It is a popular adage that “a house divided against itself
cannot stand”.
Reporting reaching us has it that the All Progressives
Congress, APC, national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has requested for the
resignation of the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun
with immediate effect.
Tinubu’s media office made the announcement on Sunday when
Oyegun was blamed for disrupting the peoples will in Ondo State by superseding
the choice of the appeal panel that requested a new governorship primary after
examinations that demonstrated that the delegate list used had been altered.
Michael Olusegun Abraham, a competitor for the governorship
ticket of the APC in Ondo State, had in an announcement at the weekend
communicated dissatisfaction at Oyegun over the continuous rise of a previous President
of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, as applicant.
Read below details of Tinubu’s statements:
“The APC, a party born of the quest for democratic good
governance, is under critical threat by those who managed to be in the party
but never of it. From the party’s inception, the principles of democratic
fairness and justice were to guide APC internal deliberations. Party founders
realized that only by intramural fair dealing could the party remain faithful
to the progressive ideals that we presented to the Nigerian electorate as our
governing creed. If the party could not justly govern itself, it would find it
difficult to establish and maintain just government throughout the nation.
“In essence, the party was the embodiment of a democratic
promise made between its members as well as a democratic vow made to the
public. Evidently, some errant members believe promises and vows are mere words
to be easily spoken and more easily broken. Chairman John Oyegun has breached
these good pledges in a most overt and brazen display. In doing so, Oyegun has
dealt a heavy blow to the very party he professes to lead. It is an awful
parent who suffocates his own child for the sake of a few naira. The party was
supposed to buttress APC members elected to government at all levels. Because
of Oyegun’s conduct of our affairs, the party is rapidly becoming an albatross
to those it was meant to help.
“Oyegun’s comportment regarding the Ondo State primary will
become the textbook definition of political treachery and malfeasance of the
basest order. In early September, the state primary was held. A purported
winner was named. Having faith in the ways of the party, Tinubu publicly
accepted what he assumed to be a verdict honestly derived. As a democrat, one
must face the possibility of defeat and accept such as outcome with as much
grace as one would embrace victory. One of the few bright spots during the
conduct of the primaries was Jigawa Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar.
He chaired the primary convention with decorum and impartiality. He was unaware
that a tampered list had been slipped into the process.
“Indeed within hours of the announcement, news began to
filter in that gravely disturbed me. Credible allegations of fraud troubled the
waters. The delegate list had been materially altered by someone in a strategic
position to so do. The names of over 150 valid delegates were excised to make
room for an equal number of impostors. This was not a clerical error. The
alteration was wilfully executed that the primary would be directed toward a
chosen end that bore nothing in common with the will of most state party
members. A cunning few had tried to deceive the many into believing they were
outnumbered. “A conspiracy to steal the Ondo primary had been uncovered.
“Fortunately, the grand deception afoot had been unable to
cover its tracks fast enough. Truth began to cry for justice. Several
candidates filed petitions contesting the result. The party established an
investigative board to review the evidence. In a two to one decision, the panel
found the delegate roster had suffered tampering. The panel recommended that a
new primary should be held using the valid delegate list. This recommendation
was tabled before the National Working Committee (NWC).
“After many hours of deliberations spanning several days, a
final vote was held by the NWC. Before hand, NWC members agreed that the
decision of the majority would become the stance of the party. Such is the way
of democracy. The NWC voted six against five to cancel the fraudulent results
and hold an honest primary. For a moment, it seemed the party would restore its
integrity by giving democracy a chance. However, those who sought to scam an
entire state would not let the vote of 11 people spoil their enterprise.
“After the NWC vote, a noticeably agitated Chairman Oyegun
proposed the NWC engage in prayer before concluding the meeting. Adhering to
this chairman’s request, NWC members began to pray. Seeing that the others had
taken his bait, Oyegun used the prayerful interlude to secretly excuse himself
from the meeting. Contravening the NWC decision and in violation of all rules
of fundamental decency, Oyegun decided to safeguard the fraud done in Ondo by
perpetrating a greater fraud. Oyegun arrogated to himself the right to submit the
name of Rotimi Akeredolu to INEC as the candidate of the party.
“Truth has finally come to light. There exists a regressive
element in the party that cares nothing for the progressive ideas upon which
this party was founded. They joined the APC because it was the best ride
available at the time. Now they want to guide the party into the ditch. They
want to turn the party into a soulless entity incapable of doing good, just
like they are. When such a person tastes power, they shed all good restraint.
They come to abuse the trust given them as if they are the owners of that trust
and not its mere custodians. These people did little to build the party but now
will do much to wreck it.
