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APC Congress: Fresh Crisis Over 60-40 Sharing Formula

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5 years ago

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  • Crisis festers in Lagos, Osun, Kwara, Zamfara, Ekiti, Ogun, Rivers, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, others

  • Tension over marching order on petitions

IN what appears a definite stand, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has directed the appeals panels set up last week to work on petitions arising from the just-concluded controversial ward congress, to strictly work with the party’s constitution and congress guidelines in resolving the logjam in many state chapters. 

The directive, which is contained in the letter of appointment handed over to chairmen of the panels, is already generating fresh tension in many state chapters of the party where parallel congress took place, with the crisis in the Osun State chapter boiling over at the weekend.

The order to stick with constitutionality and due process is bound to upset a lot of applecart in many state chapters, where groups considered to be in the mainstream may end up losing out, considering prevalent allegations of dominant factions not abiding by the guidelines in arriving at their victories.

While the national leadership of the party, led by Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni, encouraged consensus arrangement to avoid a rancorous congress, it added a caveat that all tendencies within the party in each state chapter should have a buy-in.

According to Buni, where consensus is not agreed on, factions are to go for elective congress. Allegations of dominant factions cornering the entire exercise, without consensus agreement and not resorting to election, have rent the space since the exercise was conducted.

In giving the marching order, APC said, “you are expected to adhere strictly to the guidelines of the exercise and the constitution, in receiving and determination of complaints arising from the ward congresses.”

The appointment letter, sighted by Sunday Tribune, was signed by the Secretary, Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Mr John James Akpanudoedehe and dated August 12, 2021.

The full letter reads: “In furtherance of the provisions of the guidelines of the ward congresses, as adopted by the Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee. “The chairman of the CECPC, Mai Mala Buni, has approved your nomination as the chairman of the ward congresses appeals committee for …(redacted) state. “As a responsible organisation, the party is not oblivious of the fact that with the sheer magnitude and scope of the ward congresses, there may be persons who may be dissatisfied with the exercise, hence this committee.

“You are expected to adhere strictly to the guidelines of the exercise and the constitution, in receiving and determination of complaints arising from the ward congresses.”

Despite the resolve to go constitutional, Sunday Tribune can also report that behind-the-scenes moves for peace and reconciliation in the party may birth a political solution to the crisis in the state chapters.

The planned masterstroke being reportedly fine-tuned by the embattled national leadership of the party is expected to harmonise multiple ward executive lists, submitted or being paraded, in each of the state chapters, where factions held parallel exercise.

While the appeal committees would still listen to aggrieved caucuses within the party in state chapters, available insider information pointed at the committees already armed with a general mandate to accommodate all major tendencies in feuding state chapters.

Appeals committees’ final reports are expected to include recommendations for power sharing by feuding factions.

Sunday Tribune learnt a 60:40 ratio is on the card for consideration. The national leadership will either ratify or reject suggestions from the appeals panels. Factions favoured as the mainstream groups are expected to take the lion’s share, after the review of complaints from each state chapter. It was learnt that the party is working to delegitimise winner-takes-all approach for peace to reign in the conduct of the concluding part of the exercise.

While the proposition is said to have been mentioned to the national leader of the party, President Muhammadu Buhari, a source noted that nothing was conclusive, as the party waits on him for final approval.

Buhari returned to the country Friday night from medical tourism to London, where another national leader of the party, former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, is recuperating after an alleged knee operation. Political Action Committees (PACs) affiliated to the former governor have launched a nationwide campaign for him to succeed Buhari, who visited him in London on Thursday, before his departure the next day.

Lagos State, the political base of Tinubu, however, is one of the state chapters hardest hit by the intra-party crisis rocking the ruling party.

Coming off the ward congress, four factions emerged in the state with three submitting independent elected executive members’ lists. While Tinubu’s faction is holding on to the mainstream through the caretaker committee led by Mr Tunde Balogun, there is a major bloc within the party known as APC Democrats led by a former ally of Tinubu, Fouad Oki. Also in the loop is an emerging group known as Lagos4Lagos led by Mr Olajide Adediran, a gubernatorial aspirant for the 2023 election in the state.

He is said to be a protégé of another former governor of the state and allegedly being funded by a former governor of a neighbouring state. The agenda of his group is to ensure an indigene of the state succeeds Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu in 2023.

The fourth breakaway faction known as the Conscience group is led by Mr Moshood Salvador, a former state chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He defected to the ruling party, following a protracted leadership tussle in Lagos PDP, only to claim being sidelined by chieftains of the ruling party.

Apart from the Oki group, all others submitted results from their parallel congress to the party.

