APC Power Tussle: How Abdullahi Adamu And Omisore Lost It To Tinubu’s Loyalists

After weeks of intrigues in the six weeks of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, Abdullahi Adamu resigned as the national chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), and Senator Iyiola Omisore stepped down as the secretary of the party.

The APC which was formed ahead of the 2015 general elections with the fusion of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), led by Tinubu, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), led by former president Muhammadu Buhari, and a group of aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members, known at the time as the nPDP, has been in power at the federal level since 2015 and have changed party leadership more frequently than expected.

But the recent change of leadership in the party is said to be an outcome of some internal politics played against Tinubu ahead of the 2023 presidential election. Reports claimed that both Abdullahi Adamu and Iyiola Omisore who are said not to be in the good books of President Tinubu were forced to accept the “advice to re-sign” in line with the desires of the “people at the top”.

Reports also claimed that the president of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) and governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma led the delegation that urged Adamu to give up his chairmanship position.

As expected, both Abdullahi Adamu and Omisore had to bow to pressure last weekend in what most political analysts described as a “civilian coup”. This alleged coup will reportedly launch in the set of people referred to as “the APC’s liberal wing” to take charge of the party for the betterment of President Tinubu’s reign.

Abdullahi Adamu Enjoys Shortest Reign As APC Chairman

Abdullahi Adamu will be remembered as the APC chairman who took office 15 months ago and kept it for the least amount of time. Pa Bisi Akande served as the APC’s interim national chairman for a year after he was appointed, not elected, immediately after the party was formed.

However, Adamu’s time was shorter than the two years enjoyed by Mai Mala Buni, the governor of Borno State, who, like Akande, served in an acting capacity. Two additional elected chairmen, John Odigie Oyegun and Adams Oshiohmole, finished their four-year terms.

The Guardian claimed that the plot to unseat Abdullahi Adamu began as soon as the party’s national leader, Tinubu, won the presidential election on February 25 because of the “anti-progressive tendencies, which Adamu represents in the party,” and his inability to acknowledge the new political reality after the emergence of Tinubu.

“You know the party was formed by both progressives and conservative politicians with the purpose to end the PDP years of misrule. And you know that the conservatives have been heading the party apart from the period when the former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole was the chairman”, a founding member of the party told the Guardian.

“I can assure you that you will soon see new leadership of the party that shares the same political ideology of progressivism with the President. Nigerians know that Adamu cannot work with Tinubu and Omisore, who was expected to represent the Progressives camp but the party executive did not perform as expected.”

Abubakar Kyari is now in charge

Abdullahi Adamu and Omisore resigned from the APC on Monday, July 18, and the party’s Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Abubakar Kyari, filled the chairmanship position in an acting capacity.

After the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Abuja on Monday, Kyari told reporters that his decision to serve as national chairman was made in conformity with the party’s charter.

He disclosed that Festus Fuanter, the party’s deputy national secretary, had assumed Omisore’s duties until the party can elect new executives.

He said: “With these recent developments in the change of leadership, I would like to inform everybody here that the proposed National Caucus meeting slated for Tuesday, 18th of July, and the National Executive Committee meeting of the APC slated for Wednesday night are hereby postponed. This postponement will not be indefinite but a new date will be communicated shortly.”

He added: “At this point, the individuals have resigned voluntarily and that is what is available at this moment. Reasons for resignations will be made to you shortly.”

Kyari added that the caucus and National Executive Council (NEC) meetings that were initially scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday had been postponed indefinitely and that a new date for the meeting would be announced in due time.

Additionally, he disputed claims that the party had requested that Adamu’s alleged misappropriation of more than N80 billion from the party’s funds during the preceding year be investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Kyari declined to comment on the specifics of Adamu’s abrupt resignation, instead declaring that the NWC would start a new chapter by managing the party by accepted standards and guidelines.

Adamu’s removal was sacrosanct

Party insiders claim that if Abdullahi Adamu and Omisore had ignored the “advice to resign,” the NEC, which Tinubu will preside over on Wednesday, would have removed them from their positions, as a result of a vote of no confidence by NWC members on Monday afternoon.

Both Tinubu and Adamu have been engaged in a cold conflict ever since Adamu, a former governor of Nasarawa State, was elected as the party’s chairman in March 2022.

The final straw, according to insiders, was Adamu’s failure to account for the N32 billion the party raised through the sale of nomination forms for the 2023 general elections.

“Only N7 billion is left in the account as we speak. Adamu and Omisore claimed the account has been audited, but we are not aware of when the auditors were appointed. How can NWC not be aware of the appointment? It is part of our responsibilities to appoint auditors”, the Guardian quoted an NWC member.

Adamu was not a fan of Tinubu’s “emi l’okan” slogan

Some party members claim that Adamu’s dismissal was inevitable after he vowed to do everything it takes to stop Tinubu from running for president on the party’s platform.

Tinubu’s “emi l’okan” (“it’s my turn”) outburst infuriated Adamu, who pledged that the party would “discipline” him.

Adamu informed the NWC the week before the primary that Buhari’s top choice for president was Ahmad Lawan, who was then the Senate president. He received criticism for his choice from a variety of sources, but he stuck with his stance.

To offset Adamu’s shenanigans, President Buhari was persuaded to zone the presidency to the country’s southern region and toss open the contest for the presidency by the Governor Atiku Bagudu-led Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF).

Adamu is said to have asked the party’s state chapter leaders for help last week after becoming aware of an effort to have him ousted.

More sins of Abdullahi Adamu

Abdullahi Adamu’s dismissal seemed inevitable before the N32 billion scandal became tense. Party officials who remained loyal to the then outgoing president Buhari backed Adamu in opposition to Tinubu, who backed Tanko Al Makura, a candidate for national chairman and a former governor of Nasarawa State as well. This was viewed as the first attempt to prevent Tinubu from being the party’s presidential nominee.

For Tinubu to succeed Buhari, a gentleman’s agreement was made in 2015. However, Adamu passionately opposed the plan ahead of the APC presidential primary in June 2022, claiming he was being misled.

After the primaries were over, Adamu wrote a letter to Tinubu’s 422-member campaign council in which he expressed shock and sadness at the make-up of the list of nominees. He emphasized that the alleged list violated the principles and aims of the preparations that he and Tinubu had led towards the adoption of the organogram of the council and its top officials, as well as the fact that it completely caught the NWC and the party’s leadership off guard. This already shows antagonistic body language against the then-Candidate Tinubu.

Abdullahi Adamu’s failure to win over his territory, Nasarawa state, to the party, which was made worse by the fact that he also lost his senatorial district and polling unit in the general elections, further reduced what little influence he still had with the party.

The election of the National Assembly’s presiding and main officers brought up a new round of conflict between Tinubu and the presidency while he was in the driver’s seat.

An NWC member told the Guardian on Monday, “When the 10th National Assembly was about to be inaugurated, it was the APC leadership that was supposed to work behind the scenes for the leadership election. Adamu and Omisore were aloof. It was a known fact that Adamu was supporting Abdulaziz Yari. As if that was not enough, when the committee positions were announced, Adamu openly dissociated himself from the list. He had it coming.”

He added: “We are not expecting a caretaker committee and I did make the point that meetings are going on across all the caucuses of the party, the various leadership in the party. We know that our constitution has provided adequately, a transition process in the leadership of the party. It is also expected that the office of the secretary of the party will go across the other divide.

“We need a chairman on the same page with the President to deliver good governance to Nigerians. We can’t have a national chairman who is always antagonistic to our government. This is a structure put in place by the previous administration. We need a structure that understands our ideology and philosophy in place. We are not unhappy that Adamu had to quit the state now.”