By Emmanuel Ado
The “Sound of Music”, the very popular movie set in the 1940s, is a true story based on the life of Maria Augusta Kutschera, who, throughout the movie, would simply be called Maria. As the central character of the movie, Maria was a challenging problem to the superiors of the Salzburg convent because she had a talent that constantly got her into trouble. Maria is like Wilson Tagbo in the novel ‘One Week, One Trouble’ by Anezi Okoro, who, as the title, suggests, habitually got into trouble every week.
Maria of the ‘Sound of Music’ was such a reoccurring problem over her unpredictability. She was such that finding the ultimate solution became a compelling assignment for the nuns. Her superiors, already at their wits end, composed the famous song around how to solve a problem like Maria.
This brings me to the issue of Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State, which is giving Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), sleepless nights. This is primarily because Alia has the misguided belief that as an elected governor, he should be the leader of the party in the state and not Senator George Akume, the highly respected Secretary of Government of the Federation (SGF), whose overwhelming support catapulted Alia to the Government House in the first place.
The governor, upon assumption of office, had three strategic but needless objectives -wrest control of the party from Austin Agada, an Akume loyalist, based on the erroneous believe that it would guarantee him a second term ticket; defeat Becky Orpin, the party’s adopted candidate for House of Assembly Speakership, which he allegedly accomplished with the support of Gabriel Suswan; and finally to retire Akume and become the dominant political force in Benue state.
Alia’s insistence that he must be the leader of APC in Benue is largely responsible for the crisis facing the State Chapter of the party. Clearly, the governor’s position seems to be either he is named the “supreme leader” or the party which sponsored him would be history in the state. For Alia, whose stubbornness is legendary, the precedence of President Bola Tinubu being the undisputed leader of the party in Lagos State since 2007, when he handed over to Babatunde Fashola, and became the national leader of the party after the APC formed the national government in 2015 is hollow music in his ears.
But while Maria’s superiors at the convent in the ‘Sound of Music’ had no problem pushing the troublesome aspiring nun to work as a governess to Captain von Trapp, an Austrian naval captain with seven children, the APC is in a dilemma on how to solve the Alia question which, unfortunately, is becoming more complicated by the day. This s more so as the governor continues to insist that the resolution of the crisis, which in the first place was his creation, would be on his own terms.
Why is the APC scared of wielding the big stick despite Alia’s blunt refusal to obey very clear and unambiguous directives of its National Working Committee (NWC), which had affirmed Austin Agada as the chairman? Why has it turned a blind eye on Alia’s refusal to honour the ruling of a Benue State High Court presided over by Justice Maurice Ikpambese, which nullified the appointment of Benjamin Omakolo as acting Chairman and also vacated the order restraining Agada from parading himself, functioning and acting as the Chairman of the APC in the State? How come the Easter Monday reconciliation meeting brokered between the SGF and the governor by Prof. James Ayatse, the Tor Tiv and the Tiv Traditional Council is still without effect before Alia?
Observers of the development in Benue say that Governor Alia hasn’t disappointed analysts who predicted that the Gboko peace deal would collapse like a pack of cards because the governor didn’t get his way -the recognition of Omakolo as the chairman, which would have provided him the much needed comfort that his second term in 2027 is guaranteed. The other reason why the Easter Monday peace deal was doomed, even if Alia accepted Agada as chairman, is the growing anti-Akume forces around the governor who, it is said, fear that they might be sacrificed as part of the peace deal. Alia’s Chief of Staff, Paul Biam, who is known to be fiercely anti-Akume, is alleged to be among those that harbour such fears.
So, what are the options open to the APC to solve the problem that Governor Alia presents, which has made the APC look like a loose association without laws rather than a political party with a constitution? Why doesn’t the Ganduje-led NWC understand that it has a duty to decisively and urgently resolve the Alia problem? In the event the party is not aware of the specific provisions that Alia and his co-travellers have continued to breach with impunity, Ganduje need to refer to Article 21 on the Discipline of Party Members and specifically sub-sections i, iiii, vi, and xi, all of which Alia had breached, and continues to breach.
Without doubt, the challenges facing Nigeria’s politics is not limited to opening the democratic space, but the alarming lack of party discipline due to the unwillingness of elected party leaders to enforce the constitution of their various parties. As clearly shown, the APC constitution has adequate provisions to address the Alia challenge. So the only reason they have refused to act, might be that some members of the NWC are in bed with the governor because they have axes to grind with the SGF.
For instance, the provisions of the APC constitution on the handling of internal disagreements are clear. It provides that all internal crisis management mechanism must have been exhausted before any aggrieved member can seek redress in a court of law. However, Governor Alia, backed Omakolo, ignored the provision and has operated without consequences. He also continues to recognize Omakolo as the acting chairman despite a directive by the NWC to all parties to withdraw their court actions. This, party members say, can only be because of what in Nigerian parlance is said to “see finish”. This suggests that the APC NWC is responsible for Governor Alia’s effrontery.
The party can not appear helpless in enforcing the provisions of its own constitution because the more it procrastinates in taking action, the more emboldened Alia becomes. This may also affect other governors who may ignore the party when they fall out with the party’s constitution.
The question this raises is this: Is the APC afraid that if it metes out disciplinary action against Governor Alia that he might decamp to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)? It is an open secret in Benue that Alia allegedly plan to eventually decamp to either the Social Democratic Party (SDP) or Labour Party. This might explain his alleged determination to factionalize the party. Considering this fact, APC would be in its right to act fast. The danger is that the longer the party drags its feet, the more time Alia has to inflict damage on the party’s fabric. The Ganduje led NWC must know that it is creating a dangerous precedent that would hurt the party in the near future. He definitely knows that this crisis is not about the SGF.
APC must, as a matter of urgency, decisively wield the big stick in Benue and rein in Gov Alia and his co-travellers who have flagrantly continued to flout its constitution, in order to restore discipline in the party. APC must realize that internal democracy transcends the internal affairs of a political party, a point which the Supreme Court has continued to emphasize. The court has on several occasions made it clear that political parties must obey their own constitutions. Alia ought to be told, in unequivocal terms, that he is not above the party, which sponsored him to the office.
But would the governor, who had his faculty suspended by the Catholic Church that trained him for venturing out of his pastoral duties into politics, be persuaded by reason or should the APC, relying on this fact, serve him a cold breakfast? If the APC does, Alia would have made history as the first governor to be suspended by the church and by a political party, on account of his stubbornness. This is reason Alia should climb down from his high horse and embrace peace.
Ado is a public affairs commentator
