Anti-party godfatherism

In a display of crude godfatherism, Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha shamelessly supported the governorship candidates of political parties different from theirs in the March 9 governorship election. It remains to be seen how their disloyalty will benefit the candidates they backed.

Amosun and Okorocha of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had clearly carried godfatherism too far. It wasn’t surprising that their party decided to punish them. It was surprising that the party delayed the punishment till March 1 when its National Working Committee (NWC) suspended the governors “for anti-party activities.” In a statement, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, said the NWC “has also taken a decision to recommend the expulsion of the suspended individuals to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.”

The APC statement stated that “the NWC had earlier written to the suspended governors on their anti-party activities, and several other steps were taken to ensure they desist from taking actions that are inimical to the interests of our party and candidates. Notably, these individuals have not shown any remorse and actually stepped up their actions.”  The party accused the suspended governors of “serial anti-party activities,” and “noted how the suspended members have continued to campaign openly for other parties and candidates that are unknown to our great party. They have in fact constituted themselves as opposition to APC candidates in their respective states.”

At the APC presidential campaign rally in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on February 11, Amosun had openly opposed his party.  “You know what to do when it is March 2nd, but please honour me on February 16 and vote for our father, President Muhammadu Buhari,” he had said to his supporters, referring to the governorship election, which was moved to  March 9,  and the presidential election, which was moved to February 23.

Amosun refused to recognise Dapo Abiodun as the APC’s governorship candidate. Abiodun had defeated Amosun’s preference, Adekunle Akinlade, in the APC primary, leading to Akinlade’s exit from the party and his candidacy on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).

Curiously, Amosun, whose second term ends this year, defied his party by endorsing Akinlade for governor, but chose to run for senate on the APC platform. Interestingly, Amosun won the senate race. Amosun was free to support Akinlade, but it was absurd that he did so at the expense of Abiodun, his party’s candidate. No rationalisation can make this rational.

There were levels of drama at the January 29 APC presidential campaign rally at the Dan Anyiam Stadium in Owerri, the Imo State capital. The party’s chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, had presented the APC governorship candidate, saying, “Senator Hope Uzodinma will win and restore good governance in Imo. APC will win in Imo State.”

Remarkably, Okorocha’s son-in-law and Action Alliance (AA) governorship candidate, Uche Nwosu, was at the APC rally. Okorocha wants Nwosu to succeed him, and had said so loud and clear. Okorocha, who has also won a senate seat on the platform of APC, supported Muhammadu  Buhari for president and Nwosu for governor. Nwosu had defected to AA from APC after failing to get what he wanted.  The state chapter of AA had endorsed Buhari, and promised to secure one million votes for him in the presidential election.

Buhari obviously needed all the votes he could get. His re-election campaign was a serious matter and he meant business.  Perhaps this explains why he dramatically asked his party members to vote for a candidate of their choice in the Imo State governorship election, and not necessarily the APC governorship candidate.

A report of the APC rally said: “President Buhari, who broke his silence on the crisis rocking the party since the party’s governorship primaries, urged APC members to vote for any candidate of their choice across party lines irrespective of inter or intraparty squabbles.”

This means Buhari and Oshiomhole were not on the same page regarding who APC members should vote for in the Imo governorship poll. This also means Buhari and Okorocha may be on the same page concerning the governorship election. Obviously, Okorocha doesn’t want the APC governorship candidate to win.  He wants the AA governorship candidate to win. Though Buhari stopped short of endorsing another party’s governorship candidate, his non-partisanship was odd because he was expected to endorse his party’s governorship candidate. The rally was a partisan event. In partisan politics, there is no room for non-partisanship.

When Okorocha first publicly expressed his preference for Nwosu, who was the Chief of Staff, Government House, he had said:  ”Uche Nwosu is hardworking and never gets tired. He is a very humble young man. Not proud. Not arrogant. So, power won’t enter his head. In spite of the position he occupies you can’t see him quarreling with anybody or maltreating anybody. He does not segregate against anybody whether from Orlu or Owerri or Okigwe zone… I have checked him in and out; I have not found him wanting… The young man is a team player, who does not use his office to molest anybody. He has the qualities of a good leader.”

Okorocha added: “You see, you don’t hide a good product. And the joy of every leader is to have a worthy successor. You don’t mind political opportunists. We have done very well as a government and we should be concerned about what happens to the achievements after.”

Amosun and Okorocha have shown that they are birds of a feather when it comes to their thinking on succession. Believing they must pick their successors at any cost, they seem desperate to remain in power after their tenure.  It is contrived continuity.

If their governorship favourites win because of their support, it will be a Pyrrhic victory for the governors.  By their anti-party activities, Amosun and Okorocha showed an arrogant contempt for party supremacy. Their suspension and possible expulsion from the APC is bad for their image and good for party supremacy.

Having been elected to the senate, it is a cause for concern that these dishonourable politicians will sit in the Red Chamber pretending to be men of honour.