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Battle for
the Soul of AD
The Alliance
for Democracy (AD) is enmeshed in another intra party squabbles,
which has pitched Afenifere and other powerful forces loyal to against
each other in the run up to the 2007 presidential election,
writes TUNDE
ABATAN.
With just four
weeks to its third national convention since its inception four
years ago, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) is again threading a
familiar rancourus path. The struggle for the soul of the party
by factions loyal to Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural movement
and others championing the interests of former military president,
General Ibrahim Babangida and Vice President Atiku Abubakar is threatening
to put it asunder. . This is coming even as frantic efforts are
afoot to bring all its warring factions and cleavages in the party
together in order to reposition it for 2007 election.
The new crisis
was triggered off penultimate Friday by the Deputy National Publicity
Secretary, Reverend Manzo Abubakar, the National Legal Adviser,
Felix Ogbuagu and National Treasurer, Alhaji Rafiu Salawu. The trio
are kicking against the December 16 proposed national convention
of the party. According to them, the National Convention Committee
failed to submit the guidelines for the party’s National Executive
Council (NEC) for ratification. As a result, they are calling for
the dissolution of the committee and the constitution of another
one by the party. The curious aspect of is that both the party chairman.
Chief Michael Koleoso and his secretary were not present when the
decision was taken. But Reverend Tunji Adebiyi, the Assistant National
Publicity Secretary of the party for the South West is piqued by
the action.. He says the purported suspension of the convention
by the above officers is the handiwork of those aggrieved by the
recent NEC decision to zone the chairmanship of the party to the
South West. In an interview with The Gleaner news online, he says
the agitation, which is not new to party politics, should be ignored.
Interestingly, the trio are also close aides of the former National
Chairman of the AD, Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed, now a special adviser
to President Olusegun Obasanjo on private sector and manufacturing.
Although he left the party in controversial circumstances after
its defeat in the last elections, observers regard the actions of
the officers as an indication that the former chairman is still
very much interested in controlling the party.
This also means
in effect that the party may after all not be too far from an incipient
crisis. Others also point accusing fingers in the direction of the
Presidency which has often been accused of using the former chairman
to forment instability in the party so as to further weaken its
ability to stand up to the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
in the south west. But besides this emergent crisis, the AD is also
caught in the web of the attempt by both Chief Bisi Akande, former
governor of Osun state and Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, former
AD senate leader in the last regime, to grab the national chairmanship
of the party. Apart from coming from Osun state, both had in 1999,
contested primaries for the governorship ticket which Akande eventually
got after the latter had reportedly stepped down on the behest of
late Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige. Akinfenwa
has said he is not prepared to step down for Akande this time around.
As a result, both of them are now engaged in political criss-crossing
in the south-west and other parts of the country to solicit support
for their ambition to lead what they have separately described as
the new AD. However, sources reveal that both Akinfenwa and Akande
who have subtle backing of Afenifere, the dominant Yoruba political
group in the AD, may have problems with the youth in the party angling
for a generational shift of power in the party and the whole of
the south west.
Though both
of them claim to be poised to effect a repositioning of the party
for the task ahead, the youth according to a source want a new wine
in the new bottle of AD. How far they can go will be determined
in the next couple of weeks. Another potential flash point in the
party is the army of political jobbers courted by both President
Obasanjo and retired military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida. While Obasanjo
is counting on the support of the defeated AD men at the grassroots
in the six south west states to strengthen the PDP in the region,
IBB is also banking on his army of faithful supporters now lured
into PDP, to help defeat Vice- President Atiku Abubakar in the 2007
presidential primaries. With IBB now in the PDP, the coast is clear
for a straight fight between IBB and Atiku for the soul of the strengthened
PDP in the south-west. However, with the renewed support of Lagos
State Governor, Ahmed Bola Tinubu for the Atiku ticket in 2007,
the VP may eventually gain a foothold if Tinubu displays enough
courage and prove bookmakers right by joining the PDP to ensure
his senate bid. The move of the Lagos governor, who is also said
to be eyeing the VP ticket as an alternative if he eventually joins
the PDP or teams up with the latter to form a new political association,
may further divide the rank of the Lagos AD..
He would have
to upstage the popularity of the Lagos Afenifere staunchly led by
Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu as to the direction of the party. Observers
already see the AD as the decisive factor in who eventually picks
the presidency ticket in 2007. With the south-west out of the race,
the party will be up for grabs by internal and external predators.
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