Bid by the interim leadership of the APC to retain party structure ahead 2015 had collapsed with their defeat in the last congress. But what would be the implication to the party?

The tension, accusations and counter-accusations going on in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State reached its climax with the defeat in the state congress of the candidates favoured by the interim leadership of the party, headed by General John Shagaya.
Of course, the defeat came as no surprise to many political actors and members of the APC who have constantly accused Shagaya of mismanaging the party. Many, however, believed that the interim chairman, despite the problems created by his style of leadership, would be able to ensure that things went his way.

Bid by the interim leadership of the APC to retain party structure ahead 2015 had collapsed with their defeat in the last congress. But what would be the implication to the party?

The tension, accusations and counter-accusations going on in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State reached its climax with the defeat in the state congress of the candidates favoured by the interim leadership of the party, headed by General John Shagaya.
Of course, the defeat came as no surprise to many political actors and members of the APC who have constantly accused Shagaya of mismanaging the party. Many, however, believed that the interim chairman, despite the problems created by his style of leadership, would be able to ensure that things went his way.

Analysts say his stern approach to issues as an ex-military officer cost him the control of the party structure.
The state congress due to internal wrangling was postponed several times as the blocs within the party struggled to plant their men in key party positions.

While Shagaya and the then acting secretary of the party, Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande, struggled to retain the party structure, another group headed by the member of the House of Representatives from Jos North/Bassa constituency, Suleiman Kwande, struggled to take over control of the party machinery.

A member of the state caretaker committee, Nazif Ahmad, told our correspondent before the election that the two blocs existed mainly to anoint who would emerge the gubernatorial candidate of the party.

He said: “The blocs exist to achieve their political ambitions, including clinching the Senate and House of Representatives tickets of the party.”
Due to this fact, the duo of Shagaya and Nakande were made to contend with several opposition within the party. Members of the G-45, an offshoot of the APC in the state made up of aggrieved members of the three legacy parties (CPC, ANPP and ACN) led by Engineer Lekshak Bulus Damen, had accused some of the party bigwigs of attempting to impose the duo as party leaders. Even with their election as interim chairman and secretary respectively in November last year, the crisis which was expected to have fizzled out assumed a new dimension when some party members accused the state leadership of the party of not carrying them along.

The G-45 later metamorphosed into a group called the ‘APC for all in Plateau’ and had in March led a delegation to the party headquarters in Abuja where they issued a protest letter accusing Shagaya of creating problems within the party and not carrying other members along. The group had also called for the dissolution of the state executives, saying the interim chairman was running the party like a personal fiefdom. Nakande had countered with a statement asking the party’s national secretariat to disregard the group and went ahead to advise the group to focus its attention on the then upcoming congress. He said:”Work hard by canvassing for votes to get elected into substantive position from the units, wards, LGAs and state rather than ranting like a cricket destined for self destruction.”

Ironically, Nakande’s advice had played out in the group’s favour as Damen told journalists after the congress that “I have been vindicated, most of the excos in the congress were members of the “APC for All in Plateau.”

He said when the group took its petition to the headquarters of the party, “we were well received and the interim national chairman, Bisi Akande, asked the secretary Tijjani Musa Tumsa to attend to us. We were told that our petition was a genuine case and we were given an assignment to come back and advocate for a credible leader who will not be saddled with petitions. We came back and did just that and today, Letep Dabang has been elected leader.”

But the success for the group had come at a great cost. The division within the party had led to many unfortunate circumstances for the APC in the state, including the abysmal performance of the party in the last local government elections, where the PDP swept all positions except for Jos North and Wase local government areas where elections were not held and Langtang North where the elections were declared inconclusive.
With Shagaya earlier rumoured to be eyeing the Government House, Rayfield, and Nakande’s eyes fixed squarely on Kwande’s seat, their embarrassing defeat in the hands of Kwande’s men, who is seen as a new entrant into the APC, with little political experience sent a clear message that the duo’s political ambitions may likely be heading for the rocks.

Kwande, who earlier this year decamped from the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) to join the APC had been underestimated, with many party members thinking he wouldn’t be able to muster the courage to challenge and upstage a sitting interim executive.
His confidence reportedly got a boost when his father, an elder statesman and renowned politician, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande, together with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, cross-carpeted from the PDP to the APC.

The combined strength of the Kwandes, Rep. Ahmed Idris Maje, and the members of ‘APC for all in Plateau,’ at a time when some party members were feeling aggrieved with the Shagaya-Nakande style of leadership became a formidable force and clinched most of the key positions.

With what seems like a dashed dream for the duo, key members of the party insist the two will resurface, saying they are too important to be left in the back waters of the party.

A commentator in the party argued:”You have not heard the last of Shagaya and Nakande. They will re-strategise and come back. Shagaya’s aim is to serve as flag bearer for the party in the gubernatorial election, while Nakande wants to contest for the House of Representative, so they haven’t given up.

“You will also remember that Shagaya had dangled a petition against the newly elected chairman, so let us keep our fingers crossed. But if things prove too difficult for them, they may move to PDM,” said the analyst.

Others say the present executive of the party headed by Dabang, is not likely to serve as the messiah the APC so desperately needs, basing their claim on his alleged closeness to Senator Joshua Dariye, former governor of Plateau State, who is presently a member of the Labour Party (LP). This became an issue so much so that Shagaya had before the announcement of the state congress results announced that there was a petition alleging that Dabang was serving as a special assistant to a serving senator under the LP. Chairman of the congress committee, Sam Mbaagbe, however, urged those aggrieved to forward their petitions to the national headquarters.

Key figures within the party, however, say Dabang’s alleged closeness to Dariye was only a strategy to peddle the new chairman in a bad light as Dabang had since severed ties with the senator. Ambassador Kwande, while addressing the issue, said: “There is a possibility that the influence will be the other way round. Dabang may end up influencing Dariye to join the APC. Our chairman is a straight forward and good man and I am sure he will reconcile all aggrieved members of our party,” he said.

As it is now, foremost on the agenda of the interim leadership is how to open its doors to Shagaya and Nakande and their supporters as well as reconcile all aggrieved party members. “It will be unfortunate if he is unable to unite the party because there are too many interests in the party but Dabang is an intelligent man, so he will accommodate everybody,” said a key party figure.

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Political Analysis: How Gen. John Shagaya and Dasuki Nakande lost Leadership of APC to Kwande