Since the Governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki was disqualified from contesting the September governorship election, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), cloud of uncertainty has rested on the party. Though being a party that with financial war chest to battle the governorship seat with Pastor OsagieIze-Iyamu emerged as its candidate, the party is one big house in commotion.
First, Adams Oshiomhole was ordered by an FCT High Court to vacate the office of the National Chairman of the party since he has been suspended as a member of the party in his state. His suspension was a fallout of the political animosity between him and the governor. After he was declared suspended in last November, he went to court to challenge his suspension until the Court of Appeal upheld the suspension.
This development has led to chain of leadership crisis as the now suspended Deputy National Secretary, Victor Giadom declared himself the acting National Chairman after some members of the NWC announced that the Deputy National Chairman for South, Senator Abiola Ajimobi is the acting National Chairman.
Giadom’s argument was that since Ajimobi was incapacitated to dispense his duty he is next in the rank from the south to take over the leadership of the party. He was then suspended by the Rivers state chapter of the party for what they called “his numerous infractions of the Party Constitution and conduct which have brought the party irredeemable disrepute.”
With the party having to contend for the Edo and Ondo state governorship seats this year, political watchers believe that the party may be on another journey to Zamfara experience, where due to leadership crisis, the party lost all elective posts to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
There is no doubt that the APC struggles to hold the party together with array of court cases scattered in various court rooms across the country, it is most important that the party puts its house in order ahead of the Edo elections in September and Ondo later.
There are those who believe that the current storm rocking the APC is rooted in the battle of wit between a godfather and his estranged godson. There are also those who are convinced that the Edo crisis is a proxy battle between various interests at the national level battling for the soul of the party ahead of the 2023 Presidential and General elections.
On Monday, the chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum and the governor of Kebbi state, Atiku Bagudu, led the governors of Plateau and Jigawa states to visit President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the fate of the party and current crisis. Bagudu hinted that the President might call for NEC meeting of the party to find a lasting solution to the various challenges facing the party.
Many believe that the lot of the party at this state is due to the loud silence of President Buhari who they argued plays a distance stance on matters affecting the party. However with the hint of a NEC meeting in the offing, political watchers can only hope if the party has learnt from its Zamfara journey.
