The battle for the soul of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) between contending forces for the 2007 presidential race has inevitably ignited a crisis in the party
NOTHING Happened. ”This is perhaps the most remarkable quotation made thus far by the National Chairman of All Nigeria Peoples Party, Chief Don Obot Etiebet. He made the quotation in Abuja last Thursday at a press conference to counter moves by a potent section of the party to oust him from office. At the press conference, Etiebet told newsmen that the crisis, which had engulfed the party in the last months and over which suspension and counter-suspension actions were taken, had been resolved and that the party is now one unit, “stronger than before.”The statement of Etiebet could pass for a well written political ideology but in the face of what he has been telling Nigerians since he became the National Chairman of the party and especially since the conduct of the April 2003 elections in which his presidential candidate Major General Muhamadu Buhari (rtd) and many of his governorship candidates lost out, it was very clear that the statement will not stand the test of integrity and validity.
Etiebet and leading members of his National Working Committee had been trying to tell Nigerians that those of them in ANPP were better administrators in terms of transparency and accountability and efficiency than the politicians now in power on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). At every forum in the past Etiebet had always stressed that Nigerians could rely on the people in ANPP better than those in PDP. The confidence with which the national chairman of ANPP made the statements was buoyed by the large image of the party’s presidential candidate in the 2003 polls, a man large seen and reputed to be of high moral standing and financial accountability pedigree. However, events in the last
few months showed that ANPP itself might have been more deceitful than PDP if it had been voted into power in 2003.
Although the events de facto started with a publication in the Insider Magazine accusing the national chairman of the party of having been given a N300 million by the Presidency to undermine the potency of the ANPP as a virile opposition to the ruling PDP government, sources within ANPP revealed that at the base of the on-going crisis is the power play for the 2007 presidential race.
Power play
According to a top member of the party’s NEC, at the centre of the power play are the images of former military President, Ibrahim Babangida and Atiku Abubakar, the incumbent vice president, both of whom have their eyes on the 2007 Presidency. The source revealed that the allegation of N300 million against Etiebet was masterminded by those who want him out of the party before the next convention of the party in 2005. It was learnt that the national chairman had been particularly seen as opposed to the interest of the Sokoto State governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, who is believed to be eyeing the Presidency in 2007 and in case he could not make it, position the party for a possible base for the Babangida.
In order to block the perceived moves by Bafarawa group, the national chairman was said to have penciled down those he believed were in opposition to the group as members of the National Convention Committee.
At the head of the list is Kebbi State governor, Adamu Aleiro, who is said to be a staunch supporter of Atiku’s ambition. However before the necessary processes could be undertaken to announce the Aleiro Committee, moves and counter-moves were commenced to ensure that Etiebet got routed out of the party. Interestingly however while the IBB group were trying to get hold of the party, members of the group were also afraid that with the rising power of Etiebet as the national chairman of the party, the 2007 Presidential ticket of the party may be taken down South with growing clamor for South-South Presidency, a campaign in which the embattled ANPP chairman is a principal actor as well.
According to the sources, the Bafarawa group promptly plotted its graph and to them the first leg in the execution is removal of Etiebet. He was to be replaced by the Akwa Ibom State chairman of the party. As fate would have it for them, the 300 million Naira allegation came into the public glare. Although no one has formally fingered any group within the party as the master-minder of the allegation, it served a very good weapon for fighting the war on hand.
Promptly, however, the ANPP boss refuted the allegation. In a statement he issued in Abuja on June 25, he said, “I want to state herewith emphatically and conscientiously that on my honour as a Christian I swear by the Holy Bible that at no time have I, Don Etiebet, collected 300 million Naira from the Presidency, any organs or agency or persons acting on behalf of the Presidency either on behalf of my party, ANPP, for any purpose or on behalf of anybody or person or myself since I became the National Chairman of ANPP, till today as I am writing this press release.
“If it is a gimmick from the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Inter-Party Affairs, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and some other members of ANPP who are on suspension for anti-party activities, who I believe may have some bones to pick with me for their suspensions from ANPP, they better get their facts and proofs right and on hand as I am not going to allow this wild and malicious allegations against me to lie down.
I hereby challenge the office of Rochas Okorocha, the sources there, the PDP Federal Government, the Presidency and any organs or agency or persons acting on their behalf to immediately publish details and proofs of this payment to me forthwith and I stand to be prosecuted. Otherwise members of the decent society in Nigeria should rise up against this kind of falsehood in an attempt to smear my integrity and character.”
