A former Governor of Lagos State and leader of the
ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, has called on the chairman of
the party, John Oyegun, to resign from office.
Mr. Tinubu said Mr. Oyegun is amongst those who
have managed to remain within the party because of what they could benefit
rather than the sacrifice they could make.
Mr. Tinubu’s comment came in the wake of a major
dispute that followed the conduct of the party’s primaries in Ondo State
earlier this month.
Mr. Tinubu said Mr. Oyegun had betrayed the tenets
of APC and had been a willing tool in efforts to derail the APC agenda.
“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,” Mr. Tinubu said.
The APC was formed through an alliance of some
opposition political parties and a power bloc in the then ruling Peoples
Democratic Party. The party rode to power following the general elections last
year during which it won both the presidency and majority in both chambers of
the National Assembly.
Mr. Oyegun did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES request
for comment.
When contacted, Mr. Tinubu’s spokesperson, Sunday
Dare, told PREMIUM TIMES that the former Lagos governor authored the message.
Read the full statement by
Mr. Tinubu’s office below:
OYEGUN’S ONDO FRAUD: THE
VIOLATION OF DEMOCRACY IN THE APC
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 primacy 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
has 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.
Such a man is Oyegun and
those who conspired with him to sabotage justice and democracy in Ondo. 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. There
must is a powerful and sinister arm at work to compel a man of Oyegun’s age to
steal the decision of the party in a manner so crude that it would embarrass
even the commonest thief.
With strong expectation, we
await a response to Oyegun’s wrongdoing from those who clamoured 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.
Thus, Oyegun was forced to
undertake his desperate fraud in broad daylight in order to salvage the wrong
initiated under the lamp of darkness. 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 endeavour 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 honours
democracy than hold a title in a party that says it honours 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 laboured 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.
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