APC: Why Adamu, Omisore Lost Out As Al-Makura, Kekemeke Emerge Favourites

The former national chairman, Adamu Abdullahi, and national secretary, Iyiola Omisore, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have been accused of personalising their positions and sidelining critical organs, particularly the National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC).

According to sources, the duo lost the power game in the ruling because of an indictment in the party’s audit report.

A source told The Nation that since Adamu and Omisore came into office in March 2022, they had become a source of division in the NEC and NWC.

Adamu has been accused of violating the constitution of the party, refusing to tender financial accounts, lack of budget for NEC approval, absence of women, youths, and persons with disability wing; refusing to set up committees on establishment, finance, inter-governmental, conflict and reconciliation, and refusing to review the last general election.

A source, who stated that Adamu has acted at “variance with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, APC governors, and members of the National Working Committee,” added that the former APC submitted an “untidy and suspicious” audit report.

Meanwhile, former Nasarawa State Governor Umar Tanko Almakura and the APC National Vice Chairman (Southwest), Isaacs Kekemeke, have emerged as favourites to become National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively.

While Al-Makura has been a party leader since 1979, when he was the youth leader of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Kekemeke was a grassroots party coordinator and a former chairman of APC in Ondo State.

A source said: “Sen. Adamu was never on the same page with President Tinubu. Apart from his often repeated remarks that Tinubu was not his preferred candidate for the presidency, there were some campaigns he didn’t participate in.

“Adamu’s leadership is seen as bellicose. An example of this is when he publicly disowned the list of principal officers of the National Assembly as announced by the presiding officers who consulted him.

“Adamu described the announcement of the list as a mere rumour, casting a slur on the process. He failed to upturn what the leadership of the lawmakers did.

“There have been unguarded statements by Adamu. Without any medical report, he declared an ailing Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu as incapacitated, which embarrassed many party leaders, members, and others.”

Adamu’s Cold War

Another source said Adamu was also in a cold war with some APC governors and members of the National Working Committee (NWC).

The source added: “Adamu’s conduct and utterances were at variance with President Tinubu, APC governors, and members of the National Working Committee.

“He has been presiding over a divided NWC because he took advantage of his age and past party and executive positions to ride roughshod members. He adopted an authoritarian style.

“No NWC member can offer alternative views, and he didn’t accord them their rights and privileges as equals in a working committee.

“When the tension was high, Adamu and NWC members reached a truce on May 3rd with a pledge to allow all the structures to function optimally.

“But by May 10th, the agreement was deadlocked. Since then, there has been no peace in the NWC.

“All NWC members were not in sync with Adamu, and it was not surprising that they ganged up against him.”

A member of the NWC said: “The financial outlook of APC is untidy. NWC members were not pleased with it.

“There are so many queries to be answered by the party’s leadership. And no leader, including President Tinubu, can gloss over the discrepancies in APC’s account.”

Asked why Omisore’s fate was tied to Adamu’s, the source told The Nation: “These leaders acted like Siamese twins on all issues, including the financial management of the party.”

Replacements

On Al-Makura as the next national chairman and Kekemeke as secretary, a former governor said: “APC governors and party leaders have been meeting on who should lead the party. The permutations so far have been in favour of the national chairman returning to Nasarawa State, with ex-Governor Al-Makura highly favoured. We need to demonstrate that we have nothing against the people of Nasarawa.

“Some of our leaders have been pushing for the retention of the slot in the Southwest with Kekemeke as a favourite.”