*Fresh trouble in  Buhari’s party

For the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, the results of the National Assembly elections simply poured cold water on the supposedly larger than life image that had been created for both the party and its principal.  Worse, the presidential election did not produce the type of spark that the party promised – it has won one governorship seat.  This is the inside story of how the CPC suffered its first initial set back which haunted it throughout the April elections.

By JIDE AJANI, Deputy ditor

By Nigerian standards, even his opponents were  pleasantly disappointed.

General Muhammadu Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, bit the dust of defeat in more ways than were truly expected during the April elections.

The question to ask is: How did a political party which brought so much hope and promise falter at the polls in a massively incongruous manner?

What went wrong?
Well, Sunday Vanguard can authoritatively reveal that at some of the meetings of the leadership of the CPC, which usually included but was never limited to Dr. Sule Yahaya Hamma (Director General of the Campaign Council); Tony
Momoh (CPC National chairman); Mustafa Salihu, CPC deputy national chairman; Engineer Buba Galadima (CPC national secretary); Jazuli Imam; Col Hamid Ali (Chief of Staff to Buhari); Yinka Odumakin (spokesman  for Buhari) and Ahmed Tahir Salihijo”, the mood was almost always upbeat.

That should be understandable.

*Buhari

The party’s many rallies in all parts of the North recorded huge crowds, dwarfing whatever the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, state governors could muster to demonstrate support for President Goodluck Jonathan.  In addition, the CPC’s insistence that it could go to the polls alone without any possible alliance with the Action Congress of Nigeria, AC N, or any other political party for that matter sent jitters down the spine of PDP leaders.

Reviewing preparations for the elections at a meeting held at the party’s Utako District, Abuja national secretariat office on Monday, March 21, 2011, Galadinma discountenanced the polls by a national newspaper which placed  Buhari a distant second behind  Jonathan.

He reiterated that what the CPC is “looking for now is only five states in the South to add to the 19 Northern States that the CPC would conveniently win”.  Continuing, Galadinma explained that out of the five additional states, the CPC already have confirmation on one.

Galadinma said the state governor and another leader of the party in that state are allegedly on the side of CPC, adding that the governor had assessed the presidential candidate of his party and concluded that he was “lacking in maturity”, hence, according to him, the state is confirmed for CPC.

He further revealed that a meeting was planned between CPC and the state governor “any time from now and that the CPC would only be looking for additional four states if securing the state in question is eventually guaranteed in the planned meeting with the state governor”.

Sunday Vanguard later discovered at another meeting held on Thursday March 31, 2011, some 48hours before the botched national legislative elections, at the national secretariat of the Buhari Presidential Campaign Council, on Dokolo Street, Off Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja, where disclosures were made about CPC’s preparations for the botched elections, that CPC was beginning to blur the line between mere popularity and electability.  This was to become the undoing of the party.

At the meeting, Hamma disclosed “that Jega had maintained that he is not going to declare any questionable election result, which, he believed, was why Jega had insisted that the electorate must wait behind even after casting their votes.”

He stated that another scheduled meeting of the CPC with Jega would reveal their position on what their next line of action would be on the 2011 general elections.  He added that Jega had however assured them at their earlier interaction that he would not declare any false election result.

Yet at another meeting on Monday, 3rd April, 2011, between 2120 hrs and 2230 hours, at the residence of Dr Sule Yahaya Hamma, No 11 Oguta Street off River Benue Street, Maitama District, Abuja, speaking on the postponement of the National Assembly elections, Hamma “complained bitterly and remarked that, during their last meeting with the national chairman of the (Commission), he did not give any clue that he was having problems relating to the conduct of the 2011 general elections.

“He wondered why Jega would allow himself to be so indicted, adding that they had advised Jega to raise alarm if he could not make open announcements on (challenges confronting him) if he was having problems with the smooth performance of his INEC job, but that Jega did not give them any insight on this in any of their interaction”.

The party believed strongly that once there were no forms of malpractices at the polls, it would win.

In fact, Galadima maintained that the only best thing to do now is for the electorate to stay behind after casting their votes as advised by Jega himself. Salihu disclosed that on March 31st, 2011, an unnamed National Commissioner had informed him that elections into the two chambers of the National Assembly  may not hold as earlier scheduled.
He disclosed that he consequently advised Momoh and Galadima, whom he had earlier intimated of the information, to raise an alarm of the development through the press, which, he revealed, they both declined.

The leadership of the party believed strongly in its new found invincibility hinged on a belief that it could win the presidential election even at first ballot.

