The Squabble Over Abia APC Leadership Position: Who Should Tinubu Entrust As Field Marshal For 2027?
The lingering, open-secret leadership tussle within the All Progressives Congress (APC) came to the fore yesterday following two contrasting Facebook posts by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, representing Abia North, and Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and erstwhile political godson of the senator.
Senator Kalu’s post, affirming that President Bola Tinubu has given him the marching order to coordinate APC activities in the state ahead of the 2027 elections, on the premise that he is a two-term former governor and a ranking senator, was swiftly countered by Deputy Speaker Kalu, who, on his part, said the President entrusted him with the same assignment, since the party has no sitting governor in the state and he is the highest-ranking public office holder of the party from the state.
Much has been made for the Deputy Speaker on social media by his supporters and followers, and perceptibly by the Abia APC’s State Working Committee (SWC), as to how he is the leader of the party, owing to his position in the protocol hierarchy.
Well, beyond the cases they have made, one thing is certain: Tinubu is a smart and strategic politician of the old stock who does not base his political game plans on social media noise. Directly or by proxy, he understands the political and electoral capacity of the two personalities, both in their past, present, and potential future.
The hierarchy of protocol is not the sole factor for someone to assume the leadership of a party. This is what Tinubu himself, as a two-term former governor, knows too well. After all, during the Buhari administration, when his two godsons were the Vice President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, he, without occupying any public office, remained the APC national leader, especially in his home state of Lagos.
At no point did the godsons challenge that order nor try to usurp his recognition in that regard. Why? They understood, perhaps instinctively, that “a kingmaker does not wear the crown, yet he commands the crown.”
In the case of Abia, if the Deputy Speaker does not understand the above proverbial saying, Tinubu, being a Yoruba man, certainly does. This was evident when, while brokering peace between former Governor Nyesom Wike and his successor, Sim Fubara, he frowned at the latter declaring himself the political leader of Rivers State. To his displeasure, he reportedly asked Fubara, “can Sanwo-Olu say he’s my leader in Lagos State just because he’s the sitting Governor?”
As one who has been in the game for a long time, the President, by experience, also knows that in politics, just like in sports, form is temporary, class is permanent. The class of Senator Kalu and the Deputy Speaker are worlds apart; so are their influence and political structures.
The structures personally funded by Senator Kalu have, historically, produced three former governors in the South-East, two in Abia State and one in Imo State, as well as numerous state and federal lawmakers, including the Deputy Speaker himself. I stand to be corrected, but no other structure belonging to any politician of South-East extraction can boast of such a feat.
Today, those structures, the OUK Movement and the Reality Organisation, are among the oldest political networks in Abia State, with an overwhelming grassroots presence across all 17 local government areas. As a matter of fact, those structures are believed to be more properly constituted than the APC itself in the state.
The same cannot be said of the Deputy Speaker, whose only structure, until less than a year ago, was largely confined to Bende Local Government Area, the federal constituency he represents.
Ultimately, whether these dynamics will influence Tinubu’s final decision remains to be seen. But in a contest where influence, structure, and political capital intersect, the outcome may depend less on titles and more on enduring political weight./IK Ogbonna
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