By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

Acrimony arising from the recent primaries and conventions to pick standard bearers for the 2019 general polls has left some of the political parties, especially the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and some other parties that have made inroads in many states of the federation shattered.

The development has culminated in alignment, realignment and cross-carpeting by some political actors who could not pick their party tickets to other parties.

The ruling APC appears the most-hit by the post-primaries crises.

With the acrimony trailing the APC primaries and alleged abysmal performance as being propagated by opposition elements and critics, it is obvious that there is fire on the mountain.

As a retired general, a combatant soldier for that matter, President Muhammadu Buhari knows the importance of keeping the party on a good footing, heading into the election. He has taken the initiative to embark on a trouble-shooting mission. Though, he is not known for interfering with internal party matters, he has decided to pacify the aggrieved members and letting them know the consequences of dumping the party.

The President, on Tuesday, hosted some of the APC aggrieved aspirants and members. Those at the dinner included aggrieved governorship, national and state assembly aspirants, who failed to secure the party’s tickets for the 2019 general elections.

The meeting was also attended by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, cabinet ministers and other presidential aides.

It will be recalled that the president had on October 13 met with aggrieved members of the House of Representatives on the platform of the APC.

Buhari had also met collectively and separately with aggrieved APC governors, who expressed reservations over the conduct of the party’s primaries in their respective states.

Prominent among the aggrieved governors are Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun and Rochas Okorocha of Imo.

The party’s national Chairman, Oshiohmole, had on October 21, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Simon Ebegbulem, alleged that conservatives within the party were ganging up to pass a vote of no-confidence on him. This, to some extent suggests the depth of the acrimony in the party.

Speaking at the dinner with the APC Aspirants Forum, on Tuesday night, President Buhari urged those who lost out in the primaries to remain faithful to the country and hold fast on integrity as there will be more opportunities to serve along the way. Buhari told them that the primary motivation to contest elections should be to improve the country, and not for pecuniary reasons. “We must maintain our faith in the country,” he said.

President Buhari reminded them that he contested presidential elections three times before coming to power in 2015, adding that providence will always pave the way for the just, committed and patient politician who wants to truly serve the country.

He told the aspirants that “those who mismanaged the resources of the country are still very much around with incredible wealth,” warning the aspirants to be vigilant and circumspect in making choices as the future will only be salvaged by those who love the country.

Disclosing that he “spoke with the APC party chairman almost every other day, at least for an hour during the primaries. And sometimes, we met for two and half hours on ensuring internal democracy during the primaries” he pointed out that in spite of all efforts to appease everyone and give them a chance at the polls, some aspirants were still not treated fairly.

“I urge you to stay faithful if your objective is to serve the country. I came back to power in this  ‘agbada’ to convince Nigerians to make sacrifices that the country needs now for a better future,” he added.

In his remarks, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, said the meeting was organised to address grievances and fallout from the APC primary elections across the country.

The minister said it would be unfortunate to allow the grievances overshadow the challenges before the country, assuring the aspirants that the government would assuage their yearnings to serve the country.

Malami said the aspirants should work collectively with the President in building the party and setting up a framework that would ensure healthier relationships and better internal democracy.

The leader of the APC Aspirants Forum, Hon. Yusuf Banki, said the network of 7,000 members will work to ensure President Buhari’s victory at the polls in 2019.

Before the meeting, President Buhari had on October 24, hosted a dinner for youth political appointees at the Presidential Villa where he chronicled the milestones his administration has recorded in the last three and half years since it came on board, adding that “it’s very rare now to see idle people and farmers making money.” He also accused the media of not promoting the agricultural revolution of the government.

“I’m very disappointed with the Nigerian press. They didn’t give this government the credit for the ‘go back to land’ programme. We have cut down the importation of rice by at least 90 percent,” he said.

But in what those at the dinner described as frank discussions, they raised the alarm that all is not well with the APC as the country inches towards the 2019 elections.

To throw the first salvo was Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, who told the ruling APC that the opposition PDP would not be a push-over in the 2019 general elections. The governor warned the APC against complacency, saying that opposition should not be taken for granted if APC wants to win the election.

Bello said though the President remained the best leader for the country till 2023, the issue of perception was one that must be taken seriously by the APC to ensure that no chance was given to the opposition to return to power.

His words: “A good product sells itself and Mr. President is a very good product. And his competence is definitely needed for the progress of this nation. But we need to go out there and sell him to the people. Public Relations practitioners will tell you that at some point, having a good product without excellent advertising is winking in the dark.

“We must market the incredible accomplishments of Mr. President and of his administration to every voter and in a language he or she understands. If we fail, God forbid, the adverse narrative being put out by the PDP and other propaganda machines will dominate the land and shape perception.

“If we don’t market our product very well, a tough and progressive victory against a terrorist threat which continues to cost the lives of our brave military and law enforcement agencies will be mistaken for inactions. If we don’t market our product very well, trying our politically exposed offenders using long extant laws which previous leaders were not willing to deploy against cronies will be mistaken for extra-judicial measures and disdain for the rule of law.

“In summary, all may be lost if we don’t get Nigerian people to see why they must vote and allow Mr President continue his great work as we go to the poll in 2019. All that the crooked PDP is offering Nigerians is that ‘corruption is better than incompetence. 2015 was about change, 2019 will be about progress.

“As members of the APC, we will not deny that our party has a huge task in the 2019 general elections, the election will never be a walk-over and the PDP will not be a push -over. And we must take nothing and no one for granted. If we cannot defeat PDP, maybe we should not be influencers or we should not even go to politics.”

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha, said: “We went to the 2015 elections with promises, but we will go to the 2019 elections with our scorecard.”

The Executive Director, Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, Jasper Azuatalam, told President Buhari that some Nigerians were presently disappointed with him because he had failed to perform the magic they expected from him.

He, however, cautioned that Nigeria would be worse if power slipped back to the PDP in 2019.

https://newlive.vanguardngr.com/2018/11/buhari-vs-atiku-north-undecided-yet-arewa-youths-insist/

He said: “I will liken PDP to a lion that has been put in the cage for a long time. If we loose this lion again in 2019, then Nigeria is going to walk more than 1,000 steps backward.

“Like we always said in those days we lost elections, Mr. President will always get 11 to 12 million votes whether he operates from a party or not. That’s how much good will we had that time, but that is because a lot of people believed that with Mr. President’s integrity and his anti-corruption posture, he is going to do magic when he assumes office as President that in two months, Nigeria will change.

“They don’t know how it would happen. But the truth is that most of these have been disappointed because they didn’t see the magic. That is why we need to do the real work.”

There is no gain saying that the ruling party is facing internal crisis which if not well handled could affect its victory in the forthcoming elections. This is why one could say that the President’s move is proactive and timely especially as campaigns are about to kick-off. But to what extent he could go in assuaging the aggrieved members will be determined next year.