A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tom Ikimi, on Tuesday resigned from the All Progressives Congress [APC]. He did not however indicated the party he was defecting to although there were speculations that he was on his way to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party [PDP].
In a letter to the National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, dated August 26, Mr. Ikimi said he had already issued a statement released earlier in the day in which he stated his withdrawal from the opposition party.
The letter reads in part: “Thank you for your two letters dated 15th August, 2014, one inviting me to attend the APC National Caucus and the other to attend the APC Board of Trustees meeting.
“I regret my inability to attend both meetings.
“However kindly find forwarded to you herewith my statement released today bearing the title, ” All Progressives Congress, (APC)- My Reflections” and wish to particularly draw your attention to the last paragraph of the document stating the withdrawal of my membership from the party- APC.
“This is to further confirm my decision to withdraw from the All Progressives Congress from today.
“Kindly extend to all members of the party my warmest felicitations.”
Mr. Ikimi was a member of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, which merged with the Congress for Progressive Change [CPC], the All Nigeria Peoples Party [ANPP], and a section of the All Progressives Grand Alliance [APGA], to become the APC.
He hosted the meetings of the Joint Inter-Party Merger Committee that supervised the merger in his Abuja home and aspired to become the first national chairman of the party at the party convention in June, but was allegedly checkmated by some leaders of the party, including former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, who supported Mr. Odigie-Oyegun.
In anger, he did not only boycott the convention, but he also issued a press statement a few days later accusing Mr. Tinubu of hijacking the party and described the convention that produced Mr. Odigie-Oyegun as a charade.
He said, “The party’s governors colluded with Tinubu to truncate democratic process in the national convention. The governors and the Tinubu group decided on a zoning process that was limited only to party offices as well as the choice of individuals to fill them. Most undemocratic and bizarre procedures then prevailed.
“The governors initiated a zoning plan that allocated the national chairman to the south-south. This proposal was reluctantly accepted by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, whose well-known option had been to retain Chief Bisi Akande as the chairman forever.
“Nevertheless he, in the circumstance, proceeded to draw up a list of his cronies for the entire national executives all referred to the national interim executive council for approval or even information.”
Mr. Ikimi, who is from Edo State as Mr. Odigie-Oyegun lambasted the former Lagos State governor for parading himself as the national leader of the APC, saying nobody gave him the position.
Since he made his grudge against the party open, the former minister under the military administration of Sani Abacha had come under pressure to return to the PDP.
At the inception of the current democratic dispensation in 1999, Mr. Ikimi was a member of the defunct All Peoples Party, APP, which later became ANPP.
In the botched Third Republic, he served as the first national chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention, NRC, created by the administration of the military of administration of Ibrahim Babangida during the endless and deceptive transition programme.
Find below the lengthy statement released by Mr. Ikimi on Tuesday castigating Mr. Tinubu.
In a letter to the National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, dated August 26, Mr. Ikimi said he had already issued a statement released earlier in the day in which he stated his withdrawal from the opposition party.
The letter reads in part: “Thank you for your two letters dated 15th August, 2014, one inviting me to attend the APC National Caucus and the other to attend the APC Board of Trustees meeting.
“I regret my inability to attend both meetings.
“However kindly find forwarded to you herewith my statement released today bearing the title, ” All Progressives Congress, (APC)- My Reflections” and wish to particularly draw your attention to the last paragraph of the document stating the withdrawal of my membership from the party- APC.
“This is to further confirm my decision to withdraw from the All Progressives Congress from today.
“Kindly extend to all members of the party my warmest felicitations.”
Mr. Ikimi was a member of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, which merged with the Congress for Progressive Change [CPC], the All Nigeria Peoples Party [ANPP], and a section of the All Progressives Grand Alliance [APGA], to become the APC.
He hosted the meetings of the Joint Inter-Party Merger Committee that supervised the merger in his Abuja home and aspired to become the first national chairman of the party at the party convention in June, but was allegedly checkmated by some leaders of the party, including former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, who supported Mr. Odigie-Oyegun.
In anger, he did not only boycott the convention, but he also issued a press statement a few days later accusing Mr. Tinubu of hijacking the party and described the convention that produced Mr. Odigie-Oyegun as a charade.
