A fresh power tussle is reportedly brewing in the All Progressives Congress, APC, over the Chairmanship of its Board of Trustees. The tussle, according to Punch, was between former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and a former Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande. The tussle is said to be part of moves by the power blocs in the APC to influence decisions in the party by taking control of its various organs. Two power blocs led by Atiku and a National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, have been engaged in a fierce battle to control the party. The two camps are said to be eyeing the BoT Chairmanship as they believe it would go a long way in assisting them to control the party.
The Chairman of the BOT, according to the APC constitution, shall be elected by the board members. Both camps are reported to have started reaching out to members of the board, who would elect the Chairman.
According to sources “Akande was being backed by Tinubu, who is not happy with Atiku’s role in the National Assembly leadership elections.
Investigations revealed that During the National Assembly leadership elections, Atiku allegedly backed Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, while Tinubu and the party’s National Working Committee were said to have backed Senator Ahmad Lawan and Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila for the senate presidency and the speakership. However, both candidates lost to Saraki and Dogara during the elections.
Following Saraki’s emergence as the senate president, the Atiku bloc would now be able to take control of the party’s National Executive Committee.
The Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives automatically become members of the party’s NEC.
Tinubu is in control of the party’s NWC as many of its members are said to be loyal to him. However, the contest for the control of the BOT is still open to the two camps. A close associate of Akande, Mr. Adelani Baderinwa, said that he was not aware that the former governor of Osun State was being nominated to be the Chairman of the BOT of the ruling party.
Baderinwa, who was the former chief press secretary of Akande when he was the governor, said, “Chief Bisi Akande is eminently qualified to be BOT chairman of the APC. He was a Chairman of the Alliance for Democracy; he was the Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria and was the Interim Chairman of the APC. “Before this, you will remember that he was a deputy governor and later he became the governor of Osun State. “ If you are talking about Nigeria, he knows Nigeria very well and his integrity is unquestionable and he is an experienced politician.” In addition, the Managing Director of the Atiku Media Office, Mr. Paul Ibe, said, he was not aware that the party had announced a vacancy for the position in question. He said, “Like I have said elsewhere before, we are not aware that the APC has thrown open the race for the chairmanship of the party’s BoT. “But if in the wisdom of the party, it elects to appoint Abubakar as the Chairman of its BoT, the Turaki Adamawa will be amenable and well-disposed to it because he is eminently qualified to offer his services to the party at that level.”
Source: Today news