Feelers from the mainstream group, however, suggested total refusal of the proposition, with accompanying threat to quit the party, if the national leadership should go ahead with the plan. Oki’s faction is yet to make its position known officially as the group says it will approach the appeal panel next week with its case and congress result.

Apart from Lagos, the proposed political solution is also expected to encounter strong pushback in party chapters in Ogun, Rivers, Kwara, Osun, Delta, Akwa-Ibom, Zamfara, Anambra, among others.

In Ogun, former governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has refused to accept the political leadership of the governor, Mr Dapo Abiodun. While Amosun is favoured at the centre because of his strong affinity with Buhari, Abiodun enjoys the backing of Tinubu who shepherded him to the governorship seat, despite stiff opposition from then governor, Amosun.

Political watchers are certain Amosun won’t play second fiddle to Abiodun, despite the latter’s hold on the party in the state.

In Rivers, the two dominant figures in the state chapter of the party which is in opposition to the ruling PDP, Mr Magnus Abe and Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, have moved from being opponents to political enemies. All efforts at reconciliation have proved abortive. The congress has further widened the gulf, putting any political solution in jeopardy.

In Kwara, where APC is the ruling party, the governor, Mr Abdulraham Abdulrazaq and his erstwhile backer, Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, have parted ways, irreversibly, according to insider information.

Apart from holding parallel ward congress, supporters of the minister have begun mass movement into another political platform, possibly foreclosing any reconciliation effort. Apart from the public spat about campaign funds, amid allegations of corruption, one of the parties to the feud has reportedly vowed not to have anything to do with the other side.

In the 2023 governorship contest, a three-horse race is likely, with PDP and the breakaway faction giving Mr Abdulrazaq a run for his strategy. In Osun, the festering crisis between the governor, Mr Gboyega Oyetola and his predecessor-in-office, Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, isn’t showing any signal of slowing down.

As a member of the caretaker running the national office of the party, Oyetola is favoured against the minister and even if a rapprochement is worked out on 60:40 ratio, the amount of bad blood already generated by their disagreement may not be easily washed away by a political solution.

There are fears the minister’s group could play the spoiler when Oyetola is up for re-election next year.

In Delta State, where APC is in opposition to the ruling PDP, Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, has beaten his competitors like Minister of State for Labour, Mr Festus Keyamo, to the diadem, staying in strong control of the party amid his rumoured governorship interest in 2023. If he concedes to the political solution, he would be seen to be gracious unto others who lost out in a contest they claimed never took place.

Similar scenario is playing out in places like Anambra, where it is Andy Uba against Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, in Akwa-Ibom, where the caretaker secretary Mr Akpanudoedehe, is being heckled by other factions, the most outspoken, being the group loyal to former governor and Niger Delta minister, Godswill Akpabio.

Culled from the Tribune News Nigeria

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Books

The Color of Memory: A Rescue Mission in Print

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3 weeks ago

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April 7, 2026

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  • Book Title: Abiriba Calendar of Events: Past and Present.
  • Author: Dr. Nwojo Kalu Ugah and Prof. Igwe Ebe Udeh, PhD.
  • Publishers:  MIDIUN GROUP INC.
  • Reviewer: Emeaba Onuma Emeaba.
  • Pages: 129.

History is often a silent, monochromatic affair—a collection of graying facts relegated to the dusty corners of the academy. But every so often, a work arrives that refuses to let the past remain quiet. In their latest volume, Abiriba Calendar of Events: Past and Present, Dr. Nwojo Kalu Ugah and Prof. Igwe Ebe Udeh, PhD, do more than document a region; they stage a sensory intervention. Through a marriage of historical rigor and lively visual storytelling, the authors transform what might have been a static archive into a pulsing, audible record of the Abiriba people.

The importance of this intervention cannot be overstated. As a long-standing observer of the region’s social fabric, I find that this work stands as a thoughtful and valuable contribution to the documentation of Abiriba’s history, institutions, and cultural philosophy. It will serve both scholars and future generations as an important record of the distinctive republican heritage of the Abiriba people. It is a sentiment echoed throughout the three pages of glowing commendations that preface the text, where community titans and political leaders unite to praise a volume that has clearly become a communal milestone.

Dr. Ugah and Dr. Udeh’s most striking achievement is the “physicality” of the narrative. The book is heavily illustrated with archival photographs, many of which have been meticulously restored and brought into vivid color. By injecting color into the black-and-white silhouettes of the past, the authors collapse the distance between the contemporary reader and the historical subject. These images are literal and evidentiary; they do not merely “decorate” the text but are woven directly into the paragraphs. As the eye moves from a description of a festival to a photograph of dancers in mid-motion, the prose begins to hum.

