• Ex-chair angry over raging instability in party

“The real problem comes if a party stands in danger of losing its bearing. I am APC and I don’t see myself somewhere else. I cannot just quite envisage it.”



Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

The immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has opened up on several issues concerning his party, especially on the circumstances surrounding his exit as the chairman of the ruling party.

Speaking to Sunday Sun in Abuja, the former Edo State governor revealed his fears for the 2019 general elections, what he is missing most since leaving office and what the Nigerian youths must do to permanently retire the old politicians, among other issues.


Can we kick-start this interaction with an opening remarks from you?

I have decided to deliberately and totally stay out of controversy because we are in a system that is so dynamic and so active that whatever you say is capable of either being misinterpreted or not being particularly helpful. I have decided to keep away from the politics of who is right or who is wrong. As an elder statesman, I want to make an appeal first in the general polity for a lot more decorum and for our leaders to keep away from distractions and none issues. The social media is full of such terrible distractions, insults and humongous percentage of clear patent falsehood. This seems to have become the main issues whereas they are mere distractions. Such issues as whether people have certificate or not, whether they went to school or not, and quite a lot of other manufactured stories against prominent individuals. It looks as if the past time is the search for scandal rather than an attempt to build up issues, debate alternative approaches. We all know the problem of the country, who has answers to these problems and what are the answers.

These are the issues that these coming two and half months should try to address. As far as my own party is concerned, I have only one appeal, there should be peace and that every effort should be made to establish peace such that we will approach the elections with a united front, united voice and as a united party, rallying around a united programme of action. There is no question now that there are lots of very serious disputations within the party, but I am very glad that peace teams have been sent out. I was happy to run into one of them while I was on personal engagement in the Southeast and it is my prayer that they achieve the goals for which they were set up and for which they have been sent out. However, it is necessary to emphasise that for peace to happen, all sides must be ready and willing to give and to take. There must be willingness for compromise that will bring the party back together again in the kind of fighting mood that we need to be in to confront the elections in February next year, which are bound to be challenges given the state of the nation. It is also the appropriate time to say that my attachment to President Muhammadu Buhari started way back when he was a military Head of State. I think outside Murtala Muhammed, he was the first person to appreciate the need for a disciplined society, the need for an orderly society, the need for basic ethics both in our interactions between one another, both in our business undertakings and dealings with the international communities. He understands the need for basic morality, the need for us as a people to start knowing very strongly the difference between right and wrong. That is the challenge we still face as a people.

It is not the challenge of brick and mortal like how many kilometres of roads we have built, or how many schools we have renovated; it is the challenge of reorienting the basic mentality of us all as Nigerians. It is about learning to do things properly, learning to accept due process and that might not be necessarily right. And because of that, I was sold on him at that early stage and up till today, I absolutely don’t have any reason to change that impression of him. What he needs is our support, genuine support, men and women of passion that will help bring to fruition the corrective measures that he has put in place and still pursuing. Besides that original empathy with him, my support is unflinching. I still consider him by far the best person that we have for president for next year. He has my support in whatever capacity and I will continue to make that available in whatever manner of ways that is necessary to enhance his potential for victory.


What is your reaction to the story trending online that you have left the APC?

I had intended to totally ignore that flown kite. I have almost succeeded in doing that but this will be an opportunity to emphasise that in terms of the thinking, I was basically an originator because I knew that what we were doing while in opposition was wrong. We in opposition truly want to present our nation with democratic choice. We need to build a party that can be comparable in levels, strength and acceptability to the Nigerian public not for them to keep saying that they don’t like them yet they don’t have choice. Having been an originator to that process, it will be extremely difficult to see myself elsewhere. Yes, the party has issues and problems, but you don’t run away from the party because it is passing through a phase or difficulty.

I cannot run away. I will rather give what I have to patch the cracks. We will maintain the direction and goals we have set for ourselves otherwise the fluidity of the movement does not make sense and does not show commitment. Yes, there are difficulties, but they are meant to be addressed, sorted out so that the party does not lose its soul and the message that brought it into being. Those are the critical issues. The real problem comes if a party stands in danger of losing its bearing in those respects. I am APC and I don’t see myself somewhere else. I cannot just quite envisage it.


What is your take on the opinion of the Archbishop of Abuja that the two frontline presidential candidates are undesirable to Nigerians based on their antecedents and achievements?

Well, I have the highest degree of respect for the Cardinal because he is a man of very acute intellect and wisdom. He happens to be part of Nigeria’s democracy, which allows us to have opinion on issues. What he has done was in exercise of his legitimate right as a Nigerian. The candidates involved are Nigerians and whether we like it or not, the candidates have been selected by other Nigerians to be their standard bearers. That is democracy and until we can bring angels to run and go through the mill, offer and place themselves and work, I don’t think you can do better than that. We pray that Nigeria will one day be populated all by angels and we will probably have the opportunity to have it.


