NEWS: we have problems in APC, but... -Oyegun

The National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on Monday, declared that the party is having problems, saying that all efforts are on to salvage the party.
Odigie-Oyegun disclosed this in Abuja while fielding questions from newsmen, saying that "let me assure the public that peace is on the way. We had a problem in the family, no doubt about that, but we are moving quickly to resolve it. As you can see, we are working hard to see that the leaders and rank and file don't start throwing punches."
On the just-concluded election of National Assembly principal officers, he said that "All the party decided to do is to re-unify as quickly as possible our members in both chambers of the National Assembly under the existing realities. That is the first priority. Every other thing will follow. All other thing will have to wait.
"This is because if, for instance, the president says he wants to present his list of ministerial nominees to the Senate, we don't want a situation whereby the Senate will be divided. So, we are trying to sort that out; it is our number one priority. We are happy that we are arriving at amicable settlement of the situation; this one cannot wait for long. It has to be immediate," he maintained.
On the ministerial list that is yet to be submitted by the president, he said that "we have a very capable president. He is capable as ever. The president is a very careful man. He wants to be sure the kind of people he will appoint are people who are passionate about the country. What is really important is the speed of the delivery of his policies.
"You can see that things are already improving. You can see in the electricity front, the supply of petroleum, etc. What the president is doing is to conduct a very thorough check on the background of the people he will appoint," he said.
...He should resign —NWC member •Chides Lai Mohammed
DEPUTY National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, on Monday, fingered the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) as the engineer of the crisis rocking the party as a result of the mock election organised by the party before the inauguration and election of leaders of the National Assembly.
To this end, Frank asked Oyegun to resign his position honourably over his failure to provide quality leadership for the party.
While addressing newsmen in Abuja, he maintained that “if my party could not keep to the promise of change, then we must correct them to keep to that. I have no fear or favour than to say that the current leadership of the party has practically failed.”
According to him, “with this incident alone, the chairman should resign from his position, after taking a position against the people and the people’s position has finally come to stay.
“In the Western world, by today, the party’s national chairman would have resigned honourably. Not just the national chairman, but the entire leadership that took this decision of conducting mock election against the outcry of the larger members of the party.”
While condemning the party leadership for organising the failed mock election, he said “you could see the way the party, including the national chairman, was speaking before the NASS leadership elections; it showed clearly that the chairman had totally taken sides which was not meant to be.
“I understand, he took some of those decisions based on pressure. In this century, APC as a party does not need a chairman that will be under pressure.”
Continuing, he said “the party’s national chairman caused the problem, because times without numbers, some of the leaders had told him to come up with a zoning formula. He was asked to take a decision and let the people follow, but he did not do that.
“They were playing hide and seek with the issue until the last minute when they saw the danger, and they wanted to play hanky-panky, which led us to lose one position at the Senate.”
Frank also lashed out at the party’s national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, for claiming that “President Muhammadu Buhari is a product of the party and not the party leader.
“Let’s go back and ask Mohammed who the leader of the party is if he does not recognise the president as the leader.
“In my own view, if Lai Mohammed that is my direct boss could come up to tell Nigerians that the president is only a product of the party and not the national leader of the party, then he should have been able to tell us who the leader of the party is.”
He added that if the president could not be the leader of the party, Lai Mohammed should tell who the leader was.