APC convention: Southwest settles for Kekemeke, Omisore

Six days to the All Progressives Congress (APC) convention, there is no consensus yet on who will be the national chairman.

President Muhammadu Buhari is believed to be supporting Senator Abdullahi Adamu, but other aspirants have obtained forms and are campaigning.

The Southwest geo-political zone has shared out the position allocated to it.

The region has nominated Mr. Isaac Kekemeke (Ondo State) as its candidate for National Vice Chairman (Southwest) and Senator Iyiola Omisore (Osun) as National Secretary.

Kekemeke is a former Secretary to the Ondo State government and one-time Attorney-General.

Omisore was a two-time senator.

Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who is the coordinator of the Southwest Governors Forum, announced the nominations yesterday.

He, however, warned against any plot by external forces to truncate the declared interest of the zonal leaders and stakeholders.

He vowed that the zone would resist efforts to create division by attempting to impose aspirants for party offices.

Akeredolu explained that APC stakeholders in the Southwest micro-zoned the positions that were brought to the region.

Speaking through his Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, Akeredolu said Kekemeke’s aspiration was not just an Ondo project, but a Southwest project.

He said: “He has paid his dues and that is exactly what Mr. Governor has rallied his colleagues to reciprocate.

“Those who are peddling other stories such as national secretary outside Oyo and Osun axis are instruments in the hands of external forces desirous to create division among leaders in the Southwest to impose persons on the party.

“For emphasis, what we are going for is national vice chairman with Kekemeke as our candidate and not the national secretary. Those outside the Southwest, who are attempting to micro-zone our offices for us in Southwest are only creating unnecessary confusion and any such of their permutations outside the decision of stakeholders in the Southwest should be ignored.”

There was suspense yesterday, following the failure of the screening committee to commence its assignment. The committee is headed by Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari.

The screening, which was billed to have taken place at the weekend at the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja, was cancelled without any communication from the party.

It was learnt that some committee members and aspirants that showed up at the screening had to leave when no information was forthcoming.

It was, however, gathered that the delay in carrying out the screening was informed by the late submission of nomination forms by some aspirants.

A source attributed the none take-off of the screening to moves by some blocs in the party pushing for the harmonisation of the two sub-committees constituted by Chairman Mai Mala Buni, and the one inaugurated by former acting chairman Governor Abubakar Sani Bello.

The Buni committee had Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazak as chairman while the committee inaugurated by Bello is chaired by Masari.

It was further gathered that the harmonisation is billed to be carried out today to enable the committee to swing to action by tomorrow.

But, another source said Masari has divided his committee into six subunits, with each of the units handling screening at each geo-political zone.

The source said: “Each of the six will be sub-divided again into three. With Unit A handling the screening of National Working Committee (NWC) aspirants, Unit B will handle Non-NWC offices.

“Unit C will handle zonal positions so that they can finish their job in one day and present their report to the Appeal Committee.”

APC governors are still divided over the choice of chairman as of yesterday.

The governors were also not at ease over the emergence of a list of some preferred candidates by Buhari.

They have split into caucuses to come up with a Unity List for a second look by Buhari.

The governors may, however, meet with the President during the week on the matter.

Issues generating tension are as follows:

*Whether or not to adopt consensus or open race for the national chairman

*Opposition to the imposition of candidates.

* Rejection of tinkering with micro-zoning at the last minute.

*Need for the President to respect the inputs of the governors.

*Preparation of a Unity List by governors to present to Buhari

A source said: “Governors and party leaders have retired into caucuses on how to address some of these last-minute issues. The President prefers adoption of consensus for the offices; governors want outright open contest by aspirants

“For instance, it was learnt that the President was trying to build consensus around ex-Governor Abdullahi Adamu for the office of the national chairman. But the former governor does not enjoy the backing of most APC governors.

“Others in the list of favoured candidates are a former President of the Senate, Dr. Ken Nnamani (Deputy National Chairman, South); Farouk Adamu Aliyu (Northwest) for Deputy National Chairman (North); and Ifeolu Oyedele from Ondo State (National Secretary).