A stalwart of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Tom Ikimi, on Wednesday accused former governor of Lagos state, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of turning the opposition party into a private club.
He disclosed that this portended danger to the nation if eventually the APC wins the presidency in the forth-coming 2015 general elections.
Ikimi in a statement said Tinubu operated caucuses whose membership varied from time to time subject to his whims and caprice, this was evident in the manner he single-handedly imposed the choice of former Edo State governor, John Odigie-Oyegun, as Chairman, National Exective Council on the party, truncating democratic process in the national convention.
He went further to say that Tinubu had the APC governors in his pocket.
He said, “The governors and the Tinubu groups decided on a zoning process that was limited only to party offices as well as the choice of individuals to fill them. They proceeded in a manner that was neither open nor transparent. Most undemocratic and bizarre procedures then prevailed.
“The governors initiated a zoning plan that allocated the national chairman to the South-South. This proposal was reluctantly accepted by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, whose well-known preferred option had been to retain Chief Bisi Akande as the chairman forever. Nevertheless, he in the circumstance, proceeded to draw up a list of his cronies for the entire national executive all by himself. Very strange as this may sound, it was the reality. Nothing was ever referred to the National Interim Executive Council for approval or even information.”
Ikimi also lambasted Tinubu for parading himself as the national leader of the APC, saying no one gave him such a position. He added that it was unfortunate that some members of the party had tried to justify Tinubu’s unilateral appointment of Oyegun as the national chairman as a concession done to him as the national leader.
He said his problem with the ex-governor began when he opposed the Muslim-Muslim presidential and vice presidential ticket of the party.
“Asiwaju Bola Tinubu may recall that mostly for the same reasons I opposed his desire to run as vice presidential candidate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar under the Action Congress banner in 2007. We settled for Senator Ben Obi from eastern Nigeria.
“I know he nurses a grudge against me for the position I took which was strongly supported by leaders from five zones apart from the South-West. I have no regrets whatsoever for my courage to stand up against oppression or dictatorship. No matter what anyone might say against the PDP, no individual claims ownership of that party,” the statement read in parts.
When one of our correspondents contacted the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, for a response to Ikimi’s statement, he said the party had no comment.
In a text message response, Mohammed said, “I have gone through his (Ikimi’s) statement and we have no comments at the moment.”
We know all the moles in APC, allowing Ikimi to become our chairman is like burning our own house. we still have 2 other moles that will join Fani Fakoyode in PDP soon.
Nigerians know dats why PDP won in Ekiti and dey end up accusin pple as illiterate masses,influenced by rice and all sorts of rubbish on Tvc,APC will never get to d presidency