Mass defection looms in APC as Buhari 'rejects' meeting Saraki, Kwankwaso, others

There are strong indications that President Muhammadu Buhari may not meet with members of new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) bloc within the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Governor Aminu Tambuwal, Senator Banabas Gemade, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwanwkwso, Senator Shehu Sani, Kawu Baraje and others are members the nPDP bloc which merged with the APC during the buildup to the 2015 general elections recently began nursing plans to dump the APC over alleged marginalization.

They also accused President Buhari of running a one-man show.

Tinubu to the rescue

President Buhari had appointed the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to reconcile all aggrieved members within the party.

Critics had described Tinubu’s appointment as overwhelming due to the fact that there are aggrieved APC members in almost all the states.

The parallel ward and state congresses were further proof that the Tinubu reconciliation committee may not have done so well in bringing members of the party together after years of bottled-up grievances.

Osinbajo’s intervention

The nPDP bloc had issued President Muhammadu Buhari a seven-day ultimatum to meet with them.

President Buhari was out of the country when the ultimatum elapsed.

However, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo met with members of the nPDP bloc at his Aguda House.

The group opted to meet with President Buhari to make their demands known directly to him.

Buhari cancels meeting with nPDP

But “President Buhari has declared that he will never sit down to discuss with aggrieved members of the nPDP bloc,” a top government official told Punch on Monday, June 18, 2018.

The source said Buhari had conveyed his position on the matter to state governors elected on the platform of the APC during a meeting he had with them recently.

The President was said to have insisted that state governors and the national leaders of the party should be able to resolve such issues.

He said the issue was a party matter and he was not ready to sit with any faction.

“It is a party matter. I am not ready to sit down with any faction. If they have problems, they should go to the party. I will not interfere.

“Governors as party leaders in the states should deal with all issues. Where there is a need, the party leadership can come in. I will not get involved,” Buhari was quoted to have told the APC governors.

He was, however, said to have agreed that the contact started by the Vice-President should continue.

The source also added that opinions were divided on the issue among the governors that attended the meeting.

“Some hard-line governors asked the President to ignore the nPDP members while the majority felt the party and the VP should continue to talk to them,” the source added.

ALSO READ: Here's why Saraki may leave APC

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, could not be reached on the telephone for comment as of the time of filing this report.

When contacted, an aide to Kwankwaso, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said his principal was out of the country and was not aware of the position taken by the President on the crisis.

“I think what you should do is to get the response from the Chairman of the nPDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje. My boss has travelled out of the country and I can’t say anything about it. He has not heard anything like that,” the aide said.

Some political analysts have said that the inability of the APC to resolve the crisis within the party may lead to more troubles during its national convention scheduled for Saturday, June 23, 2018, in Abuja.