Umar Doguwa, addressing a press after the incident, alleged that Kwankwaso exhibited “acts of indiscipline which should not be allowed to go unpunished”. He added that the party leadership and elders had approved the constitution of a disciplinary committee to penalize Kwankwaso.
According to the statement, Mr. Kwankwaso had given his successor “space and time to settle down and consolidate on Sen. Kwankwaso’s successful programmes and projects that resulted into 100% APC’s success in the 2014 local government and 2015 general elections respectively”.
However, a statement signed by Kwankwaso’s aide, Yunusa Dangwani, dismissed the allegation as unfounded: It said Kwankwaso “deliberately gave short notice for the condolence visit, but was pleasantly surprised by the turnout of the good people of Kano who came to receive him at the Malam Aminu Kano Airport and escorted him to Ganduje village”.
The statement added that by the time Mr. Kwankwaso’s convoy arrived Ganduje town, they were surprised “that some local people brandished local weapons, not minding the somber occasion. It is unfortunate that they could not be chided, thus we left them with their weapons at Ganduje”.
“It is therefore appalling and rather unfortunate that the good gesture of Sen. Kwankwaso has been mischievously interpreted wrongly.
Although the national leadership of the party had intervened in the crisis, uneasy calm still persists in the state chapter. Similarly, fresh moves are also being made to resolve the logjam in Bayelsa and Kogi.