John Odigie-Oyegun, the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has refused to respond to the recent call for his resignation by Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the party, because he holds Tinubu “in high esteem, so I will never join issues with him.”
Oyegun, speaking in Benin, the capital of Edo State said he preferred to focus on ensuring the party emerges victorious at the forthcoming governorship election in the state rather than trading barbs.
“Edo is the focus for now and as you know this is my state, so it is a very serious election for us. We don’t want to lose focus and I know Asiwaju also wants us to win because we all have worked hard for this. So, may be after the election if there is need, I will speak. If there is no need, I will relax.”
In a communique on Sunday, Tinubu accused Oyegun of overruling the decision of the National Working Committee of the APC with regards to the Ondo state governorship primary.
The NWC was said to have favoured a rerun of the primaries but against this decision, Oyegun was alleged to have upheld the election and subsequently forwarded the name of Rotimi Akeredolu to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the party’s flagbearer.
For these wrongdoings, Tinubu had declared Oyegun unworthy of being the party’ leader and demanded for his resignation.
Oyegun, however, noted that there were too many falsity bandied about him in the papers. He went on to posit that he is a man of integrity and would always allow democracy take its course.
“But all I can say now is that most of the things said in the papers about me are not true. I have always believed in internal democracy, that the credibility of primary must be taken seriously.”
“I believe that if the primaries of parties are not credible, it may derail any democracy, so I don’t play with these things at all. Everybody knows me and I don’t joke with my credibility and I have tried to maintain it,” he stated.
He added that he wanted to consult widely with other leaders of the party before making a statement, if necessary. “But may be after the Edo elections, after we must have emerged victorious, we may speak on some of the issues raised. So there is no problem at all.”
