Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
All Progressives Congress, APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed
Tinubu has demanded the resignation of the national chairman of the
party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun who he claimed Sunday had derailed from
the path of progressives.
In a stinking communiqué from his media office, Tinubu accused
Oyegun of sabotaging the will of democracy in Ondo State by overriding
the decision of the appeal panel that asked for a fresh governorship
primary following investigations that showed that the delegates’ list
used had been tampered with.
Tinubu in the communiqué further alleged that Oyegun’s action in allegedly subverting the will of the people was not of his doing, saying that for a man of the age of the national chairman to have done what he did that he must have been under the influence of a “powerful and sinister arm at work.”
Tinubu who said that the APC was now under threat of being
suffocated by anti-democratic forces pretending to be progressives,
said: “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.”
Culled from: Vanguard
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