Would you have adopted other mode of primary elections if you were still in charge and what is your take on the position of some governors that they will only support Buhari’s re-election, but support their candidates in other parties in state election?

I can say one thing for sure. I am not happy as to the state of relative instability in the party. I don’t think there is a single person who is today happy either. However, the good thing is that there are peace missions that are found now all over the country. At this point in time, it will be inappropriate for me to start saying that things went bad because that happened or because that was not how it should happen. As an elder statesman, I should not start passing my own personal judgment when there is a team already out there trying to broker peace. I will not be helping the situation. What we require is peace and I pray that God gives the team the wisdom required to work out the settlement to bring the party into strong political fighting shape.


Will the endorsements of the presidential candidate of the PDP by the Southeast and Southwest elders affect the outcome of the 2019 election?

I don’t think it will affect the outcome of the election. There is one mistake many of our leaders continue to make and that is underestimating the voting public. They underestimate the farmers, market women, labourers, yet they know what is happening in the society and do not need to depend on anybody in particular except the died-in-the-wood party people like us. I can tell you that if any church today says that the entire congregation should vote for party X, they will accept and go home, but will still vote for whomsoever they have decided to vote for. That is the situation we are in in this country. That was why I emphasised issue-based politics. The average Nigerian is eking, he is not a fool not to know that no one person can solve all his problems.

But he wants to be sure that you are going to make a good trial. He wants to have hope critical that whoever he wants to vote for is likely to start the process of improvement to his personal circumstances so that he will have hope for the future, if not for himself then for his children. That is the motivation of some people. We are going to see more adoptions and I expect to see some presidential candidates withdrawing and supporting one candidate or the other. The trading will soon start and we have more of such declarations. It is part of our politics and some of our leaders do it for their own personal reasons, but at great cost to themselves because they are underestimating the voting public.


What is your advice to the youths, security agents ahead the 2019 election?

I have read a lot about fears of violence for the election, but I think they are highly exaggerated. We are passing through the most difficult times in the process towards 2019. These are the critical periods and I just hope that the campaigns will not also provide platform for groups to clash. Once this did not happen, we are in the clear. My advice is that the youths must know what is in their interest. Most the parties we have today are youths oriented and it shows the kind of difficulty we have as a people and nation. I don’t think any three to 10 of them have been able to come together to endorse one of them as consensus candidate.

That they are not able to do it raises issues of motive of why they are in politics. Are they there to rescue themselves or impact on the direction of events? I would have been the happiest person if 20 parties with youthful candidates can unite to adopt a particular candidate. It is then that I will know that the youths are truly very serious about their own fate and about their ambition to control the political trend in the country. They said that we should retire; yes we are ready to retire, but are the youths ready to take over. Why should we have 91 political parties mainly led by youthful Nigerians? It shows that they too did not appreciate the predicament and the work that they need to do to convince the older ones that they are ready for leadership. The youths are the ones to help themselves and they cannot do that by been part of the violent groups to get a little change that can last them few months only to return to square one. I feel so strongly the way they are presented ahead of the 2019 general elections.


What are your fears for 2019 general elections?

Once we can go through the campaigns the actually voting process will be more peaceful than what most Nigerians think. I am not saying that there will not be one or two odd happenings, but there will not be nothing much. The other challenge will probably be when the result will be announced. But again, I don’t think there is much to fear because the electoral process has continued to progress. It is now sufficiently technology driven to remove all the issue of ballot box snatching, or involving fake voters or this issue of vote buying. How many voters can one buy to make the difference during the presidential election? I don’t think it will work and believe me, if I know where they are buying votes; I will go and collect my own because it is stupidity to convince people with financial inducement. If you give them money, they will collect and vote according to their conscience. In a nutshell, I don’t have much fear. Yes, we are moving ahead in the democratic process, however, the only problem we still have till this moment is the level of abuses, insults, seriousness in the campaign process to almost total neglect of issues. We have neglected the real issues of how to make this country of nearly 200 million people a great nation and what we need to do to move Nigeria from point A to point B. We need people of that kind of vision to convince us that they are going to make that vision a reality.

This is what we need to do, not all these insults being hauled all over the places. I want to appeal to the media, especially the print to help negate the social media that have gone totally ballistic with the kind of stories they carry these days like the kind of violence. You can imagine people outside this country reading our social media. Are they really alright with the kind of things they now consider as breaking news in this country? It leaves a lot to be desired and I just hope it will not spread to the print and electronic media. This also brings me to the recent unfortunate incident that happened in Borno State, where in a surprise attack; many of our brilliant and gallant military personnel were killed in cold blood. The newsmen are more knowledgeable about this and scholars will advise us to beware of the last kick from a dying horse. There is no question at all that the Boko Haram group are in deep trouble. They have been diminished to the point that they are really not effective, but that does not mean they cannot, once in a while, have this great display which they start feeding the propaganda machine to make our military men look like they were falling asleep on their job. It is not like that. I have been very sad and unhappy reading some things and propaganda that trailed the unfortunate event in that camp in Borno State. We must not do anything to fall for the propaganda of this destructive Boko Haram insurgent. Our men in uniform are doing a valiant job and once in a while the enemy manages to inflict some damage. It is very unfortunate, but it should not happen. What we don’t hear always is the amount of good work that our security agents and the non-uniformed ones are doing every day to safe us. The incidents they are preventing that they cannot go to the press to trumpet are humongous. My appeal is that we must stand four square behind our soldiers in the front. We must not fall for enemy propaganda. We must at all times uphold our men under arms because they are performing wonders under very difficult conditions.


