Relatively new on the nation’s political landscape, the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC has been in the eye of the storm in recent weeks. In this report, Gabriel EWEPU, examines the issues of contention amongst members of the party.
The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) is barely two years into the Nigerian political arena after it was registered by the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) in 2009. Within this short period, the party has been able to register its presence as one of the strong emerging forces in the opposition.
It started by tackling the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the presidential tribunals, when General Muhammadu Buhari became its presidential candidate at the 2011 presidential poll, and ended up at the Supreme Court, where the pendulum swung against the party.
At the states, the party was able to win some of the elections, and also the electoral petitions at the tribunals and appeal courts as the judges nullified some of the 2011 state, national and governorship elections conducted by INEC in their favour.
However, recent happens within the party, are pointers to the fact that it is not well with the party. There is a rapid upturn of events inimical to its tender and emerging frontiers, which also could negatively affect the political adventures, gains and advances it has made since it came on board.?
Political analysts see the unfolding scenario as a negative development that will effectively affect the apparent formidable blocs it is erecting to fence out the ruling party come 2015 general elections.
The party has so far taken some disciplinary actions against those members it considers as saboteurs intent on a negative re-write of? the progress connoted in the party name.
In December 2010, Senator Ahmed Stores was expelled from the party for sabotaging its bright fortunes in Kastina State during the April 2011 governorship elections, while Mr. Emeka Okafor was axed for alleged financial misappropriation and anti -paty activities by appearing in a televised programme of the PDP.
The party also alleged that it placed Mr. Dennis Aghanya on indefinite suspension due to his unholy alliance with the PDP in Enugu State in November 2010.
Alhaji Shehu Barau Ningi’s expulsion from the party for insubordination to the leadership of the party in Bauchi State was stamped in April 2012, after reviewing his suspension in February 2012. Another member, Mohammed Lawal El-Yakub,was also sent packing from the party.
Today, the CPC seems to be distracted with some emerging factional elements that are seen to be hired mercenaries of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), They are referred to as a renegade group which the PDP is allegedly? using to cause disaffection and confusion in the party.
Although the CPC has strived to portray itself as a party without any dent and free of some of the issues that have plagued the polity in the past, it begun to allow the washing of its dirty linens outside as some factions are emerging with issues that are revealing and threatening the nature of internal democracy that is practised in the party.
The party said that the leader of this reneged group has been the pro-tem chairman of the party, Sen. Rufa’i Hanga, who have also threatened several times to eject the party from his building which accommodates its national secretariat.
The party has alleged that the actions of Sen. Hanga are as a result of him loosing the party primaries in his state, Kano overwhich he has been aggrieved with the party since then, and has also allowed himself to be used by the PDP to eject the party from his house.
The Sen. Rufa’I Hanga’s challenge of ejection the party from the property obviously has ruffled some feathers in the party. The questions agitating the minds of most observers of the trend include; what the nature of the pact or rental agreement signed between the leadership of the party with Sen. Hanga was before releasing his apartment for the party’s national secretariat, or if it was a condition Sen. Hanga gave before he became the pro-tem chairman of the party, or if the party failed to fulfill its part of the deal which the party does not want Nigerians to know about, or that the PDP is the main engineering force behind the dirty in-fighting in the CPC fold?
But Sen. Hanga has since come up to say he was no longer going to eject the party from his building because of the party’s supporters and leader of the party, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. It is an indication that Sen. Hanga is capitalising on something yet to be revealed, and which both parties are not ready to open up on.
With barely two years in the political arena, the party is having factions who are accusing the party leadership of being unfair to those of them regarded as foundation members of the party, in addition to painting the party leadership as being incompetent and non performing.
Pro tem chairmen of the state chapters of the party had at a press conference held in Abuja announced the expulsion of the national chairman, Prince Tony Momoh and the national secretary, Engr. Buba Galadima over alleged inexperience, high handedness and corruption, and also dissolved the national executive committee as well as expelled former board of trustees members, Sule Yahaya Hamma and Alhaji Mustapha Salihu.
The statement was jointly signed by 31 members and presented to journalists by the Enugu state chapter chairman of the party, Barrister Emeka Okafor. The chairmen accused the Momoh-led exco of being responsible for the party’s poor outing in the 2011 elections. They claimed that party leader, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari would be happy with the decision to oust the national leaders.
“A vote of total loss of confidence in the management committee and the National Executive Committee of the party is hereby unanimously passed on them. Gen. Buhari will have a sound sleep today, they have carpeted him, regionalised the party and created a gap between Gen. Buhari and the people”, Okafor said.
He accused Galadima of sabotaging the party’s effort to unseat the PDP. “Galadima will speak on behalf of the CPC during the day on the BBC and other media and later go to Aso Rock Villa in the evening. He was at Aso Rock even on the presidential election day,” Okafor said.
Asked about the legality of their action, Okafor said that the same committee in January 2010 elected the NEC, and it has two-thirds majority to legitimise its actions.
He said all party members previously suspended or expelled have been pardoned and recalled into the party, while announcing the dissolution of all caretaker committees appointed by Galadima in some states. But Okafor said the Nasir el-Rufai-led renewal committee should proceed with its job and move fast in holding alliance/merger talks with other opposition parties.
In a swift reaction, the party conveyed a press conference to clear the gathering storm, at the party’s national headquarters. At the press conference organised by the party, the national publicity secretary, Engr. Rotimi Fashakin said that the Sen. Hanga-led renegade group can neither disband the national executive committee nor suspend any principal office. He also declared that they cannot be recognised since they were already expelled from the party.
Also at the recent press briefing of the party at its national headquarters, the leader of the party, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari said that the National Executive Committee (NEC) cannot be dissolved by any group under any name or guise because the NEC of the party was elected according to constitutional provisions, and can only be removed after following due process as provided by INEC.
As the running battle continues in the CPC household, the dissident group is flexing its muscle to show supremacy and superiority of who are the real CPC and the counterfeit, based on their perception of injustice and bias that were meted out to them.
The group did not stop at the point of organising a press conference, but went further to stamp their authority and relevance with over three truck loads of persons believed to be hired thugs stormed the party’s national headquarters in Abuja to stampede the NEC, principal officers and employees and occupy the national secretariat, but were waded off by heavily armed policemen, awhile someof them were arrested.
The exception of the Nasir el-Rufai-led renewal committee by the group from among the NEC of the party that was purportedly disbanded is another ball game in question. The disbanding of the NEC suppose to also affect those in this committee, but was rather urged to do its job and move fast in holding alliance/merger talks with other opposition parties.
Is Malam Nasir el-Rufa’i and his team in the group’s good books, what did the committee discuss with the group, and what assurances were they given by the committee for the group to act the way they did by trying to forcefully occupy the party’s national headquarters, or is there any secret talk going on somewhere that nobody knows about?
This splinter group seem formidable to forestall the plans of the CPC come 2015 general elections, and cannot be taken for granted. According to a source, they have gone ahead to get an accommodation for their national headquarters at the Arewa Suites in Abuja, not minding the actions of the party against them.
This was the way the CPC was born as a political party out of the ANPP and PDP in 2010. The speed at which this group is moving could suggest a move to be a registered political party some day before 2015, because the caliber of men within the group looks solid on the ground to be a threat to the CPC’s merger moves and other political ambitions as the 2015 elections close on fast.
From all indications, the crack this splinter group is trying to cause in the CPC is to frustrate the dream of 2015, because they feel they have the wherewithal to give CPC a run for its money when the game is on.