Oyegun: Akande’s Comment on APC Presidential Ticket His Personal Opinion

• Ex-chairman’s remark that party’s presidential ticket is open to all unsettles South-west
• APC Clash of interests polarises party’s panel on restructuring

 Olawale Olaleye in Lagos and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said the statement credited to his predecessor, Chief Bisi Akande, that the party’s presidential ticket for 2019 election was open to all was his personal view.

Although Oyegun who had declared in May that the party would give Buhari right of first refusal for the party’s presidential ticket in 2019 was unperturbed byAkande’s remark when responding to a question from THISDAY on telephone last night, that was not the situation with some South-west leaders of the party, who were taken aback by the development, as they maintained that the former national chairman of the party spoke outside the agenda and resolutions of the zonal leaders’ meeting.

Akande had at the end of a stakeholders meeting of South-west APC last Thursday, involving governors, National Assembly members, ministers and other party members, held at the Agodi Government House, Ibadan, Oyo State, declared that the presidential ticket of the party was open to all in the 2019 general election.

Responding to a question about the position of the party on Buhari’s speculated second term ambition, Akande had stated thus: “He has not told us he is running in 2019. Anybody in our party is free to become the president of Nigeria as long as he indicates interest. We have a process through which a candidate will be selected. If he is lucky to get the ticket, then we have no option than to present him as our candidate.”

The meeting, which lasted four hours and held in the executive council chambers of the governor’s office, had in attendance Governors Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo State), Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos State), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun State), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo State), former Governors Adebayo Alao-Akala, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Olusegun Osoba, Adeniyi Adebayo, Kayode Fayemi, who is also the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu, Minister of State for Niger Delta, Claudius Daramola, Senator Olusola Adeyeye, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Lasun Yusuff and House Majority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila, among others.

Speaking last night, Oyegun, who was not keen on commenting, said there was really nothing to say as far as the reportage of Akande’s statement was concerned, because it was his personal position and he had a right to it.

“That’s his personal view. He said what he felt. There is really nothing to comment about – nothing. That is his personal view,” Oyegun said.

But THISDAY learnt last night that the statement had since unsettled the South-west APC as a majority of stakeholders, who attended the Ibadan meeting were dismayed that Akande would go completely off the thrust of the meeting and create avoidable controversy for the party in the zone.

A governor at the meeting, who confided in THISDAY, said those of them who were there felt so “thoroughly embarrassed” by the development that they had begun to ponder the need to come out to set the record straight as far as the essence of the Thursday meeting was concerned.

“That didn’t come up at our meeting at all. It was just a question asked him by a journalist and he answered off-the-curve. Everyone is angry now. The only thing we discussed was what was in the communiqué read by Governor Ajimobi and essentially the meeting was about restructuring.

“What we said at the meeting was that the word restructuring is not in our manifesto. What is there is that we would initiate a process that would lead to a bill or an act that will define the governance structure of the country. So, basically, we insisted we never used the word restructuring.

“So, that should be it as far as the meeting was concerned. But he really embarrassed us and we didn’t expect it from him, although it must have been inadvertently, because when he was asked after the interview, he said the question was on the spot and that he just gave an on-the-spot answer. Everybody is really angry now and sadly, he is President Buhari’s number one fan. So, I don’t know where this came from,” the governor said.

“He has a lot of respect for Chief Akande and they get along really well. But as it is, we may have to salvage this situation with one of us coming out to address the issue more pointedly,” he added.

In his reaction to the development, a chieftain of the APC and Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said regardless of Akande’s view on the party’s presidential ticket for the 2019 election, a majority of the state chapters in South-east have endorsed Buhari for reelection.

Okechukwu said Buhari had “more than a right of first refusal” as far as the 2019 presidential election is concerned.

“Well, Akande was our first interim national chairman and a highly respected elder of the party but Chief Oyegun is today our current national chairman of APC – substantive – so we align with Oyegun’s submission, because he is the current chairman.

“Even some state chapters of the party like Enugu, Ebonyi and Kaduna had endorsed the president for a second tenure. To be honest with you, the good luck is that his miraculous recovery has encouraged us to endorse him. He has more than a right of first refusal.”

