By Olalekan Osiade
• Roots for northern Christian candidate
• Considers T.Y. Danjuma • CPC, ANPP kick
The newly-registered All Progressives Congress (APC) may be courting trouble soon after its acceptance by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as sources within the party informed the Sunday Newswatch, in graphic details, of current moves that may tear the new party apart.
The latest crisis, which may shake the party to its foundation, the Sunday Newswatch learnt, is borne out of a clandestine motive, allegedly orchestrated by the leadership of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to scheme former Head of State and presidential candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari, out of the 2015 presidential race.
Checks by our correspondent revealed that the new scheme is aimed both at fostering the party’s desire to checkmate President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and also to meet a proviso for a presidential candidate of northern extraction, given to the party by some northern elders, during a recent meeting.
The newly-registered party, it was gathered, has therefore, set machinery in motion to shop for a candidate of northern extraction, but preferably of the Christian faith. To this end, the stalwarts of the party have drafted a list of some perceived credible and notable northern Christians, whom they feel would be readily acceptable to Nigerians at the polls, the Sunday Newswatch can reveal.
According to highly-placed sources within the party, some northern political bigwigs met shortly before the registration of the party last week and gave a condition to the financiers of the party that the presidency must return to the North in 2015, if they are to offer their support.
The attempt by the APC to meet this ‘northern condition’ may have, however, thrown a spanner in the wheels of the party, as some factions within the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), are now kicking against the ‘foreign’ idea and insistence on a Christian candidate, allegedly imported into the deal by leaders of the ACN.
Insisting that Christianity cannot be put on the front burner in the agreement reached with the ‘Northerners’, the aggrieved CPC and ANPP chieftains are also of the view that the new game plan was the handiwork of the ACN caucus, whom they alleged are working towards a selfish motive and “just want to ride on the back of the CPC to power.”
According to one of the sources who belongs to the CPC caucus, “It is true that we met some people from the North, and they insisted that anybody that would fly the party’s flag in 2015 must be a Northerner. Sequel to that condition, the ACN caucus met and decided to scheme in the Christianity aspect. This is all in a bid to ensure that a certain bigwig of the ACN becomes the Vice President.
“But when we met with the Northerners, there was never a time they asked us to bring a Christian. It is true they want a Northerner as the presidential candidate, but this new twist is what we don’t understand.”
Another member of the APC, who was hitherto in the ANPP also told Sunday Newswatch of the feeling of bias within the ANPP caucus, saying that they, in the ANPP, believe that the ACN caucus had devised the plan all along, but kept it under wraps. He buttressed his point with the earlier formation of the interim executive committee of the party, which he claimed were mostly Muslims.
He also explained that the CPC group was ignorant of the whole idea, until the Nasir el-Rufai committee was set up to meet with some notable people from the North, especially former Heads of State, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, in order to sell the idea of the party to them.
“They asked el-Rufai and some people to meet the big people in the North, but the idea was to let them know that a Northerner would be fielded as the (presidential) candidate, so that they can support our party. But all of a sudden, we started hearing that a Christian must be chosen.
“In fact, it is news to us. Even el-Rufai and his committee people cannot claim to be in the know. That was never in the plan. How they came about it, is strange; they knew what they wanted to do all along, that is why they put a majority of Muslims in key positions in the exco, and they are now saying that we have Muslim executives, so we must have a Christian president.
“This is a ploy to give an opportunity to their bigwig to become the Vice President, because they know that a ticket featuring Buhari and the said VIP would not work, since they are both Muslims. That is why they need to remove Buhari from the race,” he said.
He also added what he believed would be a clincher to quell the alleged plan, saying that there are more Muslims in the region, and that majority of Northerners wouldn’t vote for a Christian candidate.
While insisting that Buhari would sell the party in the North, the CPC chieftain vowed that his group and the ANPP caucus would work together to scuttle any illegitimate moves by the ACN.
However, those in support of the Christian presidency within the party are not leaving anything to chance, as they have reportedly started approaching some Christians pencilled down for the job.
Top on their list, and the first port of call, Sunday Newswatch learnt, was the home of 74-year-old former Minister of Defence, General Theophilus Danjuma, whom they believe has the popularity to lead the party.
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has condemned the formation of the APC, saying, “its foundation is wrong, its combination is faulty and its ideologies are not clearly defined.”
In a statement issued to the press in Abuja on Friday, Okupe, who thumbed up his boss for ‘allowing’ the registration of the APC, said, “political liberalism of President Jonathan would not have happened under many African presidents, especially when it is obvious that there were hurdles and obstacles to that registration.”
Reiterating his earlier statement that the PDP is not afraid of the new party, Okupe said, “these are people that were beaten individually and collectively before, but we are glad that at least, instead of fighting three or four parties, we can concentrate on one and get it done. I can assure you that there is nobody in the Presidency that is worried. For us, it is a good thing, it is a great development. We will see how far they can go,” he said.
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