ionigeria.com Nigerian Newspaper
Former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu has asked the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun to resign for submitting the name of Chief Rotimi Akeredolu to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the candidate of the Party in the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State.
In a statement from his media office on Sunday, 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.”
According to Tinubu, “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.
