By Abba Anwar
In the last two days, ears of Nigerians were filled with stories, rumors, and baseless threats about a surreptitious move by the so-called juggernauts of the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC) to defect from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Their major reason for the planless plan is that CPC people are more or less excluded in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Some reports presented in the media, suggest that, “… emerging reports suggest that President Bola Tinubu’s camp is making desperate moves to prevent the defection of key members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), particularly those from the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC).”
When one looks into all such reports very well, he/she will understand that the entire complaint stems from the shoulders of so-called CPC members.
To refer my reader back to memory lane, CPC was one of the political parties that were fused together to have what we now know as APC. Other parties were a fraction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), and All Congress of Nigeria (ACN). And probably other smaller parties, ‘yan kanzagi.
Among all the parties that merged and birthed APC, it was only CPC that had a bad leadership style. Where preventable crisis, inept leadership, and directionless political strategy were the order within the rank and file of the party then. The party (CPC) was only together because of the then goodwill and hope (dashed later) of Muhammadu Buhari’s political inclusion.
Such reports made rounds positing that “… Al-Makura (former Governor of Nassarawa state and the only Governor CPC produced in Nigeria), is reportedly being offered a possible APC National Chairmanship in exchange for convincing Buhari to intervene and rally his loyalists (to remain in APC).” Such reports describe Al-Makura as a close political ally of the former President, Buhari.
Let me begin with asking the following questions for the so-called CPC advocates: what strength CPC still has within APC when die-hard Buhari loyalists were deliberately and comfortably rejected by Buhari administration when he ruled for eight years? What CPC did do to people like the party’s gubernatorial flagbearer in 2011 in Kano, retired Brigadier General Lawan Jafaru Isah, and his likes?
Please let us know what CPC did to all other gubernatorial and Deputy Governorship candidates during 2011, when Buhari assumed the mantle of leadership in eight years of his rule. What CPC did do to the grassroots and die-hard Buhari loyalists, to a fault, like one Malam Usman Muhammad Gama from Kano?
When merging parties collapsed into a merger, CPC collapsed and melted down completely into the merger. All hitherto CPC structures were made left unnoticed even by Buhari administration. Where were the leading party (CPC) leaders in states when Buhari was President? They were all pushed back by the administration of the then “Messiah.”
The pioneer National Chairman of CPC and the then Kano state Chairman of the party, Senator Rufa’i Sani Hanga and late Amadu Haruna Zago, defected to New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Kwankwasiyya political group, to be precise.
Big shots like Hajiya Naja’atu Mohammed, who coined and popularized ANPP SAK (ANPP AT ALL STAGES), a slogan that gave ANPP many governors in Nigeria when Buhari was the presidential candidate of the party, was nowhere close to Buhari. That was in the 2003 general elections, when ANPP wrestled powers of some states from the “Almighty” PDP.
What of people like Sule Yahaya Hamma, the then Director General of The Buhari Organization (TBO), the first and the foremost platform that oiled Buhari’s presence in Nigeria’s party politics? Where was he when Buhari was President for eight years? Nowhere!
At the level of CPC youth involvement, I still remember very energetic and vibrant youth, like Abubakar General in Kano.
Buhari called him Civilian General. He was in the forefront in taking Buhari to places; for example, he singlehandedly, many years back when he took Buhari to the Old Campus of Bayero University, Kano, many years back, for students to hear from the horse’s mouth. But what was his involvement in Buhari’s government? After many years in government, Buhari appointed him to be a member of the Governing Board of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Where were people like Sharif Nasdura Ashir when Buhari was in power for eight years? I knew him garnering support from students across all 19 Northern states since 2003, Buhari’s first debut into politics.
Where were people like Buhari, former Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Katsina state, when Buhari was President for eight years? This guy took the risk of going around to all the 36 states of the federation, in Buhari’s entourage, with his camera, covering all campaign tours, in 2003 elections, while at the same time, he was a civil servant under the PDP government.
Where was the now Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Ali M. Ali when Buhari was President for eight years? This guy was deeply involved in media strategies for Buhari since day one. It was only during Tinubu’s administration that he got his current appointment as MD NAN. So what are you talking about, saboda Allah?
