By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

While it is not certain that the All Progressives Congress (APC) Press Corps, the body of journalists, which covers the national headquarters of the ruling party, expected its Second Annual Summit themed “APC Beyond 2023: The Task Ahead” to turn out so huge, but it did. At least 11 chairmanship aspirants jostling to lead the party into the 2023 general elections and beyond took to the platform to diagnose the challenges of the party and lay out their plans and programmes.

Instructively, each of them had one fond memory or the other to share about the lofty dreams and overriding national interest that underscored the historic mega merger that became the APC. This was more so for those of them, who played active roles in the processes and discussions that culminated in the merger.

In giving little background to the caucusing that ultimately birthed the party, former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, said  “I’m one of the co-founders of this great party and my colleague, Al-Makura and he mentioned one other who is not here (Kayode Fayemi).

I can tell the gathering that the three of us started this progressive. A little history about it is that at any point in time we went for a meeting in Amechi’s House, after the meeting of the Governors Forum, they would say PDP governors wait, the President wants to see all of you and we were being a kind of intimidated with what PDP was doing.

“So, we too said we’re going to do something and Al-Makura was part of the initiative, Fayemii as well as the immediate past Chairman (of the APC), Adams Oshiomhole. We arranged that after each meeting, we should also announce that we have opposition governors meeting in Fashola’s House. That’s how the APC I can tell you came to birth”.

Also going down the memory lane, former Governor of Nasarawa State and serving lawmaker, Senator Tanko Al-Makura, relived the camaraderie, progressive aspirations, and nationalistic instincts that midwife the APC. He said that although they came from various political tendencies or legacy parties, they were more concerned about the Nigerian situation and the bright future that they’re coming together to build the APC platform held for the party.

But those were the good old days. Today, even the blind could see that disparate political interests and vaunting ambitions have since taken tolls on the APC, which has since been struggling to rediscover its founding rhythm and cohesion. It is also obvious that President Muhammadu Buhari remains the main binding force within the party. Therefore, as the party enters the crucial year 2022 and President’s last tenure winds down, the challenges: how can APC pull through the post-Buhari era? And who can bell the cat?

Speaking on his ambition at the said summit, Al-Makura admitted that the challenge, going forward, is building on the sacrifices people have been able to make over this period of time.

“My ambition is about sustaining the gains as one that was opportune by providence to be part of those that participated in the merger exercise. It will be a total disservice to the party, if I sit back at this very critical period, not to partake in ensuring legacy sustenance and value addition to the party. That is my objective. That is my reason for wanting to contest for the office of chairman.

”I think there couldn’t be a better way to get this party properly positioned than someone that has been with the party right from the beginning and has gone across the board to know what needs to be done.

“By the special grace of God, if I become the National Chairman, I would ensure justice, I will ensure fairness and I will ensure a level playing field for everybody and ensure also internal party democracy and a reward system”.

while each of the chairmanship position contenders has something to offer to the APC, the odds favour Al-Makura as many believe that he is in better stead to steer APC’s ship to a calmer and more progressive realm.

Al-Makura is one of the founding fathers of the APC. At the formation of the party, one of the conditions for any party’s participation in the merger was that the party must have an incumbent governor at least. Al-makura was the only CPC governor at the time, having snatched Nasarawa from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2011 general election. So, he is one of the custodians of the APC brainbox and has the DNA of the party running in him. He clearly understands the vision and mission of the party.

One of the factors that have made progress and reconciling of interests difficult at various levels in the ruling party is entrenched factional interests, such that a win for one spells automatic political doom for the rest. But in the midst of the heady winds, Al-Makura has conducted himself as a statesman, staying above the fray. He is not known to be aligned to any of the contending caucuses or forces in the party. It means he will not be coming to execute anybody’s private agenda, except the overall agenda of ensuring justice for all and repositioning the APC in the overall collective interest.

It is also well known that in many cases, party loyalty and solidarity are destroyed, not just because people were unable to get what they wanted, but because they were discharged in a go-do-your-worst manner. So, they go out there to really do their worst if only to prove a point. For those who still remember the events of the PDP 2013 mini-convention at Eagles Square, Abuja, the refusal of the PDP hierarchy and ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to give a listening ear and rally back party chieftains and governors, who stormed out of that convention birth the New PDP (nPDP) and marked the beginning of the end of the PDP as a ruling party.

But one of Al-Makura’s selling points is his humble disposition. He is also the listening type. This might sound quite simplistic. But you cannot aggregate interests unless you are patient and humble enough to listen to every man’s story – for every party man and woman his or her story. This, coupled with his non-aligned stance in the APC sagas, should put him ahead of other aspirants, as it is doubtful that any sincere party chieftain will stand against his emergence in good faith.

Furthermore, charity begins at home. As the Latin maxim goes, Nemo dat quod non-habet (no one can give what they do not have). No man can claim to have calm APC’s raging storms when there is no peace in the party in his home state. Nasarawa is one of the few states where the APC currently enjoys absolute peace. There were no parallel congresses from Ward to the State levels. The usual predecessor-incumbent political faceoff is far from the State.

Related to this is that whereas many chairmanship aspirants are not in open war with the incumbent governors or the governors often work surreptitiously to ensure that their states do not produce any towering party leader. This is also the culture in the PDP-controlled states. However, in Al-Makura’s case, his successor, Governor Sule Abdullahi, is the man aggressively rallying support for him. This is a massive head start for the Senator hardly other aspirant is that lucky.

Also, going into the 2023 power contests and beyond, the APC also stands to benefit from Senator Tanko-Almakura’s experience in party administration and political strategy. He cut his teeth in party administration as the State Youth Leader of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the old Plateau State (comprising present-day Plateau and the Nasarawa States) in the Second Republic. Those were the days Chief Augustus Akinloye held sway as the national chairman of the NPN, while Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya loomed large in the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) and the Unity Party of Nigeria revolved around the legend, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

In addition, Al-Makura upped his experience in party administration as the State Secretary of the National Republican Convention (NRC) from 1990 to 1992 in the Third Republic.

At the time Al-Makura was an opposition Youth Leader (NPN) in the old Plateau State as a very young man, the late Aliyu Doma was Deputy Governor to the late Chief Solomon Lar in the NPP. Decades later, the boy had become a man and a master political strategist, flawing the same Doma, an incumbent, in the 2011 Nasarawa governorship election. If he needed a high dose of a political strategy to win the election, he needed even more massive political sagacity to survive the onslaughts by the PDP-dominated House of Assembly.

Furthermore, having served on 1988/1989 Constituent Assembly; governor for eight; still serving as a senator, in addition to a widespread business, social, and political networks, and Pan-Nigerian outlook, Al-Makura has built bridges of goodwill and friendships across political, religious, ethnic, and regional divides that APC stands to reap bountifully from.

Against these backdrops and more, therefore, pundits and bookmakers believe that the odds favour the Senator to reposition and lead the APC to victory in 2023 and beyond. However, the party leaders and faithful have the final say.

Vanguard News Nigeria