“Our party was to stand for change. Oyegun and his fellows
seem to be on a different wave length. They are the cohort of Unchange. The APC
wants to guide Nigeria into a better tomorrow. Oyegun and the cohort of
unchange want to pull Nigeria back into the past where rigging and vote
stealing were the old and new testaments of politics. They want the people to
think that there is no alternative to their reactionary system of skewed
politics and imperious government.
“Thus, they seek to turn the APC into a factory of the very
political malpractices the people soundly rejected in the past election. To
choke the APC in this manner is to kill the chance for progressive reform for
the foreseeable future. Much more than the Ondo primary is at stake. Oyegun has
revealed his team’s game plan: It is the destruction of progressive politics and
governance on behalf of the people.
“As party chairman, Oyegun was supposed to protect our
internal processes and be an impartial arbiter, a person in whom all had
confidence. Instead, he donned the garment of a confident man, duping the NWC,
the party, and INEC in one fell blow. He has robbed APC members in Ondo State
of the chance to pick in a fair manner who they believe is the best candidate.
“As such, he has broken faith with the party and probably
has broken a few laws. The consequences of what he has done are more expansive
than a man of his scope can fathom,” Tinubu said as he said that Oyegun must
have been under some major sinister influence as to allow what happened. “With
strong expectation, we await a response to Oyegun’s wrongdoing from those who
clamored so long and loudly about Tinubu’s alleged role in the Ondo primary.
“Leading into the primary, a prominent lawyer from Ondo
published lengthy missives alleging that Tinubu was a malicious hand intent on
rigging the primary. His letters spoke of his great love for democracy and justice.
Though Oyegun has assaulted democracy in a most public and vulgar way, this
lawyer’s prolific pen will remain stilled. He dare not publish a word about
this travesty. His silence will be sign for all who care to decipher its
meaning.
“The plan was to point the accusing finger at Tinubu. With
everyone focused on Tinubu, they would have distracted all attention from the
heist they had set in motion. As fate would have it, the trickery they hoped to
conduct in the shadows has come to light.
“Those who so actively attributed imaginary wrong to Tinubu
now stand dumb and mute in the face of confirmed impropriety. They remain
silent for reasons they cannot divulge. Oyegun and his ilk turn out to be
gangsters adorned in the tunic of party authority.
“Oyegun has engaged in the strange math where five is
greater than six. This smacks of how the PDP conducted its affairs and
orchestrated its own downfall. Tinubu disparaged such malpractice when it was
not in his party. Tinubu surely disowns it now that it has invaded the party he
helped bring to fruition.
“Tinubu has consciously refused to hold any official
position with the party to avoid the perception that he was trying to control
all and sundry. Tinubu has even kept his peace for some time despite many things
that happened within the party that were not quite right. He exercised this
forbearance because the party is young. A collective endeavor cannot avoid the
mistakes and errors of organizational newness and evolution.
“Yet, the wrongs Oyegun committed had nothing to do with
newness or the mistakes occasioned by the path of reform. His actions are in
the nature of the old wrongs that have afflicted our national politics much too
long. If Oyegun wants to walk backward into the past, he has every right to it.
However, he has no right to drag the party or any of us with him. Against our
choosing.
“The informal title of national leader of the party was
given to Tinubu at the onset which he accepted it as a sign from those who
wished to recognize my contributions to the party’s formation. It is an
honorific title which he has been proud to wear until today. I would rather not
have any title yet reside in a party that honors democracy than hold a title in
a party that says it honors me but that treats justice with indecency. I find
greater honour and comfort where democracy and fairness are found and
respected.
“Oyegun has done the irredeemable. His coup is an insult to
party and to patriot, to reason and to the reform agenda of this government. To
remain silent would be to admit the defeat of the reform and progressive change
many have labored to bring forth. While the forces resistant to change and
reform are strong, Tinubu dare not submit to them. Tinubu encourages all party
members not to submit to them. If we acquiesce in this wrong, the one greater
than this shall cascade upon us.
“Oyegun’s transgressions are a warning. He is but the
mercenary of forces that seek to return the nation to the old ways. If they get
away with this infraction, no telling what or whom they will undermine
tomorrow. Much is at stake. On the chopping block, lies the future of the
political party in which the majority of voters had placed their confidence. To
rescue the party, Oyegun must go. He has shown that he and democratic fair play
cannot exist in the same party at the same time.
“If Tinubu is to choose between John Oyegun and progress
toward a better Nigeria, the choice has already been made. For those who care
about the party, who care about Nigeria and its chance for a better tomorrow,
now is the time to stand against this brewing evil before it grows to encompass
all we have built and all we hold dear.”