So, when the so-called CPC members are crying for non-inclusion in Tinubu’s government, they are indeed crying foul. And he learned from Buhari himself. If they think Tinubu betrayed them, who betrayed them first and best? So what are they talking about?
When did people like Al-Makura become Buhari’s close ally in politics? What is the political weight of those being pictured within the CPC circle as those planning to exit from APC? What political strategy do people think the CPC has as a party? A party that wasted time and hid behind Buhari’s popularity then. A popularity that is trimmed down to more than 50 percent now.
It is even a political disaster for any administration or serious party of good management style to align with CPC now, particularly in Northern Nigeria.
Northerners are still not happy that, in his eight years of rule, Buhari, couldn’t finish the express way from Kano to Kaduna to Abuja, from Kano to Maiduguri and he could not start and complete the dredging of River Niger. Not to talk of other critical areas like the Ajaokuta Steel project and Mambila Power Plant. Apart from his economic policies that suffocated the downtrodden masses.
The greatest political problem President Tinubu is faced with, in my understanding of political development, is his inability to critically understand the equation of politics in Northern Nigeria.
Agreed, Tinubu is a great politician of substance, but part of his major weaknesses is his hazy understanding of political intrigues up North.
I can pinpoint few individuals within APC that are heavier, more relevant, and important than all CPC structures within the larger body of the APC merger. In Kano alone, not to talk of other strategic states and locations.
The Deputy Senate President, Barau I. Jibrin, Hon Alhassan Ado Doguwa, former House Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Hon Abubakar Bichi, Chairman House Committee on Appropriation, representating Bichi federal constituency, Hon Baffa Babba Dan Agundi, Director General, National Productivity Centre, among many others, that are within government circle.
Outside government circle when you talk of people like former Deputy Gubernatorial candidate for the 2023 election in Kano, His Excellency Murtala Sule Garo is enough, people much closer to grassroots/real voters. In his calculation, he doesn’t even see the existence of CPC within APC.
What of people like Distinguished Senator who represented Kano Central, Muhammad Bello, who was one time Kano State Chairman of the then ruling ANPP.
He was instrumental in many good things the Shekarau administration did to Buhari during the first tenure of Malam Shekarau. Where was he during the Buhari administration?
As the National Chairman of APC and Distinguished Barau are running helter skelter to woo other well rooted politicians in Kano, to APC, people like Distinguished Senator Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila, Senator representating Kano South, Hon Kabiru Alasan Rurum, representing Rano/Bunkure/Kibiya federal constituency, Hon Ali Madakin Gini, representing Dala federal constituency and Hon Abdullahi Sani Rogo, representing Rogo/Karaye federal constituency, CPC’s presence and capacity in the merger, if any, are too weak to be visible.
Let me ask again, who are the real and committed CPC people across the country that were very visible in the Buhari administration? I mean real Buhari people, who were with him even before the formation of that weakest political party, the CPC.
To me, Distinguished Senator Malam Ibrahim Shekarau’s political base, you either call it Shoorah or Shekariyya or Sardauniyya, or any other name, is much more organized, more focused, more serious, more disciplined, more engaging than CPC. No doubt about this.
Outside Kano, let me touch Tinubu’s National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu. This is a single person whose presence in Tinubu’s administration is much more important and relevant than all CPC structures put together, within APC, if there are.
Go to his constituency and see how he is impacting the lives of his people. His political associates and boys, if you like, are having clear sight and focus under the Tinubu administration. Unlike many CPC members, who were abandoned and frustrated when Buhari became President, 2015 to 2023.
To cap it all, Ganduje and Al-Makura are not mates in politics. Not at all! Those thinking Al-Makura can become National Chairman are doing that to purposely sink the party under a ditchy ocean filled with hungry sharks. At this point, APC needs people with a deep sense of people’s political understanding, strategists, high-level lobbyists, experienced politicians, and enduring and detribalized leaders of substance. Ganduje encapsulates them all.
So all the cards and the table are before President Tinubu. But I still maintain my observation that President Tinubu does not clearly understand how politics is played in Northern Nigeria. The survival of APC is in his hands to make or mar.
Anwar was Chief Press Secretary to the former Governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje CON, and can be reached at fatimanbaba1@gmail.com
