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Presidency in deft move to divide, downgrade Reformed-APC

By Leo Sobechi (Lagos), Adamu Abuh (Abuja) and Charles Coffie-Gyamfi (Abeokuta)
09 July 2018   |   3:12 am
Despite strong words of denunciation and dismissal of the influence and likely impact of the splinter group, Reformed-All Progressives Congress (R-APC) on the structure and stature of the ruling party, APC, by the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, the Presidency has begun moves to tackle the division in the party. Investigation by The Guardian revealed that…

Buhari

Despite strong words of denunciation and dismissal of the influence and likely impact of the splinter group, Reformed-All Progressives Congress (R-APC) on the structure and stature of the ruling party, APC, by the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, the Presidency has begun moves to tackle the division in the party.

Investigation by The Guardian revealed that the Presidency, worried by the “attempt to polarise and disorganise the party,” has started strategising on how to divide and downgrade the splinter group so that it does not end up jeopardising President Muhammadu Buhari’s chances at the 2019 presidential poll.

Also, a source close to the Presidency told The Guardian that one of the steps being considered to douse the planned mass defection from the ruling party is that the President would make some appointments in the days to come to empower some influential members of the party.

The source said that although the President was considering making new appointments as part of measures to contain the bickering during the last convention before he travelled to Morocco, the carrot has become urgent in view of the planned mass defection by supporters of R-APC.

Another source from North-East disclosed that machinery had been set in motion to identify those associated with the R-APC with a view to reaching out to dissuade them from leaving APC or mete some disciplinary measures against them.

In what seems to buttress the approach by the party, the R-APC seems to be buckling as the National Publicity Secretary, Kassim Afegbua, qualified the initial statement by the national chairman, Galadima, that they were leaving APC, saying that the immediate pre-occupation of R-APC “is to remain within APC and rescue it from buccaneers and predators.”

This comes as the Benue State Chairman of the breakaway R-APC, Mr. Noah McDickson, yesterday distanced himself from the faction, claiming that he was not consulted before being listed on the leadership of the group.

McDickson, who accompanied members of erstwhile Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) on a solidarity visit to the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) in Abuja, stated that although he still nurses grievances against the Benue State Chapter of the APC, he remains a member of the ruling party.

In another development, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship aspirant in Ogun State, Sina Kawonise, yesterday accused the APC of “monetising” politics in the country, a situation he said, is not in the best interest of the country.

Kawonise, who spoke in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, at a ceremony where he officially declared his intention to contest the state governorship seat in 2019, also insisted that the ruling APC had failed woefully in governance, hence they have no moral justification to stay in power and urged Nigerians to vote them out during the 2019 general elections.

Kawonise, who described the R-APC as a “deformed APC,” said the SDP was set to change the paradigm of governance in the country.

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