He said, “The party’s governors colluded with Tinubu to truncate democratic process in the national convention. The governors and the Tinubu group decided on a zoning process that was limited only to party offices as well as the choice of individuals to fill them. Most undemocratic and bizarre procedures then prevailed.
“The governors initiated a zoning plan that allocated the national chairman to the south-south. This proposal was reluctantly accepted by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, whose well-known option had been to retain Chief Bisi Akande as the chairman forever.
“Nevertheless he, in the circumstance, proceeded to draw up a list of his cronies for the entire national executives all referred to the national interim executive council for approval or even information.”
Mr. Ikimi, who is from Edo State as Mr. Odigie-Oyegun lambasted the former Lagos State governor for parading himself as the national leader of the APC, saying nobody gave him the position.
Since he made his grudge against the party open, the former minister under the military administration of Sani Abacha had come under pressure to return to the PDP.
At the inception of the current democratic dispensation in 1999, Mr. Ikimi was a member of the defunct All Peoples Party, APP, which later became ANPP.
In the botched Third Republic, he served as the first national chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention, NRC, created by the administration of the military of administration of Ibrahim Babangida during the endless and deceptive transition programme.
Find below the lengthy statement released by Mr. Ikimi on Tuesday castigating Mr. Tinubu.
“All Progressives Congress APC – My
Reflections Following my widely publicized statement made in the aftermath of
the 13th June 2014 All Progressives Congress APC National Convention I took
time off to reflect on the state of the party, the emerging re-configuration of
the general political Structure in the country, and the visionary effects on
the state of our Nation. I have spent almost 13 of the past 15 years faithfully
dug in, in the trenches of the evolving democratic dispensations in our
country, steadfastly pursuing my conviction that for true democracy to take
firm root in Nigeria we should fall in line with the model practiced in successful
democracies in the world, of a party in office and a scrutinizing alternative
party holding the Government to account.
We all have watched with admiration how
in those other countries through a process of hitch-free General Elections, the
baton of leadership changes hands from time to time from one Party to the other
to provide alternative policies for their people. Therefore I have never
considered my location outside the ruling party, as being in an “opposition”,
rather as supporting an alternative platform. All that was necessary for me was
the association with individuals committed to build and uphold that platform.
In this regard, my experiences during the era of the NRC and SDP in 1990 -1993
are invaluable reference data bank in my quest to work to reincarnate the
reality of two dominant political platforms in our country. That is why in
2005, I was fully involved in the creation of the Movement for the Restoration
and Defense of Democracy (MRDD), which transformed into the Action Congress (AC)
in 2006.
I worked with a few dedicated colleagues
here in my Abuja residence to successfully achieve the project. Two groups,
comprising those of us who broke away from the PDP and a breakaway faction from
the AD (notably the former South West AD Governors) made up the foundation
membership. For the benefit of political science students, I should now reveal
that the original documents we prepared for registration bore the name All
Peoples Congress (APC) We eventually settled for AC in order to locate the new
party higher up in the ballot paper. In 2010, in pursuit of a bigger party
ahead of the 2011 General Election, we changed the name from AC to ACN, in a
very poorly constructed merger arrangement that failed. It was therefore an
experience of great joy and satisfaction for me to host and lead the process
that gave birth in February 2013, at my Abuja residence, to the All
Progressives Congress (APC) with the successful unification of the major
opposition parties – ACN, ANPP, CPC and a part of APGA. I am aware of the well
known saying that success breeds many uncles, therefore the subsequent and
recent claims of some persons as to the arrow heads of the creation of the APC
does not surprise me nor will it surprise my devoted 89 colleagues who worked
earnestly with me on the project.
