APC's problem here is an unprecedented phenomenon, a bug that hasn't caught just one governor but three, at least.

Like Amosun, Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, is also currently on the warpath with the APC leadership for his failure to install his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, as his successor. Nwosu is now contesting for the election on the platform of the Action Alliance(AA) with Okorocha's very public backing.

Zamfara State governor, Abdul'aziz Yari, also went on the warpath with the party's leadership for failing to recognise his choice of successor, a conflict that has led to the likelihood that the party might not even feature on the ballot in the state elections.

All three governors are contesting for Senatorial seats on the party's platform while also sabotaging it in very clear terms in the governorship category.

To a certain degree, Buhari's campaign rally in Imo State two weeks ago prepared the ground for the tragedy in Ogun State as the crowd also turned against the APC leadership and the party's governorship candidate.

The dreadful manner in which all the major actors in the party have managed the conflicts bedeviling it since last year has left a very sour taste in the mouth and continues to cast a huge shadow over the strength of internal politics in the country.

These governors have, to varying degrees, engaged in bold-faced anti-party activities that should have gotten them expelled with very little thought put into the decision to do so because they've made it so easy.

However, governors are important to winning elections in the country and one suspects the party is only hanging on to them, with their attendant shenanigans, simply because of the electoral value they bring to the table.

This might explain why President Buhari met with Amosun and Akinlade at the Presidential Villa last month because the APM endorsed him for the presidential election.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been consumed by his own re-election ambition that he thought it was a good idea to host an opposition governorship candidate, Akinlade (left), in the Presidential Villa while the Ogun State chapter of the APC was torn down the middle [Twitter/@BashirAhmaad]

The presidency was forced to issue a statement announcing that the president will support all APC candidates while also welcoming endorsements from others.

However, it should have been clear to the president and his handlers that meeting Akinlade was sending mixed signals and should have been avoided if smart heads prevailed in the room where that decision was made.

President Buhari has failed to show firm leadership to rein in the excesses of Amosun and Okorocha. Both governors were cunning enough to promise the president that despite the division in their states, he'll still get maximum support, even from the opposition parties where their stooges have fled to upset the party's candidates in both states.