What is that particular thing you are missing so much outside the office?

I have to think very deeply to tell you what I am missing most since I left office. It was a very tough job, it was a very challenging job. Yes, I had my vision for the elections, how to approach it and get very resounding victory, but that is matter for another day. What is important today is that I am at peace. What is important today is that having worked hard all my life from the very minute I got into the public service till this point, I am now beginning to appreciate the beauty of being at peace with myself, the beauty of being able to decide that I am not going anywhere today, the beauty of choosing which reception to attend and the one not to attend. I am no longer under pressure to attend functions based on my position as chairman of this or that. It is a beautiful freedom. So, all told, I am glad that I made the decision that I made.

https://sunnewsonline.com/apc-chairmanship-my-story-oyegun/

Oyegun is not very good at jumping from one party to another I notice this when he was stuck with ANPP for years.


Nevertheless, anything can happen when it comes to Nigerian politics. Less noise when he was APC chairman

APC d den of thieves...

This one don quiet. They have finished using him.

Satanic Coven party use and dump people.

Tufiakwa!

hatchy:
This one don quiet. They have finished using him.

Satanic Coven party use and dump people.

Tufiakwa!

Tufiakwa for you. Satanic people destroying party

Where is Adamu Muazu? was he also used and dumped by the PDP?

At least Oyegun finished his term, mention one PDP chairman that finished his term in the 20 year history of the party? I guess they were all used and dumped as is customary with your darling PDP? Even Ekwueme who founded the PDP was used and dumped

Oyegun is indeed a statesman who isn't into politics for chop chop like plenty APC and PDP people.

He left the post with his integrity intact and isn't throwing tantrums like some overfed babies. I never assumed he was going to defect. A man that stayed true to ANPP despite not having anything for years is a consistent human being just like Ogbonnaya Onu

One thing is certain, APC is on self destruct mode

shukuokukobambi:


Tufiakwa for you. Satanic people destroying party

Where is Adamu Muazu? was he also used and dumped by the PDP?

At least Oyegun finished his term, mention one PDP chairman that finished his term in the 20 year history of the party? I guess they were all used and dumped as is customary with your darling PDP? Even Ekwueme who founded the PDP was used and dumped

Today is Sunday.... just mind your business.

hatchy:
Today is Sunday.... just mind your business.

You commented, i commented so what is paining you?

He dined too deep to decamp... same for Okorocha, Amosun, they can only either float a new party or decamp to an unknown party. He cant also pull an Akpabio as he does not have the political clout or warchest.

Magalan:
He dined too deep to decamp... same for Okorocha, Amosun, they can only either float a new party or decamp to an unknown party. He cant also pull an Akpabio as he does not have the political clout or warchest.

Not everybody is a political prostitute.

Oyegun has been in politics since 1990 and he has only been a member of 2 political parties, the SDP that went defunct in 1993 and the ANPP that was one of the legacy parties that formed APC.

Some folks have a life outside politics and Oyegun is such a person

APC must have seen that Oyegun wasn't their problem after all.

My only pity is for Okorocha who Oyegun marked for demolition. He ran to Oshiomole, only for that one to also mark him, and eventually, demolition him.

At the end APC will learn that they would have heeded the advice against leadership change too close to elections.

hatchy:
Today is Sunday.... just mind your business.

Many of you Igbos no just gree get sense I swear, from one foolish talk to another for four good years.

If this old dumbo had been left in charge....

Buhari's defeat would have been announced in 2018

May God deliver Nigeria. Bunch of clueless clowns.

See this old akpa amu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maqY6EuQF9g

Politics!

Osho baba will finish the work

Chief John Odigie-Oyegun is a good man. But Oshiomole is what we need now. Else Saraki and his crew would have had an easy ride.

I like this man

Traitor... who your story Help?

Interesting.

Las Las we will send the dullard back to Daura then Las Las we will all be fine

who ask you?

Abi you too wan write your own nonsense book like Jonathan

Jombom:
Many of you Igbos no just gree get sense I swear, from one foolish talk to another for four good years.

You're a disgrace to your parents. They ought to abort your fetus if they knew what you would become.

sighhhh.....

d short black midget oshokmole really dealt with him

Mr Oyegun, why don't you write book on it. My story.