The refreshing news of the entry of the
All Progressives Congress (APC) into the Nation’s political firmament was
received across the nation and beyond with great joy and happiness. Our
proclamation of a new party that would pursue democratic principles by example
with particularly a culture of internal Party Democracy endeared us to the
expectant public of teeming supporters who were all eagerly waiting to take up
membership in the new party. For me, I thought we had finally broken the
parochial boundaries of tribal and regional politics, which in my recent
experience had stunted the growth of the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN). Our clarion call for CHANGE reverberated across the country where all
and sundry awaited with high expectation to enroll in the new party. I myself
looked forward eagerly to a wider frontier of comradeship and to once again
recreate happiness color and pageantry in our National Politics which in times
gone by was so eloquently displayed in the legendary brotherly hand shake
across the river Niger and river Benue by the founding fathers of our Nation’s
politics. It was my fervent hope that the emergence of the APC would bring to
an end the sad and bitter experiences that I and some others endured in the ACN
where one of the leaders from the South West exploiting the narrow National
success of the party in that region virtually hijacked the party, proclaiming
himself Overall Leader. Five of the six Governors in the Party at that time
were all from that Region. Prominent leaders particularly from the North and
South East notably, personalities such as former Vice President Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar, late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Alhaji Gali Naaba, Alhaji Lawal Kaita,
Alhaji Mohammed Shata, Amb. Yahaya Kwande, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, Otumba
Fashawe, Senator Ben Obi, Chief Dubem Onyia etc who could not come to terms
with the man’s behavior departed from the party back to the PDP.
This mass departure of prominent
members, from particular sections of the country, did not only seriously weaken
the party but blemished it with an image of Regional and Tribal status. At that
time I refused to quit the party despite the fact that my frequent solo
protests against his behavior were dismissively ignored as I was always told
that the man was the overwhelming financier of the Party. While I disagree
stoutly with this bluff it is true that the particular individual constantly
boasted of his wealth and of his funding of the party. I on the other hand
could recall that this was a man I knew who was an easily forgettable character
in the 1990s when I was National Party Chairman and when my candidate Sir
Michael Otedola of blessed memory, won the Governorship of Lagos State. It
would come as no great surprise if Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s boasted great wealth
did not derive from any stupendous inheritance ancient or modern. Or that his
sudden bragging as though Nigeria’s Bill Gates is an accumulation of
extraordinary hard work or financial wizardry. I would rather trust the
informed whispers in the inner circles of the party which have it that having
positioned himself as perceived leader in the most lucrative income sources of
the party, he is recipient and dispenser of bags and bags of party funds. I
have also become aware that he is, too, a beneficiary of most of the lucrative
contracts in all the ACN states without exception.
To further bolster his image it was also
frequently said that Tinubu has control of all the votes from South Western
Nigeria which, as has been currently touted, when added to the votes of North
Western Nigeria would guarantee victory for the APC in the upcoming
Presidential election. This reckless and arrogant self-aggrandizement paved the
way for the imposition of a strange leadership on the APC in July 2013 when the
party obtained registration from INEC. Those of us who had worked so hard
towards the successful merger and creation of the APC were manipulated out of
the scheme of things. In the bizarre struggle to seize control of the party we
were even openly accused by the self-proclaimed owners of the party, of wanting
to steal “their” party. Many of us in the party as well as keen observers
outside frowned at the skewed leadership image of the party that was being
paraded. An image that blatantly ignored National sensitivities. The draft
constitution prepared by the Merger Committee included an exit clause, which
provided a time limit of six months for the Interim Management of the Party.
That clause mysteriously disappeared from the version of the constitution that
was smuggled into INEC records. Chief Bisi Akande’s National Chairmanship was
therefore primed to stay on in power ad infinitum! Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
frantically constituted a group of friends and cronies which he proclaimed to
be the APC Leadership.
The press, led by the Nation Newspaper,
was made to propagate the aberration. And so rather than allow the construction
of a sound base for the party conducive to the free admission of members
Nationwide these self proclaimed leaders embarked on a National travel spree
all in a blaze of publicity, criss-crossing the country in private aircraft,
visiting PDP State Governors to offer them the State branches of the APC if
they would join the party. While they obviously but ridiculously assumed that
the crisis then in the PDP would last forever the details of the agreements
they reached with PDP break away Governors, were never revealed to the
authentic Party Leadership but they were such that they ignited the explosion
of irreconcilable crisis in some states, particularly Kano, Sokoto and Adamawa,
resulting in the instant loss of some valuable key members. Major decisions
said to be party decisions now started emerging from this select group whose ad
hoc membership varied from time to time. They usually congregated at Tinubu’s
private parlor in his Asokoro – Abuja residence. Those who wanted to belong had
to find or force their way into that parlor. Once initiated, your independence
or capacity to challenge the plots that emerged from that cult venue became seriously
curtailed. Rather than freely open up critical issues to free debate at the
Interim Executive Council for democratic decisions to emerge, positions plotted
at the notorious Asokoro parlor were being desperately foisted on the party for
execution. A handful of us constantly challenged this trend with little
success. Gradually, the direction of the Party assumed a focus on the contest
for the Presidency.