Okechukwu, a close ally of President Buhari since his days in the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, spoke to THISDAY on telephone last night, noting: “From my understanding of what Chief Akande has said, I think he meant that President Buhari has not formally informed the party and it is only when he tells the party. I don’t think what he is saying is that the issue of the right of first refusal be discountenanced. For me, I am one of those, who is saying we should support him to finish what he is doing to set the nation on a solid foundation.”

Meanwhile, the restructuring committee set up by the party leadership may have run into operational difficulties.

At the heart of this brewing discontent, however, is the crisis of confidence amongst the committee members.

THISDAY has also learnt that when the committee tried to meet with the leadership of the National Assembly on the issues of restructuring, it was rebuffed following what a source at the legislature described as a rejection of the committee’s mode of operation.

According to sources, both the Senate and House of Representatives leaderships were not pleased with the manner in which the committee appeared to be taking positions on the issues they were meant to seek the opinions of even the ordinary party members.

Particularly disturbing to some members of the committee is the disposition of their chairman and Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasiru El-rufai, who has openly expressed reservations over restructuring and continued to preach the same message at the various public hearings organised by the committee.

A committee source also told THISDAY at the weekend that some of their members were getting increasingly uncomfortable with the governor’s posturing, which they claimed was tantamount to imposing his position and ideas on the others.

The source cited a recent statement credited to El-rufai at an interactive meeting with some APC youths in Abuja, where he allegedly told the audience that the agitation for the creation of more states was not an answer to the issue of marginalisation or perceived imbalance in the country.

He said such agitation amounted to enthroning injustice and akin to seeking to make unequal equal in a country that has unequal population and resource distribution.

“The greatest injustice is trying to make equal unequal and unequal equal. Things are not done like that. What do I mean by that? There are those who have said Nigeria and Unites States are same. It is just like saying everyone, who is six feet, five can play basketball.

“As human beings, we are equal but you cannot come and stand here and say we should create nine states in each zone. Nigeria is not equal likewise the population and resources. You can’t do that,” el-Rufail had said at the interactive meeting.

But while some members have shown that they are opposed to restructuring by openly speaking against it, other members are in support of the idea.

It was however learnt that the not-too-agreeable positions among the members are affecting the work of the committee as they are yet to sit down together to consider the feedback from the various zones of the country as mandated by the party.

“We are yet to receive reports from different parts of the country on the outcome of the zonal public hearing. Whatever the chairman of the committee and governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-rufai has said with regards to restructuring is nothing but his own personal opinion. It does not represent the position of the committee, even as the chairman”.

Some of these committee members have also disassociated themselves from the governor’s recent statement made at the Chatham House in London, where he criticised those seeking a restructuring of the country.

One of the committee members went on to accuse the governor of using the platform to try to position himself ahead of the 2019 general election by making statements that are clearly outside the terms of reference of the committee.

“Not that the governor has no right to hold his personal view on the issue of restructuring but as the chairman of the committee, he should not be seen imposing opinion on the audience during the public hearing. The job of our committee is to listen and collate the views and positions of Nigerians on the demands for restructuring of the federation and to advice the party accordingly.

“At present, we have not received reports from various parts of the county; we have not even met to discuss the issues raised, so we still have works to do in that direction,” he said.

But a close source to El-rufai has dismissed an attempt by “faceless people” to shade the governor over a committee work that has not quite advanced in its operations, adding that there was no truth to the allegations so far raised against him.

“Why are they hiding if they have serious and genuine concerns? Why can’t they come to the open? At the very least, they could wait till the reports are put together and they would have the opportunity of authoring a minority report if they feel strongly about these allegations and accusations against the governor.

“But I find the allegations preposterous because a committee with other governors as members cannot claim the governor of Kaduna is imposing his views on them. That cannot be true. Are you saying the Kaduna governor will intimidate or shout down the Osun State Governor? Governor Aregbesola cannot be intimidated and that is the truth. So, I do not think it makes any sense debating with a faceless person.”