The All Progressives Congress
(APC) has mocked former National Chairman, John Oyegun, saying he and the
National Working Committee he led as National Chairman lacked the courage
required to confront the pockets of political despots who could not operate by
the party’s rules.
The party cited the National
Assembly saga in 2015 that saw the emergence of Bukola Saraki as Senate
President and Yakubu Dogara as Speaker against party wishes, while Oyegun could
not do anything about it till he left office.
PC National Publicity Secretary,
Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, in an interview with journalists, spoke in reaction to
Oyegun’s comments that incumbent chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, was leading the
party using “agbero” (tout) style.
The resultant effect, he said,
was widespread indiscipline across party ranks, lack of respect for party
supremacy as witnessed in the 8th National Assembly leadership and its overall
inability to align the varying interests of the legacy parties that came
together to form the APC in 2014.
“Let me agree that the NWC that
led the party into the 2015 elections and continued till June 2018 did nothing
different from what you would find in PDP.
“It was a period the party was
seen as a mere vehicle to attain political office. The system accommodated
impunity as certain members appeared to be superior to the party.
“Their interests were far more
important than the collective interests of the APC, even when most times such
interests are at variance with the ideals the party stand for.
“You would recall that it was
under that leadership that some impudent members of APC called the bluff of the
party by imposing themselves on the National Assembly as leaders contrary to
the position of the party. Where was the party?
“Where was the discipline when
this happened? It would be difficult to calculate what lack of courage to
assert the party supremacy cost APC over that period.
“The consequences of the inaction
of the party were unimaginable. We all saw the consequences on governance as
the National assembly practically held our government to ransom.
“The impunity, which President
Muhammadu Buhari has rightly described as lack of patriotism, constituted an
unfortunate hindrance to the smooth running of government.
“The leadership under Chief
Oyegun, with due respect to him, condoned all sorts of acts of indiscipline
from certain members. It is not surprising that the current National Working
Committee inherited such a huge mess, where the party was struggling to differentiate
itself from the delinquent PDP.
“We all know that PDP was
practically dead following the devastating defeat of 2015. The PDP bounced back
not because the party has changed its insidious way or did anything different,
but because APC did not live up to expectations.
“It goes without saying that when
an organisation is unable to enforce its own rules, it would suffer the
consequences sooner than later.
“We should not be ashamed to say
that our party’s leadership under Chief Oyegun lacked the courage required to
confront the pockets of political despots who could not operate by the party’s
rules” Issa-Onilu stated.
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