APC AND ABDULLAHI ADAMU: A MARRIAGE OF NIGERIA’S POLITICAL SIAMESE TWINS
Samuel Enyi Otsapa
Samuelotsapa@gmail.com
As the race for who becomes the national chairman of the APC got closer and intensified, I had hoped, for merit, loyalty and fairness sakes, that former Governor of Nasarawa State; Senator Umaru Tanko Almakura would clinch it – because out of the many contenders, he is the biggest name who has been with a key part of the party from inception (that is, his political party, the CPC, was part of the four major parties that entered into an entente in 2013/2014 to form the APC). Note that since the formation of the APC, the CPC faction is yet to produce the party’s national chairman. Past chairmen of the party; Bisi Akande, John Oyegun and Adams Oshiomhole all belonged to the ACN divide – so Senator Almakura and the CPC core of the APC to which President Buhari belongs, argued that it is their turn to produce the party’s national chairman.
Unlike many, I have always known that Senator George Akume, former Governor of Benue State, did not stand a chance (a man who could not win his senatorial bid/constituency in the 2019 election) but a Senator Abdullahi Adamu? The brand new APC national chairman, like Senator George Akume, was a two term governor of Nasarawa State under the PDP – and who at that time, it is now been alleged, once prevented General Muhammadu Buhari from holding a CPC political event in Lafia; the Nasarawa state capital.
But much more than Senator George Akume’s PDP DNA, Senator Abdullahi Adamu went as far as becoming a member of PDP’s board of trustees, a fine proof that even today, PDP is Senator Adamu and Senator Adamu is PDP. This argument is germane when one recalls that in 1998, Senator Adamu was one of the founding members of the PDP. Therefore his emergence as the APC national chairman proves what we have been saying all along: there is no ideological differences between the APC and the PDP, even though the former prides itself as being progressive. The PDP and the APC are bed fellows because they are Siamese twins. Currently, some estimated 50% of APC bigwigs; those who call the shots in the party, especially at the state levels, are ‘former’ PDP strongmen. I won’t detain us by doing a roll call because we already know these men: Emmanuel Uduaghan, Godswill Akpabio, James Ibori, Rotimi Ameachi, David Umahi, Orji Uzor Kalu, Ben Ayade, FFK, George Akume, Abdullahi Adamu, Iyiola Omisore, etc.
Folks, this situation with the APC once more proves, at least to me, two things: that in Nigerian politics and party system, loyalty, commitment and steadfastness is not always rewarded – or how do one explain away the reality that Senator Tanko Almakura who has been with President Muhammadu Buhari since their CPC days and all things being equal, expected that the president would choose him, if there must be a choosing. But no, the president preferred a “newbie”; who is a former strong member of the PDP. Now, put yourself in Almakura’s shoes. Would you be happy with this development? Would you still support APC and President Buhari wholeheartedly? With the emergence of Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the national chairmen of the APC, since inception, have been former members of the ACN and the PDP, none from the CPC and ANPP.
Secondly, the situation in the APC speaks to the already known truth that Nigeria is not yet a democracy, but a country governed and managed by civilians who behave like 17th century autocrats and dictators; a country where selection and “consensus” trumps election; a country where party ideology is non-existent; a country where party decamping and carpet-crossing is the norm instead of an aberration; a country where patriotism, loyalty and commitment is first to a political party/politician than to the country; a country where politics is symbolised by dirtiness, selfishness, unaccountability, ineptitude and lies; a country where the more you see, the less you understand; a country of political ‘maradonas’.
Owing to the nature and character of Nigerian party politics described above, it should not be surprising that in the coming days, there would be a mass exodus from the APC by those who feel aggrieved with the party’s “unity list”, a list that has certainly disunited the party. Before the APC convention yesterday, the immediate past deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Lasun from Osun, resigned his membership of the party – and from today, other aggrieved members would begin to dust their shoes to go join the PDP where they’d then begin to cast aspersions on the APC with comments such as ” I have now seen the light”, “I am back to my original family. Family members quarrel but home is always home. PDP!!! Power!!!”, etc. This is the reason why opposition politics and government in Nigeria is dead as our politicians, 90% of them, are a food-is-ready-come-and-chop bunch. This is why the PDP and the APC are Siamese twins with different political names and symbols.
As the country gets closer to next year’s general election, and while we wait for winners of the presidential and gubernatorial primaries of Nigeria’s Siamese twins political parties to emerge (the two political parties responsible for the darkness we currently are in), Nigerians must know that it is not yet uhuru for us – because when democracy continues to fail internally in the political parties, democracy further falters and fails in the country.
