Buhari must break the APC impasse

NEIL Armstrong, one of America’s greatest icons of the 20th Century and the first man to walk on the moon, was only two years old when he developed interest to become an aircraft pilot. His dad took him to the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio, and that was it. At six, he became convinced that he would devote his life to flying when he was taken on his first plane ride.

 He became a combat pilot for the US Navy. Later, Armstrong was chosen as a NASA astronaut. At the age of 35, he led the US Apollo space mission that fulfilled President John Kennedy’s boast to the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the world that he would “put a man on the moon” to outshine the Soviet Union’s feat of landing Sputnik, the first unmanned spaceship, on the moon.

I brought up this anecdote to remind us grown-ups to be careful what we do in front of young children. They are extremely impressionable, and the dramatic events that make the most impacts on their febrile young minds go a long way in defining what they become tomorrow.

On Thursday, 25th June 2015, a group of Abuja school children were in the public gallery of the National Assembly to watch our “Distinguished” Senators and “Honourable” Members of the House of Representatives elect their principal officers in order to set up the National Assembly for effective governance to start.

 But instead of observing a distinguished and honourable conduct they were treated to the most shocking, shameful and embarrassing rounds of brawling and fisticuffs. Though the Senate eventually succeeded in announcing those whom the APC Senate caucuses chose as the principal officers, the House of Representatives had to adjourn for three weeks when their scrimmages could not allow them to produce any result.

A wise person, the elders say, learns from the mistakes or experiences of others. But Nigerian politicians are infamous for their inability to learn from their own mistakes, even when lives are lost. On 18th October 2007, the Honourable Members of the House of Representatives were, as usual, fighting for plum offices. That was when the deposed People’s Democratic Party was at the height of its power and glory.

A recently departed President Olusegun Obasanjo had imposed a hairdresser, Hon. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, as the first female Speaker of the House. Fights broke out when efforts to depose her were stiffly resisted by her supporters after it was found out that she authorised the spending of over N600 million for the RENOVATION of her official residence and that of her deputy, Babangida Nguroje.

The fights between factions of the House had lasted several sessions, but it took the sudden death of Hon. Aminu Shuaibu Safana, a medical doctor from Katsina and a major supporter of Etteh (while vehemently participating in the free-for-all) for the fight to stop. Indeed, what happened during that episode made the June 25th fight a mere child’s play in terms of cost to lives and property.

This was possible because the legislators were allowed to continue fighting without someone intervening.
Incidentally, the President of the country was Umaru Yar’ Adua. Like current President Muhammadu Buhari, he was from Katsina. Also, just like Buhari, Yar’ Adua had pledged not to interfere in the affairs of the National Assembly, but that did not stop him from attending the burial of Dr. Safana in Katsina a couple of hours after the Honorable was pronounced dead!

 Much as I want to believe that Katsina-born presidents are democrats and gentlemen, I don’t want to believe that they are given to dereliction of their responsibilities as the leaders of their parties and the nation.

But before we get to that, we must dwell briefly on what triggered the latest fight. After the June 9th 2015 mutiny against the wishes of the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership in the National Assembly, one would have thought that the subsequent recess would have been an opportunity for the new ruling party to put its house in order and avoid further public embarrassments.

This was not the first time elected members of a political party were going against the directives of their party. In 2011, PDP members of the House of Representatives disregarded the zoning formula of their Party and colluded with members of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to elect Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as his Deputy.

PDP had wanted to put Hon. Mulikat Akande in that seat to complete the equitable sharing of the spoils of victory among the six geopolitical zones, with an eye for gender affirmative action. But when the wishes of the lawmakers overwhelmed those of the Party, PDP played a wise card.

 They knew that if they fought the will of the legislators, the business of governance would be brought to a halt. They accepted the outcome and it was thus possible to persuade the House to allow Akande to become the Majority Leader of the House. The result of allowing the legislators to choose their presiding officers and principal heads was that the 2011 to 2015 was one of the most peaceful and stable legislative sessions in our history.

The APC leadership chose, instead to fight. Members were sent to go and enforce party “supremacy”. How can you achieve that when those supporting the candidates of the ruling party are in the minority due to an alliance between the “rebels” and the opposition PDP? Force will only further weaken the APC leaders and embolden more rebellion when the party is repeatedly defeated. The party will continue to suffer this humiliation because it is only one of its factions that is trying to impose its will on the others, and failing.

The power struggle in the APC had developed into a political impasse. Unless the President wades in to resolve it, there will be more vicious fights when the House resumes on July 21st, and someone may then lose his or her life. Governance will continue to wait until the Legislature is fully constituted and functioning effectively.

Right now, the only person who can resolve the impasse is President Muhammadu Buhari. Apart from his powerful office as the supreme leader of the APC, he has not been tainted by being overly associated with any of the warring factions.

 His rather matured, noble and democratic posture of opting to work with anyone chosen by the legislators to lead them gave him credibility, not just in the party but the nation at large. He must take charge and end the impasse.

The formula for solving the problem is a very simple one. The Senate has already set a very good example by sharing the posts equitably among all the political parties, factions and geopolitical zones.

 We have Bukola Saraki: Senate President (APC/nPDP, North Central); Ike Ekweremadu Deputy Senate President (PDP, South East); Ali Ndume Majority Leader (APC/ANPP, North East); Bala Na’Allah (APC/CPC, North West) Sola Adeyeye, Majority Whip (APC/ACN, South West) and Francis Alimikhena (APC/ACN, South-South).

Nobody can complain about being left out in the Senate, except those who want to grab everything for themselves. It is those noisy, boastful, winner-takes-all APC power grabbers that are causing trouble, and they are the ones being repeatedly worsted in the power struggle.

Party supremacy will be more effectively deployed when governance starts and APC begins to unfold its plans for the nation. If APC has good plans even those outside the party will support them.
APC is too weak to do a winner-takes-all. Buhari should prevail on his party to carry everybody along. This will stabilise his party and enable him to start governing.