Then the images of presumed Presidential
and Vice Presidential candidates as well as a privately cooked up Permanent
Chairman for the party started emerging signaling a Muslim/Muslim Presidential
and Vice Presidential ticket. The details of this issue I have sufficiently
dealt with in my previous statement. However let me state again that their
calculation that the Presidency in the 2015 General elections will be won by
the APC through votes from the North West and South West Nigeria became an
obsession. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who passionately believed in this theory and who
arrogantly claimed custody of all South West votes already picked an aspirant
from North Western Nigeria who will run as Presidential candidate with him as
Vice Presidential candidate. The National image of the party immediately
plummeted. This disastrous trend was worsened by the arrogant departure from
observing the provisions of the Party’s constitution particularly as it
pertains to internal Party democracy. Crisis broke out at uncontrollable levels
in the prosecution of the most undemocratic Ward, LGA, and State Congresses
Nationwide. Machinery for managing this self-inflicted crisis was virtually
non-existent and it was inside this mess that the controversial National
Convention of 13th June was staged.
The Constitution of the Party clearly
defines the Party Organs and the Party Leadership. There is no provision for
anyone to be named as the Party Leader. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu having paraded
himself both at home and abroad as The Leader of Opposition and of the APC had
great difficulty in descending from the fictitious throne. In order to continue
manipulating the party from his parlors in Abuja and Lagos he struggled to
retain Chief Bisi Akande as Chairman. He was further troubled by the growing
influence of the Governors and panicked at the realization that he and his
South West select caucus were loosing their grip on “their” party to the
Governors. His last minute efforts to rally a South West Leadership support for
his absolute power over the party failed and chances of retaining Chief Bisi
Akande as National Chairman also evaporated. In the circumstance as the only
option was to find a successor National Chairman as well as other National
Officers, an illegal process of horse trading between the Governors and Tinubu
was initiated. The Interim Executive Council had no knowledge of all these
processes.
Chief John Oyegun a Tinubu plan B
project said to be favored for his NADECO and SDP credentials and also as one
who could be controlled now featured, came into the picture. Until recently the
APC had 16 Governors who describe themselves as The Progressive Governors. They
are made up of the original Merging Parties Governors and the break away PDP
Governors who as a group are determined to take control of the Party. This
composition of Merging Party Governors and PDP breakaway Governors cannot in
any realistic sense be described as PROGRESSIVE. They have come together with
different personal agendas built around the central purpose of acquiring
National Power. Some of them nurse Vice Presidential ambition and some others
are warming up for the Presidential contest. In the circumstance the project of
taking control of the Party’s National machinery became crucial and it was out
of the Governor’s caucus that the plan of zoning the National offices was
initiated and concluded. The Interim Executive Committee had no input.
Although it is claimed that the National
Chairmanship slot was zoned to the South South, the horse-trading to produce
the beneficiary took place outside the zone. In order to secure the agreement
of most of the Governors I understand that an agreement was extracted from
Chief Oyegun that he would agree to step down as Chairman should a Governor
from the region emerge as either Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate.
And although the Governors may not have envisaged the present set back they now
suffer in their numerical strength the battle to take custody of the APC
platform that they waged against the Tinubu structure signaled yet another
twist in the tale. Apart from the Tinubu Group and The Governors Group there is
a third Group, of known Presidential Aspirants comprising in the main General
Muhamadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who are both Northerners. The
inclination of the party had always been to zone the Presidency to the North.
Some Governors are now thinking otherwise and given the decisive role that they
seek to play in the affairs of the Party as well as the tendency to ignore the
principle of internal party democracy, a monumental disaster looms large in the
selection of the Party’s Presidential and Vice Presidential flag bearers later
in the year.
The construction of the new National
Executive Committee through horse-trading by the Governors and Tinubu has
established a tool structure that is not in the interest of transparency or
democracy. To whom will the newly installed National Chairman be finally loyal?
