Battle for Kogi APC sets stage for November guber poll 

Offices of the Deputy National Publicity Secretary and Zonal National Organising Secretary for North Central of the All Progressives Congress (APC), zoned to Kogi State by the party, have renewed hostility between Governor Yahaya Bello and Hon. James Faleke, which is now threatening chances of the party in the November 11 off-season governorship poll, RALPH OMOLOLU AGBANA reports. 

The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, last Friday inaugurated six new officers to replace former members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party and other vacant zonal offices, ending weeks of intrigues and horse-trading that had stalled the event.

For the party members in Kogi State, the inauguration has brought a new dimension to the war of attrition between factions loyal to Governor Yaya Bello, and Hon. James Faleke over the two slots allocated to the state APC, which some stakeholders feared may affect the chances of the party in the November 11 governorship election.

The party at the national level had zoned offices of the Deputy National Publicity Secretary (DNPS) and Zonal National Organising Secretary (ZNOS) for North Central to Kogi State and both factions had fielded candidates for the offices.
Bello, who is in control of the party structure in the state ratified Yahaya Ade Ismail as the new DNPS and Isiaka Musa ZNOS for North Central, stating that the two nominations followed due process and were done in accordance with the party’s constitution, while Faleke’s camp nominated Duro Meseko and Ikani Shuaibu Okolo as the DNPS and ZNOS, respectively. The two nominees were said to have the blessings of the presidential villa.

But the party leadership in their wisdom picked a nominee each from the two factions. While Musa was inaugurated as ZNOS, Meseko emerged as DNOS.

With the governorship election in Kogi State just three months away, the eventual resolution of the contentious lists of new national party officers and swearing in of veteran journalist and former member of the House of Representatives, Meseko as the DNPS, came as a relief to some members in the aftermath of the tensions generated by the rejection of his appointment by the party structure in the state. But the development has unsettled Governor Bello and his supporters, who saw the position of the national leadership as a slight to Kogi APC structure.

Other officers sworn in on Friday at the APC national headquarters in Abuja, included the Deputy National Chairman (North), Ali Bukar Dalori (Borno State); National Vice Chairman (North West), Garba Datti Muhammad (Kaduna State); National Legal Adviser, Prof. Abdul Karim Abubakar Kana (Nasarawa State); National Welfare Secretary, DonatusNwankpa (Abia State); National Woman Leader, Mary Alile Idele, (Edo State); and Meseko (Kogi State).

From Wednesday evening when the National Secretary of the party, Senator Ajibola Basiru, made the announcement at a press briefing on the outcome of the NWC, the national leadership of APC, with Abdullahi Ganduje in the driving seat, was engrossed in a series of dialogues following protests that greeted the appointments made by Governor Bello, Senator Florence Ita Giwa and other stakeholders from Abia and Cross River states, who also stormed the party’s national secretariat to protest against the choice of Donatus Nwankpa and Mary Alile Idele as National Welfare Secretary and National Woman Leader respectively.

Stakeholders from Abia State-led by Hon Stanley Ohajuruka in a petition addressed to Ganduje rejected Nwankpa. Also, protesters from Cross River State led by Bukkie Okaigbe maintained that a replacement for Dr Beta Edu, who had since been sworn in as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs should have come from the same Cross River, not Edo State.

From Kogi’s end, the imbroglio stemmed from different names reportedly forwarded to the NWC by the two contending camps in the state’s chapter of APC, led by Governor Bello and Hon Faleke, to fill the vacant positions.

However, the decision of the national leadership of the party to give a position to each of the factions did not go down well with Governor Bello who stormed the national secretariat on Thursday, insisting that the appointments be revisited. The three senators from the state, House of Representatives members, and the Minister of Steel Development, Shuaibu Audu, joined him in the protest.

Besides, hundreds of supporters amid the heavy presence of security operatives that also accompanied Bello to lodge complaints heightened tension in the precinct of the APC secretariat.

While this lasted, the conference hall in the secretariat complex filled to the brim by the anticipatory nominees and their supporters, the absence of Ganduje fuelled speculations that he might have deliberately chosen to stay away to calm frayed nerves.

By 9 p.m., party stalwarts who traveled from various states in the country to grace the swearing-in ceremony, initially scheduled for 10 a.m., left the secretariat complex disappointed.

A reliable source in the national secretariat, however, disclosed that the party, after rigorous meetings with key stakeholders between Thursday and Friday resolved to consider Bello’s nominee, Isiaka Musa for the position of Zonal Organising Secretary (North Central), who replaced the earlier nominated Ikani Okolo.

The source said: “There were talks to cede the Zonal Organising secretary post to Bello. All things considered, Meseko’s appointment as DNPS is a done deal.

“President Tinubu has given a directive to the national chairman to proceed to inaugurate Meseko and other new NWC members no matter whose ox is gored.”

Contrarily, Kogi State APC chairman, Abdullahi Bello in a press release trending online the next day (Saturday) described it as a “false” news report that Governor Bello has been told to produce the Zonal Organising Secretary and concede the Deputy National Publicity Secretary to Faleke’s nominee.”

“There is no iota of truth in the report”, he said, adding, “Nothing was discussed about concessions because it would be a violation of the Constitution of our party and due process for which our party is known.”

He noted, however, that the matter was “almost resolved” as all parties had agreed to honour the constitution of the party.

But the national chairman, in his address during the ceremony declared that all issues have been resolved with all stakeholders carried along. He assured that those who lost out in the power game in their respective states would be compensated.

Ganduje said: “From Kogi, we have Ismail Yahaya. We have taken note of him and he will be engaged in one way or another. We have Ikani Shuaibu Okolo also from Kogi, he too will be engaged appropriately in our government. Mrs Obinna from Abia, she too will be accommodated. Hon. Dr Stella Ekpo and two others from Cross River State, according to the outcome of our dialogue, will be accommodated in our government.

“With these, I think we have achieved complete agreement. We have achieved dialogue and we have deepened dialogue within our party and this is our culture. We are not dictators but that does not mean that everyone must necessarily agree with you.”

Effects of APC NWC drama on guber poll
I was gathered that following the persuasions and trade-off, a major reason Governor Bello soft-pedaled on his initial opposition to the swearing-in of Meseko as DNPS was the party’s considerations for the November 11 governorship election in the state.

The two APC camps led by Bello and Faleke have a history of rivalry dating back to the 2015 governorship election when the late Abubakar Audu died while already coasting to victory. Faleke was Audu’s running mate and they ran on a joint ticket. Faleke was expected to step in, to complete the process in the supplementary election that followed Audu’s death.

However, after the protracted legal twists to determine his replacement, Faleke lost out to Bello, who came second in the APC governorship primaries of August 2015.

Since then, the relationship between supporters of Bello and Faleke has been everything but smooth. In 2019, when Bello sought a second term, a repeat clash between the two factions was averted after President Tinubu (then as APC national leader) endorsed Bello and ordered Faleke to work for his re-election.

In the run-up to the APC governorship primary election held in April this year, Faleke turned down pressure from his supporters to run for the governor’s ticket. But he went on to advocate a power shift specifically that the next governor should emerge from Kogi West Senatorial District. That did not happen. Bello’s kinsman and the governor’s anointed candidate, Usman Ododo, from Kogi Central emerged as the flagbearer of the APC.

Subsequently, two other top positions like Ododo’s running mate and ministerial nomination also have the imprimatur of Governor Bello.

Checks revealed that the factor that swayed the presidency’s support for Meseko goes beyond the balancing of power between Bello and Faleke, the governorship election holding on November 11, was considered paramount to the party’s calculations, so as to prevent a situation where the two factions go to the election divided.