CUPP or Not? KOWA Party Opts For Coalition After Stormy Session

At a make or mar meeting held on Saturday July 21 at its Abuja National Secretariat by the Party's National Executive Committee, state chairmen, the Party's aspirants for 2019 and other critical stakeholders of KOWA Party, it was decided that the Party should remain in the coalition of political Parties by a vote of 23 to 6.


A huge controversy had been generated within the Party  after its National Executive Council had committed the Party to the coalition by signing the MOU. The national secretary of the Party, Comrade Mark Adebayo had signed the MOU on behalf of the Party. This however did not go down well with some of the founding members and other stakeholders who insisted that the KOWA should pull out of the coalition because they believe that some of the Parties within the coalition, especially the PDP and R-APC are principally responsible for the mess in which the country has been pushed into and would taint the goodwill and positive public perception  and "the social capital" that the KOWA had  built over the years and that its founding ideology and principles would be compromised by a "PDP-driven coalition" and that wider consultations should have been made before the action was taken.


But in his presentation of the state of the Party, the Party's National Secretary maintained that the Party "did not join a coalition that PDP was part of or leading. Rather, it was PDP that joined a coalition that KOWA Party has been part of. It can now be debated be debated whether it is or no longer tenable for KOWA to remain in the coalition now that the PDP is part of of it".

Adebayo maintained that NEC did what was best for the Party in the circumstance and judging by the realities of the internal dynamics confronting the Party".

He further outlined the advantages accruable to the Party by remaining in the coalition.


After gruelling deliberations and arguments ,the Party's  national chairman, Saidu Bobboi, who presided over the meeting, put the matter to vote upon which all those physically  present and those who joined through conference call voted with 23 supporting the Party to remain in the coalition while 6 opposed it.


However, a five-member committee was constituted to engage the Party's founding members and other "critical stakeholders" who strongly oppose the Party being part of the  coalition and would want it withdraw immediately. The committee has less than one week to report back to the house.


In a telephone interview late yesterday, the Party's national secretary, Comrade Mark Adebayo, stated that "It remains a very difficult challenge for us as a NEC because there are those whose opinions as to how this Party should behave cannot be ignored no matter how few. When confronted by the ferocious opposition to the Party's joining the coalition by some critical stakeholders, the only option available to the NEC was to resolve it through a process of internal democracy by giving all shades of opinion an open expression and then take a decision on that basis, and that's what we did on Saturday. Some of those who had been vehemently opposed to the coalition eventually supported us on the basis of sound arguments pushed forward by the NEC.

 The unity of purpose by the NEC under the leadership of the national chairman, Saidu Bobboi, helped us to remain focused and eventually convinced some of those who had earlier opposed the coalition to change their minds. I was particularly in the eye of the storm being the one who signed the MOU on behalf of the Party and especially who many in the Party  look up to for direction and leadership having been responsible for steering the wheel of Party administration and policy execution for the past seven years. Actually, I have been mostly central to KOWA Party's survival till date after the major founders withdrew from the Party almost four years ago. That's a story for another day. It has been through uncommon ingenuity, ruggedness and iron determination that KOWA exists till date.

This remains an unfolding situation and we'll continue engaging all our critical stakeholders for consensus building. There are those you can't just ignore considering their status in the Party and the huge sacrifices they have committed to this Party. They remain quite relevant in how this Party should be managed and we will defer to them as much as possible. That's why we apologised to them when they raised serious objections". Adebayo submitted