Will it remain the Nadeco/SDP comradeship that will drive his loyalty to Tinubu
or the current Governors ongoing tactics of dressing up the National Chairman
that may become the game clincher? Time will surely tell! How these known
Presidential aspirants will make their way in the contest that may feature some
Governors is better imagined. Can Tinubu dare to ditch Buhari? I dey laf! Chief
John Oyegun has made various statements since the 13th of June convention. He
finally claimed that he emerged as National Chairman as a consensus candidate,
which puts to rest his previous hasty announcement that I had stepped down for
him. Needless to say the process adopted at the APC convention for deciding on
a new National Chairman was a sham in which I did not participate. The Chief
knows very well that an even playing field, a fundamental requirement for sound
intra party contest did not exist. He also knows what I know that the
conspiracy, with all the plotting and scheming to install him as National
Chairman had been cooking long before the Convention process was revealed.
The delegation that visited Benin City
unceremoniously, last year, to admit him into the ACN party made no contact
with the State Party Leadership. He was drafted into our State Party by
outsiders who had ulterior motives. I was away in Dacca Senegal on a private
visit two weeks or so before the convention. It was in the Senegalese capital I
read on the Internet Chief Oyegun’s press declaration of his candidature. When
I returned home I was reliably informed that he had been instructed by his
patrons to proceed and print campaign posters. All these maneuvers taking place
even before the emergence of convention guidelines were manifestations of a
festering conspiracy. Having been secretly assured of the outcome, the chief
not only ignored the position of the Edo State Party on the issue, he never
bothered to campaign. On my part I did not approach any of the 16 Governors or
any Party leader to solicit for support to contest the National Chairmanship
except for Governor Adams Aliu Oshiomhole of Edo State whom I saw in Benin City
a few days to the convention when I became aware that the National Chairmanship
had been zoned to the South South zone. My State Party- Edo State APC naturally
supported me unanimously but I printed no posters, did not campaign, did not
return the nomination forms as there was to be no election.
I
have read statements in the press credited to one of the Governors who claims
knowledge of what transpired, to the effect that the allocation of National
Chairman and other National offices of the Party was negotiated between the
Governors and Tinubu. The late night event that took place at Eagle Square on
the 13th of June was just a stage-managed ritual to satisfy INEC requirements
and deceive the nation. I was never part of any talks that resulted in the
allocation decisions and certainly could never have been in support of a
strange process that replaced the democratic procedures enshrined in the
party’s constitution. In the course of his maiden visit to Edo State Chief
Oyegun, in his statement in the Governor’s office referred to me as those
“disgruntled” at his emergence as National Chairman. In a subsequent interview
in the Vanguard and Punch News Papers widely advertised on the Internet under
the caption “Ikimi made mistake threatening to leave APC” he said among other
things ” It is unfortunate that when you feel hurt, you threaten your party.
That alone creates suspicion about you in the party that you still belong to.
Let me say it was a mistake for him to threaten to leave the party” Certainly
the euphoria and relish of his new office may have taken possession of him,
blurring his vision such that he does not see the deep wound inflicted on the
party, which is now disintegrating rapidly across the country. For the record
let me state that it was I who admitted Chief Oyegun into the APP in 1999.
He joined the ACN a year ago in Benin
City after he departed from the ANPP where in the 2011 General Elections he was
that party’s vice Presidential candidate. He certainly did not depart from the
ANPP with great pleasure. Therefore moving from one party to another should not
be so strange to him as his strange statement portrays. Let me state that
notwithstanding my well known disagreement over the years with the conduct of
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, his actions within the AC, ACN and APC and notwithstanding
the amazing retention of Chief Bisi Akande as National Chairman of all these
parties since 2006, there was absolute mutual respect between me and Chief Bisi
Akande. I have no difficulty in accepting any qualified member of the Party
from any part of Nigeria emerging legitimately as National chairman. Chief John
Oyegun visits me regularly in Benin City and Abuja where I treat him graciously
but I demand of him to clarify what he meant by “the suspicion” he claimed the
Party he joined through ACN (a party he became a member of last year) would
have about me, a founding foundation member of AC, ACN and APC.