However, the book’s unwavering devotion to preservation occasionally veers into the hagiographic. By focusing so intently on the “lively” and the “republican,” the authors sometimes sidestep the more uncomfortable frictions between these ancient rites and the complexities of the twenty-first century. One wishes for a more rigorous interrogation of how these traditions—some rooted in rigid social hierarchies or exclusionary practices—survive the scrutiny of a modern, globalized generation. At times, the narrative feels like a rescue mission so concerned with saving the artifacts that it forgets to ask whether the culture itself can sustain the weight of its own history without significant evolution. This idealistic lens, while beautiful, can occasionally obscure the very real internal conflicts that define a living, breathing community.

Despite this leaning toward the ideal, the book’s “sound” remains undeniable. The authors’ meticulous approach to sensory details suggests a profound sensitivity to the mechanics of cultural memory. By documenting the “snoring and bellowing” of the village drums—the ufĩẽ and the ikoro—with such granular detail, they transcend mere description. We see maidens of Am̃anta village daintily dressed for the Obina dance and Ukpo youths clothed in green ẹkọrọ weeds, and in doing so, we hear the pulse of the marketplace and the rhythm of the festival.

The volume’s sensory immersion is matched by its structural precision. Dr. Ugah and Dr. Udeh have included a comprehensive glossary of Abiriba terms, complete with English translations, ensuring that the “sound” of the culture is decoded for the uninitiated. This appendix is more than a utilitarian tool; it is a vital act of cultural rescue. By documenting the specific vocabulary of the month of Iri Am̃a or the legal principles of Onye Parị Ọba, the authors provide a permanent bridge between oral traditions and the written record.

In an era where history is often flattened by the passage of time, Dr. Ugah and Dr. Udeh have added depth and dimension back to the record. By the final page, the reader is left with the sense that they haven’t just read a history; they have witnessed a revival. They have ensured that, for the Abiriba people, the past will no longer be seen in shades of gray and will certainly no longer be silent.

_________

♦ Dr. Emeaba, the author of “A Dictionary of Literature,” writes dime novels in the style of the Onitsha Market Literature sub-genre.

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Africa

U.S. Signals More Strikes in Nigeria as Abuja Confirms Joint Military Campaign

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4 months ago

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December 27, 2025

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The United States has warned that further airstrikes against Islamic State targets in north-western Nigeria are imminent, as Nigerian officials confirmed that recent attacks were part of coordinated operations between both countries.

The warning came hours after U.S. forces struck militant camps in Sokoto State, an operation President Donald Trump publicly framed as a response to what he described as the killing of Christians in Nigeria. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes were only the beginning.

“The president was clear last month: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end,” Hegseth wrote on X. “The Pentagon is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight—on Christmas. More to come. Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation.”

Nigeria’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, confirmed on Friday that the strikes were carried out as part of “joint ongoing operations,” pushing back against earlier tensions sparked by Trump’s public criticism of Nigeria’s handling of insecurity.

The airstrikes followed a brief diplomatic rift after Trump accused Nigeria’s government of failing to protect Christians from militant violence. Nigerian officials responded by reiterating that extremist groups in the country target both Christians and Muslims, and that the conflict is driven by insurgency and criminality rather than religious persecution.

Speaking to Channels Television, Tuggar said Nigeria provided intelligence support for the strikes in Sokoto and described close coordination with Washington. He said he spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for nearly 20 minutes before briefing President Bola Tinubu and receiving approval to proceed, followed by another call with Rubio to finalize arrangements.

“We have been working closely with the Americans,” Tuggar said. “This is what we’ve always been hoping for—to work together to combat terrorism and stop the deaths of innocent Nigerians. It’s a collaborative effort.”

U.S. Africa Command later confirmed that the strikes were conducted in coordination with Nigerian authorities. An earlier statement, later removed, had suggested the operation was carried out at Nigeria’s request.

Trump, speaking in an interview with Politico, said the operation had originally been scheduled for Wednesday but was delayed at his instruction. “They were going to do it earlier,” he said. “And I said, ‘Nope, let’s give a Christmas present.’ They didn’t think that was coming, but we hit them hard. Every camp got decimated.”

Neither the U.S. nor Nigerian authorities have disclosed casualty figures or confirmed whether militants were killed. Tuggar, when asked whether additional strikes were planned, said only: “You can call it a new phase of an old conflict. For us, this is ongoing.”

Nigeria is officially a secular state, with a population split roughly between Muslims and Christians. While violence against Christian communities has drawn increasing attention from religious conservatives in the United States, Nigeria’s government maintains that extremist groups operate without regard to faith, attacking civilians across religious lines.