However, after the rebuttal, Etiebet, in an attempt to further demonstrate the falsity of the allegation filed a petition against the National Secretary of the party, Alhaji Sani El-Katuzu, accusing him of anti-party activity over the statement the latter made to the effect that he could not vouch for the integrity of the national chairman. The petition was looked into and by August 12, 2004 the National Working Committee of ANPP led by Etiebet sat and suspended the Secretary over the allegation. Apart from this, a probe panel led by the National Legal Adviser of the party, General Bashir Magashi, was set up to probe the secretary over an array of other allegations of financial mismanagement.
Announcing the decision of the NWC, the National Publicity Secretary, Mr Nnamdi Olebara, said thus “NWC has thoroughly investigated the story of 300 million Naira bribe allegation to our National Chairman, Chief Don Etiebet by the Presidency to all the All Nigeria Peoples Party as published by Insider Magazine and found the story as completely untrue, malicious, frivolous and sponsored by mischief makers. “The NWC condemns the ugly statement to the press by the National Secretary of the Party, Alh, Sani El-Katuzu, lending credence to the Insider Magazine unfounded publication.
“The NWC for the reasons of serious allegations bordering on credibility, misappropriations insubordination and incompetence, the National Secretary, Alh Sani El-Katuzu has been suspended from office and a panel of inquiry headed by Gen Bashir Magashi, National Legal Adviser set up to look into these allegations.”
The probe panel commenced the job given to it promptly and by the time it was rounding off, it had collected sufficient information indicting top members of the NWC and if the report should be allowed to be passed to the National Executive Committee of the party scheduled for Thursday, September 9, the NWC would have been as good as dissolved. The plot for the dissolution of the NWC commenced promptly when 28 state chairmen of the party met in Abuja a day to the scheduled date of the NEC and resolved that national chairman be suspended accordingly and in his place, the Deputy National Chairman (North) of the party, General Jerry Useni, was appointed as acting chairman.
Dictatorial tendencies
According to sources within the party, the 28 chairmen were irked by what they saw as the alleged dictatorial tendencies in the national chairman, whom was seen as the brain behind the August 13 dissolution of five state executive committees of the party, including that of Kano State. However, just as the chairmen were arriving Abuja for the meeting of September 8, a member of the NWC, Alhaji Mohammed Murtala, put up an allegation before the NWC against Bafarawa who was seen as the financier of the state chairmen and on the basis of the allegation, the governor’s suspension was announced in a late night statement.
The following day, the state chairmen announced the suspension of the national chairman himself. However having read the political barometer right like the late Chuba Okadigbo would say, the national chairman was said to have gone into a deal with some of the state governors of the party who are not on the side of Bafarawa and on the basis of the negotiation, a truce meeting was called by Yobe State governor, Buka Abba Ibrahim after which it was announced that the differen-ces leading to the various suspen-sion had been resolved .
According to sources in the party, the deal is to the effect that the probe report against El-Katuzu, a political follower of Yobe governor, would be quashed if the governors could side with him against the state chairmen so that he would not be removed as the national chairman. While the deal was being negotiated, NEC meeting scheduled for that day was postponed. Later, Etiebet told newsmen that “nothing happened in the recent weeks” when asked to comment on the status of the probe panel set up on El-Katuzu.
Alhough ANPP NWC members may have resolved in the
characteristic manner of resolving problems in the Nigerian political parties, the party should know that as an institution that is trying to re-orientate Nigerians on issues of transparency and accountability, the report of the probe panel set up on El-Katuzu allegations should be allowed to be submitted and deliberated on. How will Nigerians know that Etiebet and his team in ANPP are not sweeping things under the carpet so that the party could be positioned in such a way to take power sometime in future?
What is the essence of raising allegations and making them public when the report of the panel on the allegations would not be looked into? How can somebody of the high pedigree of Buhari continue to keep quiet in the face of the charade now going on in the party? How different are the ANPP people from the PDP’s on issues of transparency and accountability.
Unless these questions are answered, it would be difficult to see how Buhari could continue to remain in this party in view of the credibility he has built for himself. This is the age of reason. Etiebet cannot dismiss the allegations of accountability with a mere statement of “nothing happened.”
Nothing happened in the sense that the secretary never did what he was accused of? If yes, how did the allegations come up? And should the ANPP not apologise to the national secretary if indeed nothing happened? Should the party not stop making spurious allegations tantamount to blackmail, a punishable offence, if indeed it wants a new Nigeria? ANPP should save Nigerians from this impetuous actions.
