National-Chairman-All-Progressives-Congress-Chief-John-Oyegun-360×225
The
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Oyegun,
in this interview with ALEXANDER OKERE, speaks on issues concerning his
election, the Ekiti election, the crisis in the Edo State House of
Assembly and the prospect of the APC in the 2015 presidential election
What are you, as the APC national chairman, doing to pacify those who were aggrieved as a result of the national convention?
On those who felt aggrieved, rightly or wrongly; it does not matter
whether they were right or wrong, my job is to make peace. It is not
just at my level. There were several levels during the convention and I
have given equal attention to all. There was a little bit of bad blood
on the position of secretary and over other positions and I have reached
out to every one of the significantly aggrieved people. Some have
responded. Some have not responded, but there is no giving up. I have
realised that in a party that has no prospects, you beg people to
volunteer for office; you virtually plead with them to accept offices;
but because the APC has very bright prospects, it has become virtually
the government-in-waiting, given the mood of the nation and the
universal cry for change.
The APC is the party whose time has come. Because of that, the
contestation of office becomes a little bit sharper than it would have
been with a party without a prospect. Therefore, people naturally, like I
said, rightly or wrongly, would feel a sense of loss at not being
preferred for the various positions in the party. We had reached out to
all of them. Most had responded positively. We will continue to reach
out to those that are still nursing grievances. That, as far as it is
concerned is a healthy thing because if the party was not a going
concern, people would just say, ‘Oh, they do not want me to be X. That
is their business; I wanted to do them a favour’. But it is not like
that. This is a movement that is going to end up in Aso Rock in February
of next year. We are doing everything to talk to them and get them back
happily into the fold.
What has been the response of Chief Tom Ikimi to your reconciliation efforts?
Well, it is still an ongoing process. 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 that it was a
mistake for him to have threatened to leave the party. We value him. We
have respect for him. I have tremendous respect for him; I used to go to
him and have a good wine. I hope this had not separated us. It cannot.
Politics cannot separate us. I pray that when he calms down, we will
resume our very warm relationship not just with me personally but much
more with the party.
What is your take on the Ekiti election as the national chairman of the APC?
On the Ekiti election, the first point is, because we are a party of
change, a party that wants to show Nigerians that there is a different
way of doing things; that politics does not have to be bitter in spite
of all our reservations, the governor was advised to concede for a lot
of reasons. One is that we did not think, given the heavy
militarisation, that it was worthwhile raising tension which may lead to
the spilling of innocent blood. I was there in Ekiti. I had to leave
virtually in the dead of night because of the intelligence report that
we received, driving all the way from Ado Ekiti to Lagos. Those that
came by air could not go back by air because the airport was closed.
There was this state of tension which needed just a little spark to set
it off. And we said, ‘This is not our style of politics. Governor, do
the honourable thing.’ We had a lot of questions about that election. We
are going ahead with something even more detailed and a forensic
examination of what happened. We know all was not well on the face of
it. It was a very clever thing. The actual processes before election day
were heavily faulted, of course, with the unconstitutional
militarisation. But on the day of the election, the façade was presented
that made everybody think that everything went normally. But we know
that that was not the case. We took the part of honour and conceded and
you can see that there was immediate peace thereafter. That is because
we are a party of change and we hope Nigerians have taken note of what
we did in Ekiti. We hope it does not get repeated because a lot of what
happened was totally unconstitutional; you do not lock down a whole
state for 48 hours. You are allowed to restrict movement for 24 hour
before the election but not for 48 hours. You do not lock down a state,
arrest the leaders of the governing party there; lock them down
completely but allow the leaders of the opposition party as at that
time, who had no business at all being in Ekiti. Minister of Defence,
Minister of Police Affairs and Chris Uba were all there operating in
those 48 hours. These are the facts, which the press must help to tell
them (the FG and PDP) should not repeat themselves with the Osun
election.
What is the APC doing in the meantime?
