It appears that the ship of the All Progressives Congress may soon hit another iceberg, owing to the impending power struggle for the chairmanship of its Board of Trustees.
The fresh power tussle, according to Saturday Punch, is between former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar and a former Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande for the BoT Chairman position.
The report says that the power blocs of National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, have been for the past few months, battling to take control of the party.
While Tinubu is backing Akande, his trusted longstanding ally for the BoT Chairman, Atiku will be fielding himself as he believes he possesses the experience and influence to man the position.
It is believed that Tinubu may have been inclined to back Atiku, if he had not gone against him in supporting the political maneuvering of Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, to become Senate President and Speaker, respectively.
Tinubu is not happy with Atiku’s role in the National Assembly leadership elections, especially after the candidates of the party’s National Working Committee, Senator Ahmad Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila, both lost to Saraki and Dogara during the elections.
According to Article 13.2 of the APC constitution, the Chairman of the BOT shall be elected by the board members, and these members are said to have started getting entreaties from both power blocs.
Atiku Abubakar is a politician who ha friends across divides that is why the recent contest for the position of the office of the BOT, Chairman is a welcome development and as for me he is the best man for the job because he is not match Mr. Bisi Akande because Atiku has played a vital role in the emergence of PMB, in the last elections where he single handedly donated his media office to the campaigns despite his defeat in the Presidential primaries. As for me He remain the best man for the job.
Competition for positions in political parties is very healthy and normal. After all, politics is still about personal, group and national interests. Atiku certainly has better political sagacity to function as the party’s BOT chairman than Chief Akande. Akande was a great chairman, but if APC want to effectively match the fierce opposition ‘jabs’ expected from PDP, Atiku is the answer.