The festering crisis within the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may have taken a new dimension as the G-5 governors who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last year are reportedly considering a possible return to their former party.

A cold war is currently rocking the APC over the composition of its National Executive Council and the 2015 presidential election.

A party source at the weekend told National Mirror that if the leadership crisis in the APC persisted for too long, some of the G-5 governors had been mulling the idea to open discussions with the leadership of the PDP to return before preparations for the 2015 elections kick off fully.

The G-5 governors – Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Abdulfattah Ahmed (Kwara) – had in November last year defected to the APC over irreconcilable differences with the leadership of the PDP and the Presidency.

But the source, a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC, who spoke with journalists, said the party was on the verge of losing its new allies.

He said: “We cannot say all is well because some persons are trying to run the APC the way they ran their former parties and this will not augur well for us because if we continue this way, our desire to get power from the PDP will only be a pipe dream.

“At least, we cannot say that the party has not benefitted anything from the governors who defected from the PDP; but as it is now, some of these governors, we learnt, are beginning to express disappointment about the state of affairs, especially the issue of national officers of the party.

“We even gathered that moves are on for some of them to re-trace their steps to the PDP; that will be disastrous for us in the APC because their return will only confirm that our crisis is irredeemable.

“It is our belief and hope that we are able to manage the seeming crisis of confidence and suspicion among our leaders, but a few of the leaders only want their wishes to be obeyed and nothing else; that will only kill the party.”

Asked whether the purported move by the governors was as a result of the issue of national chairmanship, the source said he was sure that it could be a reason, stressing that some other reasons might also be responsible.

“The issue of national chairmanship is the main issue that has almost torn the party apart, so they might be sensitive to same, but you should also know that in politics, there are interests to be protected.”

It was gathered that one of the APC governors in the South- South did not support the move by some leaders of the party to ‘dash’ the zone the office of national chairman.

According to findings, the governor prefers the South-East to produce the national chairman with the desire that he would be picked as running mate to the presidential candidate of the party.

For another governor from the North-West, his disappointment stems from the fact that he has been told to forget his 2015 presidential ambition for which he has commenced consultations soon after he joined the APC.

For over two weeks now, a cold war had been brewing among the APC leadership over the May 2014 national convention of the party.

While former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu prefers to retain Chief Bisi Akande as national chairman, others, led by Senator Ali Modu Sherif, are rooting for Tom Ikimi.

The Northern caucus of the party has already decided that the slot be zoned to the South-South. This may have been responsible for the alleged face-off between Tinubu and Sheriff at one of the party’s NEC meetings.

Meanwhile, former military administrator of Borno and Lagos states, Gen. Buba Marwa, yesterday got his supporters’ nod, after a town hall meeting in Yola, Adamawa State, to dump the APC for the ruling PDP.

The decision, according to a spokesman for Marwa, is to protest the handing over of the party structures in the state to Governor Nyako, who has allegedly refused to carry along other APC power blocks in the state.

•Adapted from a National Mirror report. Photo shows the G5 Governors.

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