But with the results of the National Assembly polls, the party’s leadership knew better.

Hence it scampered back to the alliance table.

Even before the frenzied attempt to re_awaken the dead alliance talks and consequent upon the perceived unfavourable showing of the party, its leadership and that of the Northern Political Leaders’ Forum, NPLF, held crucial talks culminating in the establishment of teams to visit some states of the North West geo-political zone described as critical to the success of the CPC.  That came at a time when the CPC  presidential candidate, Buhari, also met and held talks with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau and Mallam Adamu Ciroma.

Specifically, the CPC and the G15 raised teams to visit the North West states of Kano, Sokoto, Jigawa and Kebbi.  In reviewing the results coming out of the geo-political zone, the CPC, Sunday Vanguard gathered, rejected what it described as “doctored results”.

To be fair, the CPC created goose pimples on the skin of leaders of the  PDP because of the mammoth crowd which usually greeted Buhari at almost all his rallies held in the states of the North.

It was this crowd, which, no doubt, created a sense of massive support that was confused for electability.

In getting a politician elected, the party leaders would have to devise a strategy of translating the support of the crowd into electoral value.  It is the conversion of this that enables a politician harness the goodwill at his disposal.  This is what the PDP has perfected around the country and  ACN has also found a way to handle, putting in place its own strategy of containment of the PDP and advancement of its own goals in the South West geo-political zone.

Unfortunately, the CPC appeared not to be able to do this.

But in the accompanying interview with Yinka Odumakin, Buhari’s spokesman, the CPC remains a very potent force.  He is correct.  For a political party that came into existence barely seven months before the April elections, Buhari’s mobilization of support in the North was massive.

Even at one of its strategy sessions, the leadership of CPC confessed to the need for more harmonization of efforts.
Today, the leadership of the party knows better.

But the horse is already dead, so why flog it again.

Chaos at stakeholders parley

Stakeholders of the party rose from a crucial meeting in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, where a free-for-all fight almost broke out.

The stakeholders have already called on the party’s leadership to quickly announce a date for a special national convention of the party where new members of the party’s national exco would be elected. Some stakeholders in the party physically assaulted some members of the party’s NEC, leading to an abrupt end of the meeting.

Some NEC members of the party in attendance scampered to escape being assaulted by the aggrieved stakeholders.
Trouble started at the meeting which commenced at about 3 p.m.  last Tuesday in a hotel at the Utako District of the FCT, when some stakeholders from the floor shouted down  Hamma, the Director General of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidential Campaign Council, as he tried to inform” participants that the meeting was essentially called to assess how the party faired in the recently concluded general elections and that the meeting was called to also inform them on the resolve of the party to seek for judicial challenge on the 2011 presidential election among others”.

Some participants shouted at  Hamma and told him to “shut up”, while others shouted in Hausa language “Karya ne (it’s a lie)”.

While the Buhari Campaign Council DG  attempted to call the participants who were already demonstrating signs of restiveness to order, he was reportedly told to “sit down”.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that “similar fate was visited on some other exco members that wanted to make any comment too, including  Momoh, the national chairman of the party.

But when Abubakar Yabo, gubernatorial candidate for and representing CPC, Sokoto State chapter, called on the exco members to resign forthwith, he “received the applause of most of the participants”.
Another participant called for a vote of no confidence on the exco members.

This outburst was said to have led the Deputy National Chairman, Mustafa Salihu, to warn “that participants should know how to talk at such a gathering, and that they should stop behaving as if they love the party more than the leaders of the party” but this further angered the participants.

Bedlam
Some participants rushed to the high table where some exco members were seated, reaching for Salihu and Buba Galadima, the CPC  national secretary.

Sensing that matters were getting out of hand, Hamma tried to bring the meeting to a close by “reminding the participants of the evening prayers” but he was rebuffed as the aggrieved participants called on him and the entire leadership of the party to resign.

Most of the exco members scampered for safety afterwards.
Sunday Vanguard also gathered that the participants were particularly angry at the CPC  leaders because of the rancour which greeted some of the primaries of the party leading to its woeful display at the polls last month.
Leading the meeting were Momoh, Salihu, Hamma, Galadima, Sadia Farouk Mahmud (f), Abu Mai_Kano, Tanko Al_Makura, the party’s only governor_elect from Nasarawa State, Hadi Sirka, Abu Ibrahim, Dambalki Cammanda, Yabo and Joi Nuniye (f).

Buhari, the CPC presidential candidate, was expected at the meeting but he did not  show  up.