•Police partially unseal party secretariat
•Nabena, deputy spokesman, seeks Buhari’s intervention
•South-South leaders divided over Oshiomhole
•Lagos APC backs Oshiomhole

By Clifford Ndujihe, Olasunkanmi Akoni & Omeiza Ajayi

DAYS after it laid a siege to the national secretariat of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, the Nigerian Police Force, yesterday, unsealed the premises, thereby granting access to staff and select journalists.

This was as it emerged that the Deputy National Secretary of the party, Victor Giadom, who has been holding fort as acting national secretary seemed to have taken charge of the party secretariat as he appeared first on the security list of party officials and staff to be allowed into the secretariat.

While Giadom came into the secretariat around 10:40am in company of some of his aides, no member of the National Working Committee, NWC, was sighted as at 4pm. Staff were also disallowed from parking their vehicles within the secretariat.

This happened on a day that the high-wire top leadership gulf in the party widened as the pro and anti-Oshiomhole camps swell-ed. The bifurcation cuts across the APC governors, NWC and in Oshimhole’s South-South zone.

Meanwhile, the National Working Committee said ‘it has not been factionalised or in the nature of crisis being repeatedly reported in the media.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu in a statement, Monday night, said:  “In a political organisation such as the APC, contestations are not unusual and are not necessarily intractable. The issues being alluded to in media reports are matters before the courts and should be allowed to run their normal and legal course. The exaggerated story foreboding Armageddon is far-fetched.”

The list sighted by Vanguard did not have the name of the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, and three new “party officials” whose appointments were said to have been approved by the NWC, last week. They are Senator Abiola Ajimobi, deputy national chairman, South; Mr. Waziri Bulama, Acting National Secretary; and Mr. Paul Chukwuma, National Auditor.

Following the order of a Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court last Wednesday upholding the suspension of the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and another order of a Federal High Court, Kano, the following day, nullifying the suspension, the Police sealed the secretariat.

However, yesterday, journalists and party officials were given special access tags without which they would not be allowed into the premises. Giadom had on Sunday contended that he remained the highest ranking officer of the party and so has a duty to run its affairs in the interim.

He had defended the notice he sent out on Friday night, convening an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the party, insisting that the APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole remained suspended.

Nabena seeks Buhari’s help

Worried by the festering crisis, APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yekini Nabena, has called on warring groups to consider the party’s general interest as opposed to their personal political interests.

Speaking with journalists, yesterday, Nabena said: “Let no one think he or she has a greater stake or interest in the APC. At our different levels we have toiled and made contributions towards the sustenance and growth of the governing APC that many party men and women have used as a political platform for election and appointment. The APC is nobody’s personal property.

“I call on President Muhammadu Buhari as the leader of the party, the National Assembly leadership and well-meaning members of the caucus to urgently wade into the crisis and restore order to the party. We are progressives and our leaders have a duty to provide counsel and leadership so that we don’t go the way of the failed Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

“The APC has serious business to deal with particularly, contestations in some state chapters, rancorous primaries, preparation for governorship elections in Ondo and Edo states and troubleshooting the circumstances surrounding our electoral and legal losses, particularly in Zamfara, Rivers, Adamawa and Bayelsa states.

“2023 is not as far as we assume. As the president noted during our last NEC meeting it would be shameful if APC collapses after his tenure and history would not forgive anyone who tries to aid the collapse of the party. The time to act is now.”

Oshiomhole divides South-South leaders

The division at the national level has crept into the South-South geo-political zone where Oshiomhole hails from.

Top South-South leaders of the APC, had on Monday passed confidence vote on Oshiomhole and distanced themselves from Giadom and those they claimed want Oshiomhole out of the equation because of vested interests and the 2023 general polls. Those who endorsed  the embattled APC national chairman are Hon Ini Okopodo (Akwa Ibom), Hon. Amos Jothan (Bayelsa), Sir John Ochala (Cross River), Prophet Jones Ode Erue (Delta), Colonel David Imuse, retd (Edo), Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (South-South leader), and Ntufam Hilliard Eta (national vice chairman, South-South).

