Expectations ahead of APC state congress in Kwara

By Temitope Muhideen

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is moving closer to reaching crescendo in the process of electing new leaders across the strata or organs of the party with the national convention expected to hold at a yet to be declared date.

Hitherto, new leaders have emerged across wards and local government levels in states of the federation while the state congresses are to hold today, Saturday October 16, 2021, all things being equal.

The Mai Mala Buni led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, which comprises experienced hands with the hindsight of wide consultations, is deftly managing the the hues and cries of some people who continue to allege marginalisation in some states. An example is Kwara.

It appears the national headquarters of the party has truly done its due diligence and concluded that those still crying being sidelined have chosen to be mischievous as they have repeatedly ignored opportunities to work with others. For instance, sources at the national headquarters of APC averred that the appeals committee constituted in the aftermath of party registration did not find most of the allegations leveled against Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to be true. While a faction led by Honourable Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed alleged that thousands of its members were shut out of the process, a team that was sent to register those purportedly shut out found the claim to be a ruse. It was also established that virtually all the leaders who shouted that their members were disenfranchised were found to have themselves renewed their membership without any harassment, leading the party headquarters to question their subsequent claims. This explains why the APC national secretariat began to see through the noise in Kwara. The thinking now is that the Minister’s camp is taking advantage of their closeness to the media to want to mislead the public about the true situation in the party.

Another thinking is that a few of the disgruntled leaders may have decided to go for zero sum politics whereby they want to leave the party unless they have things their own way. Many in the party have condemned this attitude as they are still being urged to embrace dialogue and accept the leadership of the Governor like in other states of the Federation. Their obvious intention to fully control the party and exclude the Governor is seen as unacceptable because that will be a bad precedence.

While attempts are still being made to convince these few elements to embrace peace, keen watchers of events in Kwara APC will notice the near seamless conduct of the congresses so far, beginning from ward to local government. Not only were these two congresses totally peaceful and devoid of any violence, reports of the APC appeals show that Kwara has one of the least cases before the appeal. This, according to sources in the party headquarters, shows that the so called crisis in the party is largely a media creation, fuelled by fifth columnists to create wrong perceptions.

Of course, disagreements, conflicts, internal maneuvering for power, conflict resolution and consensus building are usual phenomenon in politics everywhere in the world. In fact, they are part and percel of the dynamics of internal politics as seen largely among political parties in sub sahara Africa. It is the capacity of each leadership of the party to deal with emerging or widening cracks and them move on that dictates the direction and future of such party. Events of the past few weeks since the congresses began have shown that Kwara APC is not doing badly, compared to other states.

The fact that various interests want to control a political party does not mean the party is doomed. Such interests are universal. This is especially not strange for a party like APC in Kwara that is a potpourri of different interests that came together to form it. Major focus was on Kwara prior to the commencement of the ward congress about the possible happenings during and after the congresses of the APC. But the zero violence so far shows that the party is getting on well. Today, the party is waxing stronger building on the successes recorded during the wards, local governments congresses to the state congress billed for this Saturday.

Ahead of the congress, different names have cropped up as chairmanship candidates. Whoever emerges, it is clear that the party cannot be the same again as discipline and party-government relations will be top priorities. Observers expect to have a new party leadership that will truly propagate the good works of the Governor which are very obvious in education, health, rural development, agriculture, workers’ welfare, security, and gender and youths inclusion and empowerment. These strides, coupled with the Governor’s live and let live philosophy, have attracted more members into the party, especially from the opposition.

Today, Kwara APC is going into Saturday’s state congress as a more determined party ready to consolidate on its remarkable progress and achievements, leaving behind elements who may have decided not to participate for some personal reasons. The consensus of the Kwara people is that while the government is clearly making impacts in the lives of the people, it needs a disciplined and cohesive party executives that will concentrate on selling the programmes of the government ahead of the 2023 election.