APC: Mass Defections Loom Over Adamu’s Chairmanship

Massive defection seems to be looming in the All Progressives Congress (APC) following the emergence of Abdullahi Adamu as the National Chairman of the ruling party.

There are speculations that some aggrieved members of the party might dump APC for the opposition party ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Some aggrieved members of the party had condemned the approach employed by Adamu when he was the chairman of the APC National Reconciliation Committee before he emerged as the national chairman of the party.

Some governors and members of the party had also expressed their differences over President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to anoint Adamu as the party chairman.

The aggrieved members of the ruling party had argued that Adamu did not handle the crisis affecting the party well as the national reconciliation chairman and shouldn’t be trusted as the national chairman of the party.

Some members of the party have started defecting believing that the emergence of Adamu would not favour them and nothing would be done to their grievances.

The ruling party is currently facing a crisis in Anambra, Rivers, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Osun, Kano, Abia, Gombe, Zamfara, and Kwara states.

Some loyalists of the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, last weekend dumped APC for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kwara State.

The former members of the party who were at loggerheads with the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, noted that the emergence of Adamu would not sort the differences in the party.

A former chieftain of the party, Lawal Shehu in an interview with Daily Independent said they believe that they can not get justice with Adamu as the chairman of the party.

He said, “Ordinarily, we did not want to leave the APC, a party we laboured to build.

“That was why we have remained there since 2019 when Governor Abdul- Razak began his divide and rule tactics, sidelining all those who made it possible for him to become governor, especially our leader, Lai Mohammed, who risked everything to dislodge the PDP and the Saraki hegemony in Kwara.

“We have always wanted peace and that was why we attended all the meetings called by the party leadership. However, when Abdullahi Adamu was made the National Reconciliation Committee chairman and he visited Kwara State, we protested that he was biased in his handling of the crisis as almost everything he did favour the governor.

“He only met with the governor, he never met with Alhaji Lai Mohammed even though the two of them are the major contending forces in Kwara APC.

“We said it then that we are displeased with Adamu because his body language and conduct were at variance with the stated objective of the reconciliation committee. He was very biased in his handling of the crisis.

“Now with the election just a few months away, the same Adamu has been made the national chairman of the party.

“We believe he will only continue from where he has started and there is no way we will get justice with him as chairman.

“Right now, Governor Abdulrazak has vowed that only his loyalists will become various candidates in the 2023 elections and he will carry out that threat with the support of Adamu. That is why we have decided to pitch our tent elsewhere.

“Yes, we discussed with our leader, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, but his usual response was that we should be patient. He has told us he remained a founding member of the APC and he will not leave the party anywhere.

“We have not disobeyed him by leaving the APC but we just felt that we need to act fast now so that we won’t be left stranded at the eleventh hour.

“While Alhaji Lai Mohammed and some state leaders of the party are still hopeful that the new national executive of the party and some concerned leaders will reopen the matter and do justice to all concerned we do not share that optimism.”

This article was originally published on Nigeria News