The struggle over the control of the All Progressives Party Leadership in states where five governors of the People’s Democratic Party defected might just be leading the party to a bigger storm- Sources say party leadership is to suspend former governors if necessary or expel them to allow for peace.
Recall the Leadership of the party had promised to hand over leadership of the state structure to the governors of Rivers Rotimi Amaechi; Murtala Nyako of Adamawa; Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano; Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara and Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto..
But the chieftains of the party in the states had vowed not to allow the take over as it undermines their authority in the states, for instance Adamawa where Buba Marwa and Murtala Nyako are not having a smooth ride..
Shekarau and Kwankwaso in Kano are also not in agreement, Kwara state and Sokoto respectively..
To set the way forward for the 2015 general elections, the opposition is set to do away with the former governors if they PDP.
Reliable source within the National Secretariat of the party said the thinking within the leadership of the party is that the G-5 governors must be allowed to take over structures of the party in the affected states to enable them provide the funds to strengthen the APC for the 2015 elections.
The source asked: “ Do you think former Governors Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano, Bafarawa of Sokoto or rtd. Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa of Adamawa have the capacity to win elections in those states now? “
He continued: “We know that some of these people are PDP agents who want to sabotage APC from inside by causing all types of crisis”.
When reminded that most of the defected governors would complete their second tenure by 2015 and may therefore not have much at stake during the forth-coming polls, he said : “ If APC doesn’t win the states where the G-5 governors are currently in power, it means they would be politically finished. So they would surely throw in their resources to ensure that APC wins in their states to enable them be in a vantage position to pursue their future political career”. source tells Vanguard.
”Who told you that some of them don’t have presidential ambition?” he asked.
The source however expressed confidence that the crisis would be resolved just like the various opposition parties were able to overcome all their differences and merge.
Said he: “ When political battles are fought, it is either you win, lose and leave or reconcile”.
It would be recalled that the G-5 governors defected after reportedly reaching an agreement with the leadership of APC that the party’s structures in the five states would be handed over to them.
However, since they defected they have faced stiff resistance from prominent members of the party especially former governors in their attempt to take over APC structures in the affected states.
When contacted by phone yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of the party Alhaji Lai Mohammed dismissed certain media reports about the crisis as the handiwork of the PDP.
He admitted that the party was aware of the disagreement within some state chapters of the party but said a National Reconciliation Committee had been set up to handle the situation.
