The raging crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday,
\ntook a different dimension with the call by one of the party\u2019s National
\nWorking Committee (NWC) members, Mr. Timi Frank that the party\u2019s national
\nchairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun should resign.<\/p>\n
Mr. Frank who blamed the chairman and some members of the APC\u2019s NWC for
\nthe crisis that has resulted from the election of leaders of National
\nAssembly, said it was unfortunate that the leadership of the party played
\nhide and seek and over indulged themselves in the choice of Senate
\nPresident and House Speaker.<\/p>\n
Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara had emerged Senate President
\nand House Speaker, respectively, against the wishes and position of the
\nAPC. Senator Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila had been favored by the
\nparty after the initial conduct of a mock election which was won by the
\nduo, to occupy the seats.<\/p>\n
Speaking in Abuja yesterday, however, \u200eMr. Frank who deputises for
\nAlhaji Lai Muhammed in the party stated that the chairman and leadership
\nof the party ought to resign having embarked on an embarrassing mock
\nelection that never had the blessings of the entire party\u2019s leadership,
\nmore so that the leadership exhibited gross incompetence to manage the
\nNational Assembly issue until it blew out of hand. This he said was
\nbecause of the vested interest manifested by the chairman and few of his
\ncolleagues in the party.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf my party could not keep to the promise of change, then we must correct
\nthem to keep to that. I have no fear or favour than to say that the
\ncurrent leadership of the party has practically failed. With this incident
\nalone, the chairman should resign from his position after taking a
\nposition against the people and the people\u2019s position has finally come to
\nstay. In the Western world, by today the party\u2019s national chairman would
\nhave resigned honourably.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot just the national chairman but the entire leadership that took this
\ndecision of conducting mock election against the outcry of the larger
\nmembers of the party. Against the bigger picture of Nigerians. A hand-full
\nof\u200e the party leadership came to take a decision, and by today the
\npeople have shown that the voice of the people is the voice of God,\u201d Timi
\nFrank stated.<\/p>\n
He specifically blamed APC chairman, Odigie Oyegun for clearly failing to
\nconsult widely before embarking on the mock election which he said
\nridiculed the party. He submitted that the chairman\u2019s action suggested
\nthat he acted under undue pressure to conduct the mock elections as
\nadmitted by him and was therefore of the opinion that if the \u200eAPC
\nwas to rid itself of the mistakes of the PDP, it needed a chairman that
\nwould insulate himself from undue pressures no matter where such pressure
\nemanated from.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou \u200ecould see the way the party including the national chairman
\nwas speaking\u200e before the NASS leadership elections; it showed
\nclearly that the chairman had totally taken sides which wasn\u2019t meant to
\nbe. I understand, he took some of those decisions based on pressure. In
\nthis century, APC as a party, does not need a chairman that will be under
\npressure.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200eAnd the party\u2019s national chairman caused it because times out of
\nnumbers some of leaders told him to come up with a zoning formula from the
\nbeginning. He was as\u200eked to take a decision and let people follow
\nthat but he didn\u2019t do that. They were playing hide and seek with the issue
\nuntil the last minute when they saw the danger, and they wanted to play
\nhanky-panky, which led us to lose one position at the Senate,\u201d Comrade
\nFrank said.<\/p>\n
On remarks attributed to the APC\u2019s national publicity secretary that
\nBuhari is a product of the party and not the party\u2019s leader, Timi Frank
\nwho frowned at the statement, called on Lai Mohammed to desist from such
\ncomments as it was capable of putting the party in bad light.<\/p>\n
\u201d Let\u2019s go back and ask Lai Mohammed who the leader of the party is. If he
\ndoes not recognise the President as the leader. In my own view, If Lai
\nMohammed that is my direct boss could come up to tell Nigerians that the
\nPresident is only a product of the party and not the national leader of
\nthe party, then he should have been able to tell us who the leader of the
\nparty is.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen that even in then PDP, former President Goodluck Jonathan
\nwas the leader of the party. If in our own case the President cannot be
\nthe leader of the party, he should tell us who the leader is then,\u201d Frank
\naverred.<\/p>\n
He described what transpired at the national Assembly as good for
\ndemocracy, noting that Nigeria stood to be the overall beneficiary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose that are calling for the deputy senate president to resign are
\nanti-people, and I will campaign against it. I will continue to support
\nBurkola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu and every progressive Nigerian should
\nsupport this mission as it will take Nigeria to the next phase because
\nfailure to do this will disrupt democracy, \u201d the deputy national publicity
\nsecretary stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The raging crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, took a different dimension with the call by one of the party\u2019s National Working Committee (NWC) members, Mr. Timi Frank…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n