We are taking various actions in the interim just to prevent that. We
are not going to court over the election itself. But we are going to
court to uphold the fundamental rights of citizens. Whether you are a
governor, party leader or an ordinary citizen, you have that right of
free movement in this nation. That cannot be abridged by anybody except
there is a good cause to do so. There is no such law in this nation of
locking down a state for 48 hours. Bringing the military so forcefully
into the political arena is also not accepted by any law or practice in
this nation. With all these, we will take the appropriate legal action
so that our legal authorities will tell us what the legal boundaries are
for governmental action. Finally, let me say that it was a blow for us.
But we have gone over that now. It is alright for the Federal
Government to bring all the army, all the police to a one-state election
because the PDP is in power at the federal level. To start with, that
is one of the best arguments I have seen recently for state police.
Secondly, we need the army and the police in Borno and Yobe. We would
have been glad if these people were deployed there to get back our
girls. But the PDP is desperate and they think that making a point with
Ekiti will set a bandwagon effect for others. When the time comes in
February, the whole nation will be voting at the same time, let them
take all the soldiers out of Bornu to police every single state and see
if there will be a Nigeria left at the end of the day. Ekiti was a very
regrettable loss but the D-Day is still coming. We are very confident
that when it comes, the people of this country will decide for change.
How will you manage the interest of some northern leaders like
General Muhammadu Buhari(retd) and Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso to fly the
presidential flag for your party?
I do not know if there is a management problem. I am praying very
desperately that there should be more aspirants because that is what
builds a party. Each of them will have a support base. Each of them will
be able to entice a lot of party members and non-party members
interested in the party. Each of them will get people to look with a
magnifying glass at all the people offering to be our president. I will
just sit down and smile, hoping they come and pay our fees; that way we
can make quite some money for the party. Also, it becomes the duty of
the party members represented by the delegates to decide which one, in
their opinion is most likely to help us win the election and provide a
good leadership for the nation. Mine is to be a very impartial referee
to provide a level-playing ground for all the contesting interests.
There is nothing to manage. The more, the merrier; I know a lot more who
are interested in being president on the platform of the APC and I have
given them my word that their candidacy for the nomination will be most
welcome.
What is the true position of the APC on the issue of a Muslim-Muslim ticket?
I do not know where people get the thing about a Muslim-Muslim
ticket, Christian-Christian ticket, pagan-pagan ticket or whatever they
want to call it. I am the national chairman of this party. What I can
guarantee Nigerians is that we are going to have a totally above-board
primary for the rank and file of the party to decide who will be their
candidate. That is the way it is going to be. Of course the party
members, whose job it is to select their candidates, will do whatever
they need to do on the basis of the need to win an election. Whatever
the party decides, it is not me or any individual; it is the totality of
the members of the party properly acting through their delegates who
will select a candidate for the election. As far as John Oyegun is
concerned, anybody is qualified to vie for the presidential ticket. That
is the law of the party. Thus, whether it is Christian-Christian,
Muslim-Muslim or animist-animist ticket, it will be the decision of the
party. We will deal with the issue when we get there.
Does it not appear that your party is still far from picking its candidate for the presidential election in February?
Every party is still far away even though, in the case of the PDP,
there is a presumption. But do not be fooled because it could change
very dramatically. It looks like a one-horse race. But on the eve of
selecting candidates, it may be otherwise. We, in the APC are listening
to the people. We can hear what they are telling us because we have
people we consult with all over this nation, who are telling and giving
us vibes about what Nigerians feel and expect. Therefore, presenting a
candidate in two or three months will not be an issue. What is important
is, ‘What does the party stand for? How can it prove that it is
different? How can it prove that it is serious?’ That is the task that
we have between now and the selection of the candidate. Once the people
of this nation buy the fact that the APC is a party they can trust to
deliver change, the candidate becomes number two issue.
Can you react to the challenges facing some of the APC states?
In desperation, the Federal Government is creating problems for us in
all our states. Let us start with the present insecurity. Watch the way
it is spreading. I have read once or twice that these crises are the
handiwork of the opposition because they do not like the government. But
do you kill your family to prove that you hate someone else? How come
that the crises are in APC states? Now it is crawling into another APC
state – Kano. We know what has happened in Rivers State, where they have
a very courageous man. When a party is seen as having prospects, the
struggles for offices get a little bit keener. That is what is happening
in a lot of these states. All of these we will resolve in quick order
and that has been the priority. We have already set up a high-powered
committee working on the issues, headed by former Vice President, Atiku
Abubakar, with membership drawn from truly respected party leaders.
