By Uche Mbah
Only 11 out of the 22 governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, attended the February 19 caucus meeting of the party held to discuss the botched February 16 Presidential and National Assembly election. Even though they were not the only ones, but absence of governors, Ibukunle Amosu of Ogun State, and Rochas Okorocha of Imo state raised eye brows. The two governors were, because of the way they flaunted it, considered to be very close to President Muhammadu Buhari, who, himself, was present at the meeting. Amosun has always been a core Buhari loyalist. And Okorocha leveraged on his position as the Chairman of APC Governors’ Forum to get close to the President. So, why did the two not attend the meeting, considered the most important since the Presidential campaign began?
Ibikunle Amosun
In the case Amosun, who is currently eying a senatorial seat under his party, the APC, there is a faceoff between the APC national leadership, headed by Adams Oshiomhole, and the state leadership – a fallout from the state primaries. Things came to a head when having been denied his wish, inspite of his closeness to Buhari, Amosun quickly formed a new party where his endorsed governorship candidate, moved to: Allied Peoples Movement.
Adekunle Akinlade, his preferred governorship candidate, decamped from the APC to the APM with 26 House of Assembly aggrieved members and other stakeholders. Amosun himself stayed back in APC where he vowed to “work for Buhari’s reelection”. He later took Akinlade to meet with President Buhari, to assure him of continued loyalty.
During the last APC Presidential campaign rally in Ogun state, aggrieved party members pelted the President, Oshiomhole and Tinubu with stones and sachets of pure water. Embarrassed, the governor was on tape pleading with them state not to disgrace him “because our father is here”. But that rally ended up a disaster. In addition to pelting them with stones and sachets of pure water, they booed them. The president, in his speech, said that the people should vote any candidate of their choice, as long as they vote APC at the Presidential level.
That rally was like the last straw. After the rally, Amosun was said to have gone to Aso rock to see the President, but was allegedly prevented from seeing him. It is likely, therefore, that he kept away from the meeting in order to prevent a faceoff with Oshiomhole, Tinubu and a number of others who had since called for a disciplinary action against him.
Rochas Okorocha
For Okorocha, his story is not much different from Amosun’s. His preferred governorship candidate lost out in the Primary. So, he is now fighting a battle of relevance in the party he played a big role in placing on the map of the south east. He has been rendered irrelevant in the state APC. But, he is still doggedly believing that he will ride on the back of the party to the red chambers. And he has been fighting a difficult battle to enthrone his son in law, Uche Nwosu, as the next governor.
His argument appears to be that if the President is steeped in cronyism, why should his own be different? That much was reported to have been revealed when he faced off with Nasiru el- Rufai during an APC caucus meeting, where he was said to have pointedly asked the party to endorse Nwosu. El -Rufai had allegedly asked him whether he was afraid that he would be probed if another person took up the governorship seat. Okorocha was said to have exploded in anger asking why his should be different.
Since then, his relationship with the inner caucus of the APC has degenerated. Worse still, the entrance of Senator Hope Uzodinma in the race, backed by the central committee of the ruling party, did not go down well with him. The same scenario, like that of Oogun state, had presented itself in Imo state, where Buhari took a non-committal position on the campaign ground at Owerri.
It is no longer news that the governor and the Party chairman do not see eye to eye.
Conclusion
It is now clear that the APC primaries created more problems for the party than it solved. Amosun, who is being accused of trying to create a parallel godfather in the South west, different from Jagaban Tinubu, may be seeking for a secret alliance with the opposition PDP in order to actualize his ambition. If rumors of last minute shift of alliance are to be believed, both Amosun and Okorocha may be headed for a difficult time. The postponement of the election may have been a blessing in disguise.
