Aregbesola, Oyetola know fate Thursday , Lagos faction to sue convention committee Akintola battle for control of Oyo.
The executive committees approved for state chapters by the national caretaker committee led by Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni, have sparked a fresh crisis in the governing party.
The harmonised list for the state chapters is expected to be released this week, preparatory to the swearing-in of the new state helmsmen.
But a source close to the party’s national secretariat disclosed at the weekend that with the fresh crisis bound to be bigger in proportion than experienced in recent past, the release of the approved state chapters’ executives may be delayed till a few days to the convention.
Two senior operatives of the governing party said yesterday that the party is manifesting all symptoms of a post-convention explosion if the exercise scheduled to elected new national officers for the party will hold at all.
The fresh crisis is reportedly coming on the heels of accusations of lack of sincerity and objectivity on the part of the Buni leadership by factional elements in state chapters.
The two broad parameters allegedly adopted by the Buni leadership to govern the power-sharing deals among factions in the state chapters are said to be countenancing APC governors as leaders in their states and highest-ranking public office holder members as leaders in non-APC states.
While other tendencies are to be accommodated in the power-sharing deals, the two categories of leaders are tipped to be in control of party structures in their states as well as major and majority of state executive positions.
But the national secretariat of the party, which made the power-sharing rules, is being accused of bending them when and where it suits the purposes and interests of leading members of the Buni committee.
Abdullahi Adamu, chairman of APC peace committee and former Nassarawa governor, had set the tone for what to be expected in the state when he told Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu during his visit that there was no petition from aggrieved chieftains against the mainstream faction.
Oki disputed his claim, saying the alleged deliberate misrepresentation would only exacerbate the crisis in the state chapter.
Oki said the issues canvassed before the appeal committee would be tabled before a federal high court in days from now for judicial interpretation and pronouncement.
When reminded of the Supreme Court position that courts have no jurisdiction over internal affairs of political parties, he disclosed that his faction’s case is also predicated on another Supreme Court’s precedent where former Chief Justice of Nigeria, now late Aloysius Katsina-Alu, held that parties must respect their own rules.
The late jurist was quoted as saying, “you can’t flout your own law; you must respect your own law.” He added that it would be for the learned justices of the court to decide on which side of the two precedents, they want to stand.
The contentious Supreme Court’s majority position in Rotimi Akeredolu V Eyitayo Jegede, has however harvested four more judicial victories for the Buni leadership, in Akwa Ibom.
On Thursday, four suits that would have impacted on the legality of the Buni leadership of the party were dismissed at the preliminary stage on the basis of the apex court ruling that ousted jurisdiction on internal affairs of parties.
The wins brought to 13, judicial victories notched up by the controversial body since contentions began over its legality.
In Osun State, Governor Gboyega Oyetola, a member of the Buni committee and the assumptive leader of the party in the state, will have to wait till Thursday to know if the favourable arrangement of the party would hold sway for him.
A judicial pronouncement has been fixed for the day in a suit brought by the faction loyal to his predecessor-in-office and Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, seeking to be recognised as the lawful faction in the state.
An upbeat admirer of the former governor asked to watch out for a likely repeat of what happened in Kano, when the governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, judicially lost the control of party structure to a predecessor-in-office, Ibrahim Shekarau.
Days back, the minister openly identified with the faction opposed to Governor Oyetola.
It remains to be seen if the Buni committee will respect the court order, recognising Shekarau’s faction as the mainstream APC group in the state, considering the position of the national body that governors are state leaders. In Akwa Ibom State where six of the cases against the Buni leadership were filed, the accusation of infidelity to the arrangement recognising the highest-ranking office holder as the leader is raging.
While Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, is a former governor of the state and should assume the leadership of the state chapter as a non-APC state, the party’s national secretary is seen to be in firm control of the state structure.
Repeated protests rocked the state congresses which also witnessed parallel conducts by the factions. Altogether, the governing party is grappling with a crisis in about 23 states.
Similar scenario is also playing out in Anambra State where Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, a former governor of the state, is battling for control with a serving senator, Andy Uba.
Incidentally, both Ngige and Uba had their stay in office as governor, terminated by the judiciary.
In Oyo State, Senator Teslim Folarin and Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN, have emerged the frontrunners for the control of the party.
While Folarin is a former senate leader as a PDP chieftain, Akintola was briefly a deputy speaker of the state House of Assembly.
While a governor of a North-Central state is rooting for Folarin, Akintola is largely favoured by prominent stakeholders.
If the statutory arrangement is to be followed in the absence of former governor, late Adebayo Alao-Akala, Chief Iyiola Oladokun, a former deputy governor of the state and the current highest-ranking public office holder, should emerge APC leader in the state.
Next to Oladokun, in the statutory hierarchy is Chief Moses Alake Adeyemo, who was deputy to late governor, Isiaka Ajimobi. Oladokun was deputy between 1999 and 2003, to late governor, Alhaji Lam Adesina.
