With about three days to the presidential election, there are indications that President Muhammadu Buhari is losing grip of the All Progressives Congress, APC, governors and the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party, a situation that might affect it (APC) during the upcoming elections, starting this Saturday.
The discordant tune between Buhari and the APC NWC over the Naira redesign policy is first of its kind.
Keen watchers expect that Buhari, being the leader of the party, should always enjoy the blessings and support of the party’s hierarchy, but this did not happen this time. Instead, the NWC has openedly come out to side its governors against the President.
Already, Nigerians are aggrieved over the hardship caused by the Naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Recall that the APC NWC and governors of the party had met and faulted the Naira redesign policy of the Buhari-led Federal Government.
DAILY POST reports that the Federal Government, through the CBN, had resigned N200, N500, N1000 notes and fixed February ten as a deadline to stop the use of the old denominations. The policy initiated by the Federal Government had led to a legal battle initiated by ten governors of the APC.
Following the suit by the governors, the Supreme Court had temporarily restrained the Federal Government from banning the use of the old naira notes from February 10, while ruling on an ex parte application filed by the governments of Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara, Ondo, Ekiti, Katsina, Ogun, Cross River, Sokoto, and Lagos states.
Rather than obey the court injunction, President Muhammadu Buhari made a nationwide broadcast directing the CBN to allow only the old N200 notes for a period of 60 days, which elapsed on April 10.
But APC governors and its NWC openly expressed their disappointment against the policy kicked against the directive by the president.
Speaking on behalf of the governors and NWC after its emergency meeting, the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu called on Buhari to obey the Supreme Court order on Naira redesign policy.
Reading the resolution of the meeting, Adamu said the naira redesign policy was hurting Nigerians and the country’s economy, adding that Buhari should intervene.
The meeting had in attendance Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna state, Mohammed Bello (Niger), Abdulahi sule (Nasarwa), Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti), Simon Lalong (Plateau) Deputy governor of Imo state, Placid Njoku, and Mohammed Yakubu, Deputy Governor of Katsina state.
The Director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, ASSPT, Dr Sam Amadi, said the declaration of the governors might affect APC’s chances in the coming election.
Amadi, however, noted that APC has succeeded in distancing the party from Buhari’s policies.
According to Amadi: “It may affect the party’s chances but not as people think; the party has smartly dumped Buhari considering that he’s now a lame dock. They don’t see him as having much value.
“I think it’s more politically strategic for them to throw Buhari under the bus because it’s difficult for APC to run the party when the government has failed, so crisis has created an opportunity for them to distance themselves from Buhari and see if they can take back the higher ground by saying Tinubu is not supporting Buhari’s hardship on the people; do not punish Tinubu for Buhari’s failure.
“Although many people think it’s too late, it might affect them in general, but many people are tired of APC. They might be able to clean up their image in the next few days. The crisis may affect the ruling party, but in the last few days, the party has been distancing itself from what is becoming a calamity.”
On his part, an Abuja socio-political activist, Deji Adeyanju, said the disagreement might not affect APC’s chances.
Adeyanju urged Nigerians to pray that the infighting within the APC continues because it would be beneficial to them.
“One needs to commend their fight and encourage them to fight more; the more politicians fight and disagree, the more benefits the citizens will get. Where have the APC governors been all these years that Buhari has been disobeying Supreme Court orders or various other courts? But now that he has done something that affects their political survival, you see them crying all over the place, issuing all kinds of threats.
“This goes to the root of the matter that these people do not sincerely care about the citizenry or the people they govern. All they care about is their political survival and interest. These APC governors are witnesses to how the Buhari government has disobeyed Supreme Court judgement on Nnamdi Kanu.
“One of them crying the most now and calling for the rule of law, El-Rufai has never respected the rule of law in Kaduna or when he was the FCT minister. Citizens should pray more for APC to be disunited, because that is one of the ways of liberation.
“Whether it will affect the chances of APC is another thing because this party I’m aware of has already put in place adequate mechanisms to subvert the will of the people. From what I’m hearing from people close to the APC, they have programmed one person that would be making a transfer to voters, so you can see the propensity for evil and the extent they are willing to go to perpetrate evil. So, these are not people you can ever write off in any political game or any electioneering contest in the country,” he further alleged.
