Ahmed Usman
It is very clear that the issue of who becomes the next National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is almost over after watching the declaration of the immediate past governor of Edo State and former labour leader, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole for the exalted position at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja last Thursday.
As a matter of fact, the dignitaries who thronged the Lagos/Osun hall, venue of declaration told the story about who is the next chairman of the APC, after the exit of the incumbent, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun next month. The chairman of the Progressives Governor’s Forum and governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki led the leaders of the party to the event. Others who were at the occasion included former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipriye Sylva, Senator Omo Agege, Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu and Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Kabiru Adjoto. Others are National Vice Chairman South-South of the APC, Mr Hilliard Etta who led other zonal executive members, Senator Olusola Adeyeye, Senator Francis Alimekhena, the entire members of the APC caucus from Edo State in the national and state assemblies and many others.
As soon as Oshiomhole arrived at the hall at about 2:30p.m, a thunderous applause and hailing “Oshoquake, Oshoquake” rented the air and it was not easy for the ushers and the master of ceremony, Hon.Patrick Obahiagbon (Igodomigodo) to stop them so they can commence the business of the day. However, after introduction, Oshiomhole commenced the business of the day by asserting that he decided to join the race for the chairmanship of the APC so as to make the party more formidable ahead the 2019 general elections.
Lamenting the frosty relationship between the APC-led Federal Government and the leadership of the National Assembly, Oshiomhole said he will provide the leadership that will bring peace and ensure unity among party members. “For me, it is fundamental to be able to have a membership driven party grounded at the grassroots. Accordingly, it is important that we must ensure that we have an authentic and verifiable membership register that can be checked and verified by members and even non-members of the party. It is, therefore, an irreducible minimum obligation on the part of the party to have a credible membership register that cannot be altered at the whims and caprices of any one, including the leadership of the party.
“Incidentally, the idea of a credible, verifiable membership register was one of the key commitment of the founding leaders of the party. Indeed, the interim leadership of the party unde r Chief Bisi Akande working in concert with other leaders tried their best to establish APC data centre. Unfortunately, the data centre was raided and destroyed by the State Security Services on the orders of the PDP administration of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on November 22, 2014. The challenge right now, is not to lament the clear abuse of power that led to the destruction of the data centre, but to commit the incoming leadership to rebuild the data centre and put it to practical use in the shortest possible time. With a credible membership register and given the state of information technology, a functional database is an indispensable tool that will help eleminate abuse and corruption in the conduct of intra-party election from unit to ward to local government to state and national levels. It will also create a credible platform for conducting direct primaries which will afford every member of the party to participate in the party primaries at all levels rather than the current situation of indirect, delegate election which is susceptible to manipulation, abuse and corruption by desperate aspirants at all levels.
“While we will sustain membership recruitment, we will ensure that members of the party are given a robust sense of ownership and control. This would enable the party to adopt a policy of bottom-up, as opposed to top-down approach to party administration process. The beauty of this is that members of our party will own the party and will be ready to work to ensure the success of the party at all levels and at all times.
“To sustain harmonious interaction between the executive and the parliament, the party must have seasoned parliamentarians, including non-serving senators and representatives to monitor the National Assembly on a daily basis and advise the party leadership on engagement with the National Assembly. The party under my leadership will recognise that the parliament is unique, diverse and faced with a lot of challenges. The party will, therefore, ensure coherence in all dispositions and decisions of parliament. The party will proactively settle any rift between executive and legislature without compromising the principle of separation of powers.
“Finally, we shall put in place mechanism for conflict management. We know that in human interactions, there are bound to be conflicts arising from differences in opinion and perspectives. The responsibility of the party will be to engage in consensus building and conflict management. In particular, we will intervene in the lingering crises between governors and members of the National Assembly in their respective states as a result of poor communication, conflict of interest, or just being victims of rumour mongering. When I am given the privilege to lead the party by being elected at the National Convention, we will proactively engage all the parties involved in such conflicts with a view to helping them to find common ground on the basis of justice, equity and fairness, and without bias.”
While expressing confidence that Oshiomhole will make “APC great again”, Governor Rochas Okorocha said: “I have no doubt in my mind, not even an iota of doubt that Oshiomhole when elected will show the way. Oshiomhole’s coming in as national chairman of APC is bad news to other political parties. In 2014, I recall vividly how we formed this party, the APC. Then he was a governor, and we all sat down thinking how to take government from the incumbent and it was not an easy task. But I want to tell all of you that Adams Oshiomhole is a rugged fighter. And a man who can face challenges and I have no doubt that he will make a good chairman when elected”.
•Usman, a political commentator, wrote from Abuja