Edo state’s case is clear. You can see what is happening from the
time we had some defections. I think the PDP saw it as a wonderful
opportunity to undermine the state government and keep it under crisis,
particularly as four or five members of the House also defected with the
group. But what you should see in it is this: it was these defecting
members who went to court to seek two redresses. First, that their seats
should not be declared vacant. Two, that they cannot be and should not
be impeached. The court granted the first request that their seats
should not be declared vacant. The court rejected the second request,
saying that they cannot interfere in the proceedings to that extent. The
APC complied; they did not declare their seats vacant. But they went
ahead, since they had the legal clearance, in terms of the suspension,
and suspended them. These people are not obeying the orders of the
court. They are now operating outside the ambit of the law. That is what
the media should see and emphasise and tell our security agencies to
please help in enforcing the law of this nation. Otherwise, the two
sides can resort to jungle justice and God forbids that we should ever
get to that kind of situation. As a result, it is very clear that the
opposition in Edo State, the PDP, using totally illegal and crude
tactics to try to undermine the government of this state. That is
unacceptable. It is illegal and must not be allowed to stand.
Is it true your party lacks internal democracy?
Internal democracy means that there is a law and you must conduct
yourself according to law. The APC has a constitution and the
constitution says clearly that consensus is a preferred way of reaching a
decision because all leaders would have subscribed to that consensus.
It means nobody has everything he wants but everybody has something.
Consequently, we are able to live happily together. But it states
clearly that where that consensus cannot be reached and even a single
member insists on a proper election, again, according to the rules of
the party, so be it. We, then go and have an election. That is what we
are operating. Unless somebody else has another definition of internal
democracy, what is important is that we are abiding strictly by the
constitution of the party.
Was your emergence part of the internal democracy?
Yes, it was by consensus. In spite of that, there was still an
election. There was still voting; you could have voted ‘No’, even if I
was the only candidate. In fact, there was nobody competing with me who
did not voluntarily withdraw, except the one who did not even return his
forms because he saw the evidence on the ground that it will become a
non-issue. There was nobody who came to the convention venue that
insisted on a vote and the vote was not taken.
What are the prospects of your party at the 2015 general elections?
It is clear that the Nigerian nation is broken and change must come.
Let the Nigerian people try something new for democracy to thrive, even
if they are not sure of what we stand for and for the PDP not to take
the nation for granted as it has done today. People should show they
have a choice and that it is their right to hire and to fire. They
should show the PDP they want to try something for a change. If that
change did not satisfy the people, they can fire the new government.
That is the kind of democracy we should have.
The PDP has managed to maintain itself in power in such a way that
they really do not care anymore what the people think. They fix the
votes, they fix themselves in power and they rule us with impunity. It
is now for Nigerians to decide whether they want to continue in that
condition where nothing is working. We are going to tell Nigerians that
it is time to try something new. We are presenting ourselves as
something new, something different. We are presenting the states that we
govern as signposts. In Edo State, when people come here, I say, ‘Look,
if Oshiomhole can do in Abuja what he has done here then we do not have
problems. We will see visibly what our resources are being used for.’
It is not when ministers now have two jets. People steal pension funds
and get away with it. The fuel subsidy issue has disappeared from public
discourse. The N20bn has disappeared from public discourse. Bombs
blasts have become like a normal thing. Is that the life we want for
this country?
We are presenting our party as new, as different and we have done the
studies as people who truly care. There is no way we can prove it to
you because we have never ruled this nation. But we can tell you, ‘Look
at our states.’ We are not pretending to be angels. Politics is not a
seminary nor is it the papacy. But what is important is, ‘What are you
doing with the lives of the people?’ That is what is critical. Are you
restoring hopes to their lives? Are you making their lives better?
Punch