Is he speaking for himself or singing
his master’s tune? Senator Ali Modu Sherriff, former two terms Governor of
Bornu State enthusiastically supported the merger. In fact his influence as
Chairman Board of Trustees of the defunct ANPP was crucial to bringing the
party on board. Senator Sherriff achieved his first tenure as a Nigerian
Senator in 1991 under the NRC party when I was the National Chairman. He always
recalls the support i gave him in what was his maiden political outing. I
appreciate the co-operation he gave to the merger committee, which
substantially helped us to overcome impediments put on our way during the
merger talks, by some leaders of the ACN and CPC, who did not want the ANPP on
board. To get the APC off the ground Senator Sherriff made substantial
contributions, which included huge finance. On the 7th of March 2014 the APC
staged a National Summit at the Hilton Hotel in Abuja which was an elaborate
event choreographed to officially unveil the new party. An extensive
presentation was displayed to showcase how the party was formed. Most
fair-minded persons who attended the event were shocked to observe that not
even a word was mentioned of me as one of those who contributed to the creation
of the APC.
Film clips were shown of Bola Tinubu,
Muhamadu Buhari, Bisi Akande, Ogbonnaya Onu and a few selected others who in
most cases gave distorted accounts of the merger process. Surprisingly it was
Senator Ali Modu Sherriff who became so disgusted by the deliberate distortion
of the facts that he had the courage to take the microphone and openly berated
the injustice. Some were obviously embarrassed but it turned out that those who
prepared the presentation, many of them high ranking members of the party, were
working on the instructions of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. For his noteworthy and
courageous public intervention on this matter, Senator Sherriff was now marked
down by Bola Tinubu as having opposed him so much so that shortly after the
event both men almost engaged in physical combat at an expanded National Exco
meeting in Abuja. Senator Ali Modu Sherriff may be a friend and long time
political ally but he is certainly not my sponsor. I read several newspaper
fictional stories that said Senator Sherriff was sponsoring me for National
Chairman. That is not true. The merger talks of 89 members hosted by me, was
managed by a leadership of four which included HE Ibrahim Shekarau of ANPP,
Alhaji Garba Gadi of CPC, Senator Ani Okonkwo of the APGA faction and myself of
ACN. I was unanimously nominated by the group to preside as coordinating
chairman. We worked harmoniously together and on the 6th February 2013 the four
of us signed the agreement for the merger of the three parties and a part of
APGA. I announced the merger and presented the agreement to the world. We
continued to the next and difficult stages of agreeing a name, flag, motto and
symbol for the party. These were very intricate negotiations! Our
Sub-Committees worked on the Constitution and Manifesto. After all these were
accomplished Asiwaju Bola Tinubu prevented a smooth establishment of the party
in accordance with our agreements. HE Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau former Governor
of Kano State was sidelined in his State by a curious arrangement that ceded
the party leadership in the state to the present Governor of Kano State with no
defined role for the former Governor to play. He was compelled to withdraw his
membership from the Party. He joined the PDP where he was recently appointed
Minister of Education. Alhaji Shekarau possesses a very sound and critical
mind.
I found his contributions to our work
most invaluable. Senator Ani Okonkwo has also announced his departure from the
APC. The popular will, prevailing at the time among a cross section of members
was that the Merger Leadership should continue to mold the party for at least
six months and bring it to fruition by diligently establishing all its
structures. Regrettably this was foiled by hijackers who have now crashed the
project. Governor of Sokoto State Alhaji Atahiru Bafarawa could not accept the
shabby treatment meted out to him by those who seized the new party. Governor
Bafarawa is very loyal and dependable. He is an astute politician with whom I
have been associated for about thirty years now. He was NRC State Party
Chairman of Sokoto State in 1991 when I was National Chairman. He has always
been very keen on the unification of the opposition parties and consequently
hosted several merger meetings prior to the 2011 General Elections. On this
occasion he hosted the sittings of the Constitution committee.. Alhaji Bafarawa
suffered unprecedented humiliation in the ACN in 2011 in a kangaroo convention
staged in Lagos to select the ACN Presidential candidate. He therefore withdrew
from the ACN party to return to the ANPP. This time as an ANPP delegate he
enthusiastically participated in the merger talks. He has now withdrawn from
the APC to join the PDP as he could not accept the sudden hand over of the APC
Sokoto Party to the present Governor who during his tenure was his deputy.
Senator Ali Modu Sherriff has not hidden his very strong disapproval of the
precarious direction that the Party is heading. The conduct of 13th June
Convention was totally unacceptable to him. Following his open challenge of
Tinubu it did not surprise me that Tinubu negotiated away all Sherriff’s
nominees from the newly constituted National Executive committee.
