Ondo APC:  Was Tinubu Bruised?

Canticles…

The predictions of the nay sayers are coming to pass.

Who are the nay sayers and what did they predict?

 Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem?

Are you not aware that many have been predicting that the APC will soon shatter and scatter given the cobbling together of disparate forces and interests?

I don’t understand you. So what makes you think this is coming to pass?

You mean you didn’t hear of the in-house combustion, how the dreaded Bola Tinubu, a man who assumed the title of National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has ordered that the National Chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, should step down immediately? And how Oyegun himself has fired back that Tinubu does not have the right to ask him to resign since the constitution did not provide for such an exit order? You don’t understand that the duo are now squaring up to each other? You also did not know that even former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has joined Tinubu to drag Oyegun down? Have you not been in the country?

You have not told me anything new. I must warn you not to over-sensationalise these issues. They are normal political squabbles. Oyegun has explained that there is no feud with the Jagaban, only differences of opinion. Don’t forget politics is all about interest. It is either group or individual interests. And as soon as this is threatened, there will be kicks here and there.

So what are you implying?

I am not implying anything. I am telling you that if Tinubu is kicking or Atiku is kicking, you are better check well. It is because their interests must have been threatened one way or the other.

(In hushed voice)Let me tell you. Do you think Tinubu will be happy that for the second time, his effort to install the Ondo governor failed? Don’t forget that in 2011, Tinubu sponsored and supported Rotimi Akerodolu of then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) against Governor Olusegun Mimiko because he felt that Mimiko betrayed him. Recall that Tinubu had said during one of those campaign rallies of the party   at Ikare-Akoko, that, “I took him (Mimiko) as a brother when he came groveling for support. We gave him our support, money and even gave him a bulletproof car. But Mimiko betrayed us.” So if at the end of that contest Mimiko won and Tinubu lost, you think the latter would be happy?

And yet again, even in the choice of the party’s standard-bearer (in a party that he is the unchallenged National Leader), his own candidate—Mr Segun Abraham was not picked or elected as the party’s candidate. And you expected him to smile? You don’t know that a huge chunk of his political ego has been chipped off? No politician worth his name will be happy with that. So if he is kicking, it is understandable.

So why is Atiku joining him too?

It is the same issue of interest. Don’t forget the same Atiku was a presidential aspirant along with now President Muhammadu Buhari. Atiku still believes that Oyegun must have tweaked the structures of the party to favour Buhari against him in 2014. So if he is kicking against Oyegun now, it is because of past acrimonies. And don’t forget Atiku still has his eyes on 2019. He must have also calculated that his chances will remain threatened and abortable if Oyegun continues to remain in office. Therefore, the earlier he is thrown out, the better for his interest. Believe me, it is all about their interest, my brother!

So if Tinubu sponsored Akerodolu in 2011, why is he bitter now that the same Akerodolu has emerged?

Surely, you don’t understand politicians. You don’t know they behave like Ogbanje sometimes? Nothing is permanent in politics, except interest. Tinubu found another worthier vessel in Segun Abraham and does not believe Akerodolu is the fellow anymore. So he would feel even more hurt that a fellow he has dumped became the eventual winner in a contest he was more or less a proxy contestant. Do you think it is for nothing that the supporters of Akerodolu and Abraham have started clashing on the streets of Akure?

 I don’t believe you completely. Don’t forget the same Abraham had congratulated Akerodolu for emerging as the party’s candidate. So what informed the change of stance?

Well, there is a claim that the delegates’ list was manipulated and over 150 strange names were engrafted into the list. And that was what gave Akerodolu the victory. That has been the basis of the protest against Akerodolu’s emergence.

 Did you not hear that in the appeal panel that six persons voted for the repeat of the exercise while five upheld it? And rather than go with the position of the majority, John Oyegun upheld the position of the minority?

I understand he voted to uphold the primaries and that made it all six.

 He is supposed to vote only when there is a tie. Not when there is a clear winner. Can’t you see he breached the process and the rules?

Is there no room for his own discretion as the presiding officer?

 Sadly, there is no such provision. All that he needed to do was to play by the rules.

But I hear that the Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal has been delegated by President Buhari to sort out the feud.

And you think Tambuwal will change anything? You think Asiwaju, the Jagunmola of Yoruba politics will be persuaded by that? Look, the swords have been unsheathed right now. The future of the party is hanging in the balance.

Well, it will be a way of ensuring that the shaky stacks of the party do not come crumbling down to the pleasure of their critics.

Nothing will come crumbling down if Oyegun falls. Or did you not hear that he even lost his ward in the Edo governorship election? Can’t you see his electoral value has been wiped off?

I think the APC chieftains must all do everything to avoid the mockery of all the nay sayers led by the PDP overlords who have always predicted that this marriage of convenience called the APC will not last. The ball is in their court.

Related Articles