National leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola
Tinubu is demanding the resignation of party chairman, John Oyegun.
This was disclosed on Sunday in a statement released by Senator Tinubu accusing 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.
Full Text:
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 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 willfully 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 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.
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 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
honor 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.
‘Segun Adegbenro
Tinubu Media Office
September 25th, 2016
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