Certain blocs in the APC have raised concerns over President Goodluck Jonathan’s meeting with South West governors last Tuesday. But is there anything to worry about?
It is not clear what steps the All Progressives Congress (APC) would take to clear the minds of some of its chieftains over the recent visit of some South West governors to President Goodluck Jonathan, but one thing that is very clear is that the party would need to do something to allay the fears of its faithful that there is nothing fishy about the meeting.
President Jonathan, last week Tuesday, met behind closed doors with South West governors in his office at the Presidential Villa for a few hours.
The governors, all of the APC, were Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun, and Rauf Aregbesola of Osun.
The governors of Oyo, Abiola Ajimobi, and Ondo, Olusegun Mimiko, were however absent at the meeting.
No explanation was given for the visit other than the one offered by the Ekiti State governor, Fayemi, who said he came to see the President with his colleagues in connection with issues of national importance.
While many within the party have preferred to see the meeting as routine and one that has to do with purely state matters some have chosen the path of caution, saying it may be about politics.
Since then, the seeming innocuous meeting has brewed disquiet among some members of the APC. Daily Trust learnt that the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) elements in the APC who are close to General Muhammadu Buhari have expressed worry over the visit given that the governors did not inform the party of the meeting, and that even after the meeting; they did not bother to explain what the meeting was all about.
This has given rise to suspicion as many of the former CPC members say they believe the meeting cannot be dismissed as a non issue.
Some of them say they fear that Jonathan who has started consultations on his 2015 ambition by going round to see traditional rulers and other leaders in the country may have called for the meeting to solicit the cooperation of the governors for 2015.
Jonathan is believed to be interested in seeking another term and may declare his interest very soon.
The CPC elements in the APC still believe Buhari should be the APC presidential flag bearer in the 2015 elections.
Those raising the suspicion say there is cause to be worried as there was no urgent matter in the South West that warranted the meeting stressing that it appears 80 percent plausible that the meeting was about 2015.
One of the associates of General Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Abdulmajid Danbilki Kwamanda, expressed the fear in a recent interview when he called on the party to probe the meeting saying it could be reminiscent of what transpired in 2011 when ACN leaders who were supposed to be in alliance with the CPC supported the candidacy of Jonathan at the last minute thereby ditching whatever agreement the two camps had.
“We have started suspecting foul play in view of what happened in 2011. So Tinubu should call his men to order because I don’t see reasons why they should hobnob with Jonathan. They abandoned Nuhu Ribadu at the dying minutes and we don’t want a repeat of that conspiracy this time around, because Nigerians are clamouring for change. Nigerians are eagerly watching to see the reaction of our leaders in APC on this secret visit,” he said.
Initially it was said that the governors met with Jonathan over the forthcoming Ekiti and Osun governorship elections to demand for adequate security and for fairness to ensure the wish of the people is reflected on the overall results.
But other party stakeholders have countered that saying making such legitimate demands do not warrant the closed door nature of the meeting as the governors would have been too eager to inform the public about the development if that was the case.
Interim national publicity secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, however says he fails to see why anybody should make the visit of the governors an issue insisting that the development is a non issue as the President has the right to summon governors to a meeting when he feels like.
He said those calling on the probe of the visits and are raising issues of suspicion are not true APC members, stressing that the party has absolute trust on the governors and will not be shaken if the President calls them to a meeting.
A former gubernatorial aspirant in the party who chose not to be named however told our correspondent that the fears of the APC members are genuine as leaders of the party are supposed to carry everybody along in the course of doing things as the period is crucial for anything to be taken for granted.
He said “people have the right to ask questions when they notice certain things they are not comfortable with and this is what we are asking.”
He said everybody is aware that the focus of Jonathan now is on how to win in 2015, saying he hardly has time for any other thing.
“His visit to traditional rulers is because of 2015 his signing of the contract for the Second Niger Bridge is because of 2015, his going to Imo, Kwara, Kaduna, Katsina etc are all because of 2015, so why do we think his meeting with the South West governors should be different?”
Another source said governors of the defunct ACN who are now part of the APC may have seen the need to negotiate with Jonathan in order to secure his cooperation to retain the two states of Ekiti and Osun which are about to go through another round of guber elections.
The deal, according to the source, may be for the President to support the APC candidates who are the incumbent governors so that they too may support him in 2015.
He said the idea is not far- fetched as Jonathan is known to have struck similar deals in the past when he supported candidates of other parties other than those of the PDP for him to ensure the governors’ loyalty.
He is believed to have supported Adams Oshiomhole of the then ACN above the PDP candidate in the last governorship election in the state as well as Willie Obiano of APGA in Anambra in order to sustain the loyalty of Peter Obi.
The chances of the APC governors in Ekiti and Osun is said to depend on certain concessions the APC is prepared to make. In Ekiti, it is believed that one of the ways the PDP can help in shoring up the chances of the incumbent returning to office is to deny certain aspirants like the former governor of the state, Ayo Fayose, the party’s ticket while in Osun, the likes of Iyiola Omisore may be sacrificed too for a more pliable candidate.
The South West with its over 12 million number of registered voters is considered by analysts as the beautiful bride in the race for the presidency in 2015. Voting most times en bloc, the region it is believed, could give the edge to any of the major candidates in the presidential race.
Political leaders from the zone including majority of its governors are in the APC.
The danger of allowing the South West vote en bloc for the opposition in 2015 may not be lost on the President Jonathan’s handlers and some of the APC leaders who have raised concern the meeting say this might be one of the subtle moves to ensure that does not happen.
How the APC would handle the matter remains to be seen.
Source: Daily Trust.
