BY IKENNA SAMUELSON
He is an unknown quantity in Nigeria’s political circle. Specifically, he is a scalar quantity because he has no direction. I am not supposed to belittle myself responding to the outbursts of the impostor National
Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu.
I say this because he was not properly elected or appointed the
party’s National Publicity Secretary. Recall that at the National
Convention of APC, where National Officers were elected, Alhaji
Abdullahi Bolaji Adamu emerged the National Publicity Secretary.
However, following the decamping of Senate President Bukola Saraki
from APC to PDP, Abdullahi Bolaji Adamu, being the Senate President’s boy, voluntarily resigned his position and followed his master.
The lacuna created by the resignation of Abdullahi Bolaji Adamu
created the opportunity for the Deputy National Publicity Secretary,
Mr Yekini Nabena to step in as the Acting National Publicity
Secretary. To say that Yekini Nabena performed creditably is an
understatement. Within a very short period of his ascendancy, he became the face of the party. But just as he was about to consolidate his position, one unknown quantity, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu was suddenly smuggled through the back door, and imposed on the party as the National Publicity Secretary.
His emergence is clearly a breach of the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the APC (Article 20(1).
Ever since Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu assumed the position, he has
continuously dragged the party to the mud without shame or remorse,
thereby confirming the insinuation that he was planted in the party to
create disharmony, confusion and disequilibrium.
One of his stupid outbursts was contained in publications in almost
all the national newspapers (The Nation, Daily Sun, Vanguard, New
Telegraph etc) of Thursday, October 25, 2018. In the
newspaper publications, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu exposed the
inconsistencies, lack of internal democracy and imposition of
candidates by the National Working Committee of the Party, APC.
While reacting to the crisis in Kaduna State APC, the papers quoted Issa-Onilu as insisting that:
“It was the outcome of the primary properly conducted. The party tried to protect its members in the National Assembly for obvious reasons by offering automatic tickets. We tried to protect our legislators by offering them automatic tickets, but the people said no. If they say No, there is nothing the party can do. It is within their rights to say we must go to the field. The initial efforts of the party did not get the blessing of other people in the area who are entitled to bid for positions. The primaries were eventually conducted, but Senator Shehu Sani opted out, he relied on the earlier decision. At the end of the day, no matter what plans you have, even though you are acting on expediency, rule of law and democracy will prevail. It is democracy that prevailed in Kaduna,”
The questions now are: if the situation in Kaduna APC has been adopted by the NWC, why is the same NWC of the party reluctant to give Imo APC similar treatment? Since politics is local, and Kaduna APC insisted on primary, and the NWC bowed to the outcome of primaries in Kaduna APC despite the offer of automatic tickets; why has the same NWC refused to bow to the outcome of Imo APC primaries that took place on the 6th of October 2018?
Why did the Adams Oshiomhole-led NWC of APC offer
automatic tickets to people who did not participate in the APC
primaries in Imo State? Why did the party not respect the rights of
the other aspirants who insisted on going to the field to test their
political strengths? Why has the NWC not allowed democracy to prevail in Imo APC as demonstrated in the 6th October 2018 primaries?
Graciously, the Imo State Working Committee of APC has spoken with one voice, with its letter to the National Chairman on the 22nd of October 2018, and published in most national newspapers on the 24th of October 2018, for the general public to take note.
Clearly, the Senator Hope Uzodinma-led dissident group in the party
has been declared persona non-grata at all levels in Imo APC. One,
therefore, begin to wonder why this dissident group, who reportedly
joined the party barely five months ago, is being treated with kid
gloves by the National Working Committee of the party, as have been
confirmed by the unknown quantity called Lanre Issa-Onilu.
It is also on record that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole told the whole
world that there would be no automatic tickets in APC (See Daily Sun newspaper of Thursday, July 12, 2018, page 11. Why then did he
give automatic tickets to Senator Hope Uzodinma-led dissident group?
In the said publication (Daily Sun newspaper of Thursday, July
12, 2018, page 11), Adams Oshiomhole said “We have lots of options in our Constitution. We have the option of direct primary. By direct
primaries, you remove the power from delegates to party members and so, if you think that you can compromise the delegates and undermine the wishes of the majority of our members, we will call our members to do the voting. So, all these options are open. If we ask you to do consensus, and you want to do one-man show, knowing that one-man show cannot do election, we will neutralize those abuse of privileges by allowing direct membership participation. The leadership cannot be compromised or intimidated, and we will not misuse our privileges to deny anyone of our members appropriate opportunities to contest and have the opportunity to serve the country,” Oshiomhole warned.
That was Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on the marble.
Why then has Adams Oshiomhole compromised the leadership of the party by giving automatic tickets to dissident aspirants in Imo APC who did not participate in the direct primaries of 6th October 2018, where clear winners emerged?
I hope Adams Oshiomhole knows the legal, social and political
consequences of his ill-conceived action.
Politics is local and Imo APC will never allow ABUJA to impose
Candidates. This will be resisted with every fibre of our strength.
I rest my pen
- Dr Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha FCAI, MKDA.
He is the Ekenwohia Ndigbo.