Tinubu

Tinubu’s Concerns

Tinubu lamented that in contravention of the NWC decision and in violation of all rules of fundamental decency, Oyegun decided to safeguard the fraud done in Ondo by perpetrating a greater fraud of submitting the name of Akeredolu to INEC as the candidate of the party.

Thus, the National Leader of the party accused Oyegun of not only sabotaging majority, but working against all that the party stood for. “As party chairman, Oyegun was supposed to protect our internal processes and be an impartial arbiter, a person in whom all had confidence. Instead, he donned the garment of a confident man, duping the NWC, the party, and INEC in one fell blow.

He has robbed APC members in Ondo State of the chance to pick in a fair manner who they believe is the best candidate,” said Tinubu. Odigie- Oyegun insisted last week that it is only INEC that can change the result of the gubernatorial primary despite the controversies. “It is only INEC (the Independent national Electoral Commission) that can make a U-turn on the Ondo primary,” the APC National Chairman told reporters.

The Dangers Ahead

The crises over APC primary reverberated in Akure, the Ondo State capital last week as supporters of Akeredolu and Abraham clashed during a protest in Akure, the state capital. Analysts contended that APC may have lost the Ondo election already especially if the three aggrieved aspirants refused to support Akeredolu. Indeed, the prospect of getting the aspirants behind Akeredolu dimmed last week with the defection of Oke to Alliance for Democracy, AD.

This, according to analysts will affect the chances of the party in the Southern part of the State where Oke has over time proved that he is a force to be reckoned with in terms of garnering of votes. The two other leading aggrieved aspirants are also weighing their options as at the time of writing this story. Beyond the Ondo primary, analysts contended that the fight between Oyegun and Tinubu is a manifestation of the ongoing struggle between different forces to control the soul of APC ahead of the 2019 general election.

The speculations was that at present, there at least three factions trying to control the party, with a group led by Tinubu being one of them. Tinubu was unarguably the major force behind emergence of Oyegun. But the two erstwhile comrades in political trenches, it was gathered have fallen out in recent times over decisions taken by the Oyegun led NWC.

The former Lagos Governor began to part ways with the APC National Chairman following what was believed to be the shoddy manner he handled the crisis that characterized the process of selecting principal officers for the National Assembly. Of recent, Tinubu is also said to be angry with Oyegun over the APC NWC approach to the crisis set off by the death Abubakar Audu, the candidate of the party at the October 2015 Kogi gubernatorial election.

In these and other instances, Tinubu, according to sources believed that Oyegun allowed himself to be negatively influenced by reactionary forces trying to gain control of the party. Hence, the National leader of APC said in his statement that, “Much more than the Ondo primary is at stake.” Tunubu who declared that to rescue the party rescue the party, Oyegun must go said the APC national chairman has shown the he cannot exist in the same party with democracy at the same time. “If the party could not justly govern itself, it would find it difficult to establish and maintain just government throughout the nation,” said Tinubu.

The APC National Chairman has denied the allegations against him and insisted last that he will not be sacked on the “pages of a newspaper.”

With each side digging in analysts said the party faced possibe implosion as members take side in the fight as it was already happening. This aside, there is also the fear that the infighting may weaken the party and aid the re-emergence of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party despite the ills associated with the party’s 16 years rule. In the same vein, the implosion of APC may signal the end of the kind of regional alliance that that helped to dethrone 16 years of PDP in power at the national level. The crises in the ruling party, may also divert government’s attention from efforts to tackle the nation’s present economic crises.