I understand that Sen. Ali Modu Sherriff
is on his way out of the party, along with a very large slice of the party
membership particularly from the North East. It is not a coincidence to me that
the prominent members of APC targeted by Bola Tinubu such as Alhaji Atahiru
Bafarawa, Sen Ali Modu Sherriff and myself are former NRC members or those
perceived as Conservatives. Since after the 13th of June APC Convention and
after my post convention statement, a few leaders of the APC have come to see
me on their individual personal basis to plead with me not to abandon the
party. I have received quite a number of telephone calls as well, conveying
similar views to me. None of these persons could disagree with my very strong
views against the turn of events regarding the mismanagement of the party nor
of the grave injustice that has been perpetrated against me through an
unprecedented level of conspiracy and bad faith. All they are saying to me is
that I should not abandon what I had helped so much to build. It is truly
amazing that all who have spoken to me privately without exception agree with
me that the image of the APC as is a Tinubu Party has severely damaged the
party but each time I openly raise issues that challenge the consequences
everyone keeps quiet. It is common knowledge that the vote against the very
popular candidate Sen Chris Ngige in the Anambra Governorship election and
recently against one of the most successful Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti
State was indeed a vote against Tinubu. Tinubu’s obsessive calculation of South
West/North West votes is unproven and untested. It is in pursuit of a very
selfish ambition that has seriously alienated block zones, such as South East,
South South, North East and most of North Central from the party.
The Party has collapsed in very many
states such as Adamawa, it is in distress in Edo, Ogun, Oyo. Lagos, Nasarawa.
In consideration of all the above I have come to the following conclusions: I
have lived to see one of my major political yearnings in place. Now there are
two major Political Parties in my Country – The People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
and The All Progressives Congress (APC). I am satisfied that I have played an
important and historic role in ensuring the emergence of an alternative
platform to the party in office. There are many now claiming leadership of the
APC who were very skeptical when we embarked on the merger project who openly
dismissed the idea that it would never work. Yes, some of them tried several
times in the past to unify some parties in order to achieve bigger platforms
but in an atmosphere of prevailing dishonesty, greed, unbridled ambition,
uncompromising and undiplomatic approaches to such delicate negotiations, their
efforts yielded resounding failure. For my part I enjoyed the respect of all
the 89 delegates who met with me for about six months because they were very
confident I had no personal agenda not even taking sides to protect positions
of the ACN my own party then. But immediately we established what they had
considered impossible to do, I became a prime target, as they believed that
they could only control and manipulate the affairs of the party if I was not
there. By my credentials in Political Party Leadership my claim to the top
table in any party to which I belong is well earned! In the present atmosphere
of envy, plots and gossip the long-term satisfaction of a political comradeship
and brotherhood anchored on shared principles and ideology, of honor, trust and
confidence in pursuit of a common goal remain elusive.
I understand they claim that I possess a
strong and independent personality as well as a mind of my own which cannot be
bent and so I am said to be one that could not be controlled. On a rather
mischievous note, my foremost assailant in that party, peddles in one breadth a
smear campaign that if I were to be in charge, I would sell the party while in
another fowl breadth that I am an enemy as I had served in the Abacha
Government. My so called strong and independent personality sometimes
misconstrued as an arrogant mien is merely the creation of nature and I have
never ever been harmful at all to anyone around me but as for an independent
and firm mind I believe it is an asset and an attribute which indeed is so
direly needed for good and fair leadership in our society today and I apologize
to no one for being so created. It is really ironic that I was not accused of
going to sell the party over the past 13 years or so that I struggled in
different recorded ways to make notable contributions in creating and building
it up in its various forms but that i was now to sell the party after working
successfully to achieve its present mega format. Who by the way is the buyer?
Is it the PDP Government that opened its doors once more recently to one of the
APC foremost boastful and noisy leader to consummate a mega oil deal on the eve
of that controversial APC convention? Who then is really selling and who is
indeed buying? Who sold Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s ACN Presidential candidature in
2011? Was it Chief Tom Ikimi? My tenure as Foreign Affairs Minister during the
Abacha Regime has turned out to be a befitting reference in patriotic
diplomatic Service in our country for which I am extremely proud!