However, yesterday, some  APC leaders in the South South also dissociated themselves from a statement credited to Hilliard Eta and others to the effect that the zone is solidly behind Oshiomhole.

READ ALSO: APC CRISIS LATEST: Imo, Osun govs, S-South leaders rally for Oshiomhole

While they canvassed for new era without Oshiomhole, the leaders said Eta never held a zonal caucus or consultative meeting before issuing the statement.

Eta had in a statement on Sunday defended Comrade Oshiomhole, saying those waging war against him are merely plotting to weaken the party in order to push APC members to another party where they (anti-Oshiomhole forces) can realize their ambition of joining the 2023 presidential race.

However, at a news conference yesterday in Abuja, spokesmen of the APC South-South Stakeholders Forum, Chief Ray Murphy and Dr Bruce Ugbode, said they are dissatisfied with Oshiomhole’s pugilistic approach to issues.

Both spokesmen served as aides to the former National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. While Murphy has continued to serve as his Public Affairs Adviser, Ugbode was one of his closest special advisers. The former chairman had recently been quoted as berating the leadership style of his successor.

Addressing the media, Murphy who headed the last Secretariat of the National Convention that produced Oshiomhole as chairman said: “The essential thrust of this briefing is to let Nigerians know that we, bonafide APC members from the South-South are completely and utterly disappointed at the way and manner our brother, our son, our one-time leader is running aground the APC. I speak of the suspended chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

As citizens of the South South, we know that South-South people are people of excellence and we know that we can do better. As a matter of fact, as you know, there are thousands of very eminently qualified indigenes of the South-South in APC who can discharge these functions in a very creditable manner.

“Since our brother took over from our elder brother, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, it has been topsy-turvy. One crisis after the other generated by the simple inability to run a party with diplomacy, with tact. It is not a pugilistic activity to be national chairman of a political party and we are extremely unsatisfied, dissatisfied with the way he has carried on in the last two years since he became our national chairman and we lend ourselves seriously with the activities of those who suspended him right from his ward because he has not been carrying on with the way we sent him.

“We read in the papers today (Monday) about some people saying that the entire South-South is with him. No, that is not correct. That is the kind of dictatorial policy they have been operating. That is not correct.

“We support those who want to renew the party. We want a situation where this party gets a new breathe of life. This is not a matter of 2023 as my brother Hilliard Eta has said. It is about the survival of the party. Can you imagine a party where somebody sat down and suspended top officials? That is why we have this vacuum.

“We are saying there is a suspension. We are also saying that there is a court order. We are saying that the reasons for this situation is known to all of us. We arr saying that it is in the interest of our party to put Oshiomhole’s era behind it and move forward with new leadership.”

Ugbode on his part said the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee had usurped the powers of the NEC, adding that it was time the NEC asserts itself and restructure the party.

“The reason for the crisis is his mismanagement of the party. I can say that there is no agenda of 2023 playing,” he said.

Lagos APC passes vote of confidence on Oshiomhole

Meanwhile, the Lagos State chapter of APC has passed a vote of confidence on Comrade Oshiomole as the national chairman of the party, following what it called “the needless and avoidable crisis” in the party.

In a statement, Lagos APC Publicity Secretary, Mr. Seye Oladejo, sued for peace and harmony among gladiators and members and described the development as a storm in a tea cup that would soon be over without any negative effect on the party.

The statement read in part: “We acknowledge and appreciate the dogged and passionate leadership of the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, which was mainly responsible for our victories in the national elections.

“We did not only retain the presidency but also won the majority of the seats at the National Assembly. This gave birth to the progressive leadership at the two arms of the National Assembly.

“We can definitely not dismiss his monumental achievements which included breaking new grounds to the discomfort of opposition party.

“As much as we will not like to say too much as the matter is already in court, recent reports that the crisis was borne out of 2023 ambitions underscore the desperation on the part of some members of the political class.

“At a time like this, Lagos State APC wants to identify with the majority of the noble, decent and honorable men who have pleaded for peace, decorum and discipline to reign supreme in our party. The gladiators should take a cue from history that’s replete with men who tried to play God but failed at the crucial moment.”

Vanguard