Trump’s public rhetoric contrasts with his 2024 campaign messaging, in which he cast himself as a “candidate of peace” who would pull the United States out of what he called endless foreign wars. Yet his second term has already seen expanded U.S. military action abroad, including strikes in Yemen, Iran, and Syria, as well as a significant military buildup in the Caribbean directed at Venezuela.

On the ground in Sokoto State, residents of Jabo village—near one of the strike sites—reported panic and confusion as missiles hit nearby areas. Local residents said no casualties had been recorded, but security forces quickly sealed off the area.

“As it approached our area, the heat became intense,” Abubakar Sani told the Associated Press. “The government should take appropriate measures to protect us. We have never experienced anything like this before.”

Another resident, farmer Sanusi Madabo, said the night sky glowed red for hours. “It was almost like daytime,” he said. “We only learned later that it was a U.S. airstrike.”

For now, both Washington and Abuja are projecting unity. Whether the strikes mark a sustained shift in strategy—or another brief escalation in a long war—remains unclear.

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Africa

Nigeria–Burkina Faso Rift: Military Power, Mistrust, and a Region Out of Balance

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4 months ago

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December 14, 2025

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The brief detention of a Nigerian Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft and its crew in Burkina Faso may have ended quietly, but it exposed a deeper rift shaped by mistrust, insecurity, and uneven military power in West Africa. What was officially a technical emergency landing quickly became a diplomatic and security flashpoint, reflecting not hostility between equals, but anxiety between unequally matched states navigating very different political realities.

On December 8, 2025, the Nigerian Air Force transport aircraft made an unscheduled landing in Bobo-Dioulasso while en route to Portugal. Nigerian authorities described the stop as a precautionary response to a technical fault—standard procedure under international aviation and military safety protocols. Burkina Faso acknowledged the emergency landing but emphasized that the aircraft had violated its airspace, prompting the temporary detention of 11 Nigerian personnel while investigations and repairs were conducted. Within days, the crew and aircraft were released, underscoring a professional, if tense, resolution.

Yet the symbolism mattered. In a Sahel region gripped by coups, insurgencies, and fragile legitimacy, airspace is not merely technical—it is political. Burkina Faso’s reaction reflected a state on edge, hyper-vigilant about sovereignty amid persistent internal threats. Nigeria’s response, measured and restrained, reflected confidence rooted in capacity.

The military imbalance between the two countries is stark. Nigeria fields one of Africa’s most formidable armed forces, with a tri-service structure that includes a large, well-equipped air force, a dominant regional navy, and a sizable army capable of sustained operations. The Nigerian Air Force operates fighter jets such as the JF-17 and F-7Ni, as well as A-29 Super Tucanos for counterinsurgency operations, heavy transport aircraft like the C-130, and an extensive helicopter fleet. This force is designed not only for internal security but for regional power projection and multinational operations.

Burkina Faso’s military, by contrast, is compact and narrowly focused. Its air arm relies on a limited number of light attack aircraft, including Super Tucanos, and a small helicopter fleet primarily dedicated to internal counterinsurgency. There is no navy, no strategic airlift capacity comparable to Nigeria’s, and limited logistical depth. The Burkinabè military is stretched thin, fighting multiple insurgent groups while also managing the political consequences of repeated military takeovers.

This imbalance shapes behavior. Nigeria’s military posture is institutional, outward-looking, and anchored in regional frameworks such as ECOWAS. Burkina Faso’s posture is defensive, reactive, and inward-facing. Where Nigeria seeks stability through deterrence and cooperation, Burkina Faso seeks survival amid constant internal pressure. That difference explains why a technical landing could be perceived as a “serious security breach” rather than a routine aviation incident.

The incident also illuminates why Burkina Faso continues to struggle to regain political balance. Repeated coups have eroded civilian institutions, fractured command structures, and blurred the line between governance and militarization. The armed forces are not just security actors; they are political stakeholders. This creates a cycle where insecurity justifies military rule, and military rule deepens insecurity by weakening democratic legitimacy and regional trust.

Nigeria, despite its own security challenges, has managed to avoid this spiral. Civilian control of the military remains intact, democratic transitions—however imperfect—continue, and its armed forces operate within a clearer constitutional framework. This stability enhances Nigeria’s regional credibility and amplifies its military superiority beyond hardware alone.

The C-130 episode did not escalate into confrontation precisely because of this asymmetry. Burkina Faso could assert sovereignty, but not sustain defiance. Nigeria could have asserted its capability, but chose restraint. In the end, professionalism prevailed.

Still, the rift lingers. It is not about one aircraft or one landing, but about two countries moving in different strategic directions. Nigeria stands as a regional anchor with superior military power and institutional depth. Burkina Faso remains a state searching for equilibrium—politically fragile, militarily constrained, and acutely sensitive to every perceived threat from the skies above.

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