APC Chairmanship: Akume as the dark horse

By Abubakar Yunusa, Abuja

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is set, so it seems, to install a new National Working Committee members of the party barring any further litigation that can truncate the process. And if the convention billed to hold on February 26 comes to pass, and we hope it does, we shall have a new national chairman of the ruling party who will succeed Adams Oshiomhole as the subsantive administrative leader of the party along with his NWC members responsible for the day-to-day running of the party at the centre.  The national convention of the party where the new leadership will be elected,  has been postponed several times for various reasons amidst the legal battles and lots of political intrigues. The Caretaker Extraordinary  Convention Planning Committee (CECPC)  which has served as the interim leadership of the ruling party has   had its tenure extended for a couple of times to enable it put the house in order before it settles down to choose a new leader. 

During this waiting  period,  those aspiring to lead the party have grown in number. This is largely  due to the  uncertainty surrounding the zoning of offices in the party.  Many aspirants have thrown their hats into the ring believing that the seat of the National Chairman would be zoned to their region. 

At the initial stage, the contest was thrown wide open and this brought to the podium as many as eleven chairmanship aspirants including the former  Deputy National Chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC),  Alhaji Saliu Mustapha, former Governor of Nasarawa State, Alhaji Tanko Almakura, former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff and  the Senator representing Niger East District, Mohammed Sani-Musa.

Other aspirants who also showed interest in the job were a former  Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari; former Governor of Bauchi State,  Alhaji Isa Yuguda, former Governor of Borno State, Sen  Kashim Shettima,   former Governor of Gombe State,  Sen Danjuma Goje,  and Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs,  Sen George Akume and Sen Abdullahi Adamu, a former Governor of Nasarawa State and Chairman  of the National Reconciliation Committee of the  party. 

With this array of personalities, each having his own  pedigree, the questions  on the lips of delegates to the convention are: Who shall we send? Whom does the cap fit? Who wears the crown?  

No doubt, all  these  men are eminently qualified to lead the party  but as the race draws closer, pundits within the party are beginning to take a second look at each of these aspirants to ascertain who can best  serve the interest of the party. This thorough assessment has become necessary because they all know that whoever emerges as the next National Chairman of the APC already has his job cut out for him. It would be his lot to revive the party, reconcile the aggrieved members  and ultimately lead it to victory at  the 2023 general elections. 

As of last week, there were strong indications that the position of the National Chairman has been zoned to the North Central geopolitical zone. This indication emerged after the meeting of the Progressive Governors Forum which held in Abuja. Although no formal announcement was made on the issue, sources within the forum who monitored the meeting said the governors had decided to take that route as part of a chain of strategic calculations that would see the APC repositioning itself  in the  power game. 

If that permutation is anything to go by,  it means the race has been narrowed down to only  those aspirants from the North Central zone, otherwise known as the Middle Belt. The aspirants from this zone  include Alhaji Saliu Mustapha (Kwara), Mohammed Sani Musa ( Niger), Sen George Akume (Benue), Sen Abdulahi Adamu (Nasarawa), and Sen Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa).  This makes it a clear five-horse race in which only the very best would be good enough to wear the coveted crown. 

As it were, key stakeholders in the APC are not just looking for a National Chairman who presides over meetings at the National  Headquarters of the party but are gunning for someone who can match the  assemblage of forces in  the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the main opposition in the country. 

 Dr Iyorchia Ayu, the current  National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),   is a former  Senator who was elected President of the Senate during the  Third Republic. He later served in various ministerial positions during  President Olusegun Obasanjo’s  tenure between 1999 and 2007. Before his foray into politics, Ayu was in the academia and an activist who rose to become the Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities( ASUU) at the University of Jos. 

This intimidating profile is what some stakeholders in the APC are seeking to counter in their choice of the next national chairman and incidentally, their political compass appears to be pointing towards Benue State. 

A political  analyst from one of the think tanks in the APC told  one of our correspondents that  Sen George Akume virtually  holds the ace in the forthcoming chairmanship race for several reasons.

“The APC needs to plot its game very strategically bearing in mind that we are not just looking for a national chairman for the fun of it. We’re looking for a personality who will fit into the emerging scenario especially the possibility of  the presidential ticket shifting to  the South and the likelihood of a Tinubu picking it. 

“Of course, if that happens, Tinubu, a Muslim from the South,  will need not only a strong,  solid Northern Christian as running mate but the party also needs a strong bridge builder as national chairman who is also a Christian otherwise the party will still be battling to pull off that toga of being a Muslim party.  While we cannot put our fingers yet  on who becomes Tinubu’s running mate,  Akume, a Christian  comes very handy in taking charge of the party. This will douse a lot of tension and give the party the needed  mileage ahead of the election,” he  said. 

According to the analyst, Akume hold the aces in  terms of  status, name recognition, political career and capacity to hold the party together.  Although Akume  might be  at par with Sen Abdullahi Adamu and Sen Tanko Al-Makura,  as former  governors,  he towers above the duo in term of his current position in government, as well as his comportment and  vast contacts across the length and breadth of the country.

In some circles, it was learnt,  he’s regarded as the dark horse not because his name does not ring a bell, but  because he has chosen to pursue his ambition in a modest way.   Although, he is eminently qualified  for the job and has indicated his interest, he has not embarked on elaborate campaigns like some of his peers. 

“ He is privileged to be a serving cabinet minister and appears to have the tacit endorsement of his boss and some other powerful forces within the party.  He’s not a loud man and does not display wild ambition like some other politicians would do, but he’s deeply entrenched in the party and commands the respect of the five APC governors from his zone. 

“Again, temperament is key in leadership. Do you know that some are seeking this office for some ulterior, selfish motives?  They want to use the office to lord it over some persons including the governors of their states. If such persons are allowed to emerge, it means the party will return to the Oshiomhole era  where the ego war between a party chairman and his state governor nearly destroyed the party,” a party chieftain said. 

Indeed, apart from Akume whose state governor, Samuel Ortom,is of the PDP, the rest aspirants from Kwara, Niger and Nasarawa have the governors of the respective states to contend with as the race gets closer to the finishing line.  In these other states, the coast appears unclear as no serving governor wants the  national chairman of his own party  to emerge from his state.  It goes without saying, that for the stability of the party you need to elect a candidate who will not be embroiled in a supremacy contest with his governor over the control of the party. 

In recent weeks, many political support groups have been paying solidarity visits to  Akume’s residence in Abuja while  his campaign office located in the highbrow Maitama District, Abuja has also witnessed a beehive of activities. The most recent was the visit of two groups, namely the Katsina – based Northern APC National Front (NAPCNF)  and the Bauchi – based Coalition of  North East APC Groups (CNEAPCG) who came to pay him homage. 

Ayuba Hassan who spoke on behalf of both groups said they came to express their solid support for Sen George Akume’s aspiration to become the new National Chairman of the ruling party. Hassan said the visit was also meant to brief Akume of the work both groups have been doing in the North East and North West regions in furtherance of his aspiration. He assured Akume that both groups as well as  numerous  other support  groups will continue to work together until victory is achieved at the forthcoming national convention. 

In response, Sen Akume expressed appreciation to the support groups and charged them to continue to conduct their mobilisation activities in peace,  remain law abiding and accord due respect to other aspirants. The former governor and now minister urged them not to personalise issue or provoke anyone but to remain focused on their primary goal.