Protesters demand Oyegun’s removal

Ahead of today’s National Executive Committee meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a group of youths yesteday protested at the party’s National Secretariat, demanding the sack of the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee (NWC).
Members of the Save APC and Democracy Youth Vanguard, who carried placards, disrupted the flow of traffic around the secretariat. They demanded the audit of the party’s books and  the cancellation of the non-elective convention. The party, they said, must fully support the anti-corruption fight.
While the protest was going on, Oyegun drove into the secretariat. The youths got more vocal, shouting: “Oyegun must go”. The police and the APC secretary prevented them from entering the building.
The leader of the group, Peter Oyewole said: “Since 2015, the budget of APC has not been made public. Since 2015, the ruling party has not held a single meeting. These are enough to remove the National Chairman. We demand the removal of Oyegun now.
“We are also saying enough is enough to imposition of candidates at all levels by Oyegun-led NWC tnat is currently going on in this party, because in any party where there is imposition, there cannot be fairness; any party where there is imposition, there cannot be equity. The imposition in APC today is just rubbishing the anti-corruption war of President Buhari.
“If Odigie-Oyegun is not removed within the next one month, the APC youths will picket this national secretariat and make it a no-go area to everybody; the staff, the officials and even the security staff will be chased out of the Secretariat and none of them will be allowed to come in here.”
“The man (Oyegun) can not manage success. Since 2015 that the APC won the presidential election, tell me a single NEC meeting that has been held? This man can not galvanise support for the president.
“What we are saying is that if Oyegun continues like this we are going to have imposition at all levels in APC come 2019. This is a democracy whereby many wings can grow up to push for the interest of many.”
Another youths group within the party under the auspices of  APC Youths Solidarity Forum said the party should find ways of improving its finances. Besides, it should address the anxieties being felt by various party stalwarts, the group said.
The group said the APC should be strengthened as it remains the only legitimate platform to obtain political power in the country.
In a letter to the President, signed by the forum’s convener,  Danesi Momoh Prince, the group said the situation in the party urgently needed attention and intervention “if we must retain the presidency come 2019 and remain in power”
The letter reads in part: “The President needs to take more than a passing interest in the activities of the party and ensure that the party is supreme. There have been alleged schemes to remove the party’s national chairman from office because of his perceived loyalty to Mr. President.
“The alleged plot is aimed at achieving sinister political ends in the lead up to the 2019 general elections. If the plan succeeds, it will allow the sponsors install their stooges and hijack the party in the lead up to the election. This is a red flag that the President must take seriously and thwart.”
On appointments, the group said: “Many Federal Government boards, agencies and parastatals appointees who were put in office by the immediate-past administration are still in office. They are not loyal to the APC which they feel had no hand in their emergence.
“There is need to quickly review these appointments and replace them with qualified APC members. Vacant positions should thereafter be quickly filled with APC members who feel frustrated because they seem not to have benefited from the victory of their party. It is also very necessary that these appointments have the heavy input of the APC national leadership to ensure that the right persons who worked for the party are appointed.
“The state of affairs of the party, particularly its poor finances, has been a regular item in the media. While there exists a funding stream that should normally come from collection of membership dues and contribution, the reality is that this is grossly insufficient.
“It is embarrassing that a ruling party does not have funds to meet its basic needs. The National Caucus and NEC needs to urgently work out a sustainable funding model to enable the party to function properly.”
|The Nation