Three weeks after the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, named Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, as Director General and Minister of State for Labour and Employment Festus Keyamo as the interim spokesperson for the Presidential Candidate’s Campaign Organisation, there are indications that crisis is brewing in the party over composition of the committee.

The development is coming few weeks to the commencement of nationwide campaigns by the political parties. At the time Adamu made the announcement to State House correspondents on August 5, he was accompanied by the presidential flag bearer and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

But a dependable source said major stakeholders in the camp of Adamu were kicking against their exclusion from the campaign committee as they alleged that it was dominated by loyalists of Tinubu who backed him during the presidential primary.

The allegation came just after rumour that there were plots to oust Adamu as national chairman before the general elections.

The source close to the party’s national chairman told Daily Sun that his loyalists are miffed by their non-inclusion as members of the campaign organisation.

It said members of Adamu camp believe their non-appointment into the campaign committee was deliberate and may not be unconnected to the seeming frosty relationship between Adamu and Tinubu’s camps during the presidential primary.

But Festus Keyamo has dismissed the claim, contending that the committee had not even been constituted. He described Tinubu as a unifier and assured that all interests within the party would have something on the table. Keyamo insisted that all stakeholders and members of the ruling party were behind the APC presidential candidate.

Though Adamu and Tinubu had since embraced themselves, inside sources say the process of healing the wounds of the presidential primary has not yielded the expected results. They say contrary to the notion that all is well with the party, its chances of winning the 2023 presidential election were being threatened by the simmering cold war between Adamu, and Tinubu.

Tinubu’s camp is said to be reluctant to integrate Adamu’s men into the presidential campaign programme because of the role he played in the selection of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, as the consensus presidential candidate of the party.

Our source warned that should the Tinubu camp continue to shun Adamu’s camp in the scheme of things ahead of the election, the party would be the biggest casualty.

He disclosed that it was the cold war between Adamu and Tinubu that has delayed the final composition and announcement of the National Campaign Council for the presidential election just he warned that if the situation continues, the party will pay for the consequences.

His words: “What I considered to be a hallmark of honour and credibility for a man of Adamu’s status is the fact that he is not denying endorsing Lawan or that he did not pronounce it to the NWC but the truth is that he did it under the instruction of Mr President.

“The leader of the party actually had preference for Lawan and he consulted and gave the chairman a clear message, who, in turn, passed it to the NWC on the eve of the primary. Recall that the governors visited the party secretariat and went with the NWC to Adamu’s house but the chairman refused to go with them to see Mr President because he felt he clearly heard directly from him on who to endorse as the consensus candidate.

“He even considered the NWC members as insubordinate and insisted that he can only change if he received a counter directive from Mr President. The reality on ground now is that he is feeling betrayed by the president to the extent that at the twilight of his life and career, he has been exposed in that manner.

“He felt pained that those who don’t understand politics will think that he acted alone. He has, however, accepted his fate because the power that brought him also used and abandoned him. His regret is that he availed himself to be used.”

He added, “his major concern is that the Tinubu camp still feels that he acted alone as if they don’t understand politics. They ought to know that the president made him to back a wrong horse without realising that the president does not have the will power to execute to logical conclusion what he instructed, which left him in a not too comfortable position. He gave him the impression that he can do and undo.

“To even think that Mr. President is considering supporting a northern ticket for PDP shows how sentimental he could be. Yes, it is incontrovertible that the president endorsed Lawan as APC candidate but if the Tinubu camp fails to understand and continues to sideline the APC chairman based on the attempt to execute the clear directive from Mr President during the primary, that will be the end of the party.

“Adamu could not have done that announcement without authorisation. When he gave him that instruction, he felt that Mr President must have carried out due diligence. And if Mr President was not behind the order, Adamu would have been fired the next day. Adamu is just a victim of presidential directive.” (Daily Sun)

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