Why am I targeted for being that Foreign
Minister that brought peace to Liberia, restored democratic Government in
Sierra Leone, maintained the leadership of Nigeria in the OAU, ECOWAS and the
UN, the first to turn to China with a trade delegation that opened up massive
opportunities for our country but they fail to point even a feeble finger at
others in their midst who benefitted immensely from the Abacha Government, some
who ran the most lucrative agencies during that tenure, some others who made
away with giant oil fields or are we blind not to see the giant, fancy
lucrative projects currently being executed in partnership with well known
Abacha foreign friends! In consideration of all these I now have grave
difficulty in operating side-by-side petty minded people who are so scared of
my personality and are not willing to submit to firm impartial authority. I
will not accept any imaginary bar to be installed over me, deliberately
constructed by political enemies to prevent my ascension to any height of my
choice in any party that I belong to, such as has been so blatantly done in the
APC. The recent mass exodus from the Party has effectively put the movement of
the APC firmly in reverse gear.
Those who have left include notables
such as Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State, Alhaji Atahiru Bafarawa of
Sokoto State, Alhaji Ali Modu Sherriff of Bornu State, Brg Gen Buba Marwa of
Adamawa State, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of Adamawa State, Senator Ani Okonkwo of
Anambra State , Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu of Edo State. I understand Chief
Olusegun Osoba of Ogun State is on his way out too. The very weak National
Leadership appointed for the Party in the last Convention is definitely
incapable of restoring any positive movement to the party. The prevailing hostile
atmosphere in the party does not present the opportunity for any intervention
from me at this time at National, Zonal or State Level as I have done in the
past. I led the process of change in Edo State politics in 2006 when as
National Leader of the Action Congress (AC) I brought the new party to the
state. I worked with dedicated and courageous colleagues to establish the party
in Edo State and we recorded a resounding success in the 2007 General Elections
– our very first outing in the State. AC and eventually ACN has therefore been
the Government in power in Edo State from 2008 to date and I am proud of the
quality of peaceful, respectable and dignified leadership that I was able to
provide to the party through these years. Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole who
joined us in the middle of our preparation for the 2007 General Elections met
me in firm control of the Party and its Leadership in the State at the time.
We welcomed him warmly and with our
support he was lucky to emerge victorious in the State Governorship election
and I have over the years enjoyed an excellent working relationship with the
Comrade. Now as he is the APC Governor of Edo State, I wish him good luck, good
health and God’s guidance as he proceeds to conclude his second term in office.
But during the past seven years of performing my role as leader of the party in
Edo State, my personal experiences of the relationship between the political
party, the legislature and the Executive at State level has instilled in me
very useful lessons that would be immensely helpful in any future roles. I have
no current or perceivable ambition to contest for executive power. My quest for
an alternative political platform in the country is basically in pursuit of a
credible political structure that would guarantee the vital checks and balances
in the system so that our people may enjoy the benefits of alternative choices
of National Government from time to time. It is certainly not for the creation
of a vengeful ravaging army of flatterers and favor-seekers at the command of a
desperate upstart with the hideous mission of stampeding an illusory enemy.
While I have always regarded the entire
country as my constituency, I am not oblivious of the reality of my
circumstance as a South Southerner, a Christian from a so called minority stock
who will continue to align with the forces of change that would guarantee
justice, prosperity, peace and happiness for all our peoples. The forces that
have now seized the APC in a stranglehold are on a mission very much against my
conscience and indeed my very being. I have always viewed a political party as
a congregation of like-minded persons who become welded together in a
close-knit brotherhood in a manner beyond mere friendship. In a Nation of two
dominant political parties or even diverse political parties the members,
across party lines, who are all in politics need not be sworn enemies. After
all they are citizens of the same Nation with I suppose a mission of service to
their people. Therefore their hold to power has to be at the discretion of the
people. I am at the stage of currently critically re-examining the two dominant
political parties in our country, which are the APC and the PDP, in both of
which I have had close working knowledge. I have not ignored the other
political parties but in the light of the foregoing I must now search to really
ascertain where indeed my true political friends exist. I need to be, at this
time of my life where I have friends who share a common vision with me and
where my freedom, respect, honour and dignity would be guaranteed.
Notwithstanding my enormous contributions over the past 12 years or so to
building the alternative platform, after very deep thought and the widest
consultations I have made the decision to withdraw my membership from the All
Progressives Congress (APC) from today, Wednesday 27th August 2014.
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