APC Bigwigs Want Oyegun Out

Oyegun

      The National Chairman of the ruling the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, may soon be relieved of his exalted post, according to The Guardian.

The influential newspaper writes that after a recent meeting of the party’s officials, presided by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Oyegun was berated for failing to ensure that the party’s preferred candidate emerged as President of 8th Senate on June 9, 2015. The situation, according to the newspaper, is said to have damaged the image and reputation of the party.

Oyegun, who is proceeding on a 10-day leave, was accused by a notable figure from the north central of not enforcing the party’s choice in the selection of floor functionaries of the National Assembly.

“You would recall that on that fateful Tuesday, a meeting was convened at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. When the national chairman was told of the meeting, he asked whether the letter for the inauguration of the National Assembly had been withdrawn.

“Even when he was told that the Inspector General of Police was mandated to ensure that no one gets into the Assembly complex pending the conclusion of the meeting, it was alleged that Oyegun allowed inquiries to President Buhari, who denied making any such orders,” the source explained to The Guardian.

The source disclosed that it was partly because of the roles Oyegun failed to play in the emergence of NASS leaders that some powerful forces in the party insisted he should give way to a vibrant person.

He claimed that although the national vice chairman for the north, Senator Lawani Shuaibu, may act in Oyegun’s absence, pending the next national convention, incumbent Edo governor, Adams Oshiomhole, may be the ultimate beneficiary.

The source said Oyegun courted the grouse of another powerful politician from the north by disclosing to some members how the former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had assured that the issue of consensus was not necessary, since the south west had resolved to vote for Buhari during the presidential primary.

“All these, as well as the issues of Kogi and Bayelsa governorship election and utterances over the Supreme Court judgments, are what culminated in the decision to ease the national chairman out of the party,” he disclosed.

The national chairman, however, told journalists that after guiding the party for the last two years, he deserved the “10-working day leave to rest”, adding that it had been a very intense period building the party and “putting government together up to this point”.

Though Oyegun revealed that in his absence, his deputy, Engr Segun Oni, “will cover my beat”, sources said Senator Shuaibu was preferred to Oni, based on capacity, charisma and human communication. Some south west leaders, The Guardian said, see Oni as an outsider to the progressive ideas of the party.