The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John<\/p>\n
Odigie-Oyegun in an interactive session with journalists at the APC
\nheadquarters in Abuja on Monday spoke on several important issues in the
\npolity including the fight against corruption, the economy, Kogi state
\ndeputy governorship, mass defections to the APC, the party’s Anambra
\nCentral Senatorial candidacy and party funding. Excerpts:
\nOn the economy
\nOur party is very aware of the hardships that the misgovernance of the
\nlast 16 years has plunge this country. We are very aware of the hard and
\ntough times that a lot of Nigerians are going through. Apart from the
\nparty, let me also say that it is the main concern of Mr president. He is
\nfully aware of the tough times that people are going through. And I want
\nto give the assurance that everything is being done to better the economy
\nand ameliorate the deprivation that people are going through.<\/p>\n
I think that many Nigerians understand why things are the way they are and
\nthat the Buhari administration has inherited a prostrate economy. Not just
\nthat, nobody envisaged that there will be a near total collapse of the
\nprice of crude and when you juxtapose that with our consumption habit,
\nwhen we tend import everything in quantity from toothpicks to the choicest
\nchampagne, all these products do put pressure on the foreign exchange
\nstock of the nation and all of this has given rise to all the issues that
\nare being dealt with by the president’s team.<\/p>\n
But one needs to emphasize that as a nation, we got used to excessive
\nconsumption. We are not a producing nation. Virtually everything we have
\nis imported, there is even a joke that some of our elites order pizza and
\nsuch other things all the way from London. So, all these things come from
\nthe same stock of foreign exchange that we have and they are quickly
\ndepleting given the collapse of crude oil.<\/p>\n
We have to turn from a consuming nation to a producing nation. We consume
\nbecause oil was there at a hundred plus naira per barrel so money was all
\nover the place but that is no longer the situation and so we must have to
\nadjust to the new reality as a people and as a nation.<\/p>\n
The president inherited a collapsed economy. You cannot start rebuilding a
\ncollapsed economy without clearing the debris and what we are doing today,
\nis clearing the debris and at the same time; because when we listen to the
\nradio, they say that all that is being done is war against corruption, but
\nat the same time, the work of rebuilding and reconstruction of the
\nNigerian economy is rapidly in progress and I want to assure you that
\nthere will be plenty of successes in the next few months. But I keep
\nunderscoring this that there is no quick fix, there is no automatic
\nsolution but the project are being concluded and things will get better in
\nthe next few months. The party is aware and very conscious and sympathetic
\nbut it is a situation we did not create, it is a situation the government
\nis managing but the good news is that there will be smiles tomorrow but we
\nmust be able to put up with current deprivation which has become
\ninevitable.
\nOn the party’s Anambra Central Senatorial candidacy
\nIt has long ceased to be an issue because the party after due process of
\nour constitutional requirements had been followed, the process threw up
\nBarr Sharon Ikeazor as the candidate for the party in that election and
\nthat is an issue that has since been decided.<\/p>\n
I don’t understand this rather excessive concern of respected Senator Uche
\nEkwenife she is a loyal party member, she went through the processes, it
\nis in the constitution of the party to have procedures, screening
\nprocesses, primary committees all of these are there.<\/p>\n
It happened that there were two ladies of stature vying for that position,
\nshe has just come into the party straight into the process of nomination.
\nWhether it was in the party\u2019s constitution to disqualify her? of course it
\nis there otherwise, we won\u2019t have procedures, screening and appeal
\ncommittees, it just happened that she was just coming into the party and
\nthose who processed the nomination had their score chart and we have a
\ncutoff mark of 51 percent and she happens to score less than that is it.
\nOn Kogi state deputy governorship
\nAll I can say also is as a party, we are prepared for every contingencies
\nin the Kogi situation. So, whatever happens in the next few hours, we are
\nready for it there is no question and doubt about that. I am not to
\npre-empt what may happen, that is for the legal authorities.<\/p>\n
I don’t want to go into the details of what is likely going to happen,
\nthat is still between INEC and legal authorities.
\nOn party funding
\nThere has been this talk in the media but that goes to tell you that just
\nlike the economy, the party too is suffering from the stresses and strains
\nof funding just like every institution in our polity. That also goes to
\ntell you that we are not a party that withdraws money from security votes
\nor from any government agency. We are working on plans to raise money from
\nwithin the memberships. That plan has matured and will soon put it into
\noperation. I saw reports that we have written to the president to rescue
\nthe party. That is not part of his national duties and he has no intention
\nbecause there are no funds from which he can draw from.<\/p>\n
The party has to come up with fresh and innovative ways as to how to raise
\nresources for its operations and that, we have done. The plan is ready and
\nwill go into operation in the next one month or two.
\nOn the alleged ‘missing’ budget
\nI will want to say here that the issue about the budget was totally
\noverplayed, the budget was never missing , the main document was totally
\nintact and when the President presented the budget given the nature of the
\nload of work they have to do and in the circumstances at which they were
\ndone they were likely to be a few corrections to be made in this process
\nand all Mr President effected were the necessary corrections at this point
\nin time and there may still be more corrections as the process continues
\nin the House of Assembly. I just see the criticisms surrounding the budget
\nas one by the opposition to take a bash at the government, what happened
\nis nothing more than suggested corrections to the addendum to the budget
\nthat had earlier been presented.
\nOn mass defections to the APC
\nIt is freedom of association and I think everybody is free to join. The
\nessential fabric of APC is strong enough to withstand any attempt by
\nanyone to undermine it from within. In any case, you cannot join the APC
\nwithout subscribing to its goals and objectives and when you join the
\nparty today, you do not expect to take over reign of power because there
\nare people there already, you still have to prove yourself that you\u2019re
\nloyal and reliable member of the party, you cannot just come and become a
\nleader of the party in one day, you have to earn your way to become
\ntrusted with leadership and control, you cannot transfer you status in the
\nparty you were coming from into APC because when you come, you are meeting
\npeople who are occupying the leadership positions.
\nOn constitution of party’s BOT
\nThere is no issue surrounding that, its just that there has been so much
\nto do and the president wants to personally participate in it, a date has
\nbeen scheduled for all organs of the party to meet.
\nOn alleged ‘selective’ anti-corruption fight
\nI don\u2019t know where to start, but I feel it\u2019s a judicial matter and the
\nparty absolutely has no role on the matter. People give this impression
\nthat this government does nothing other than probe of corrupt officials
\nbut as I said earlier, a lot is happening that will bring cheers to
\nNigerians in the next few months. People say it is only PDP that this
\ngovernment is probing but for sixteen years, PDP was in control, are you
\ngoing to come and arrest me in Benin over contract issues when I was not
\nin any way near government? Let me say this clearly, if we want to clean
\nthis country, then we must be serious about it, wherever the train goes,
\nwe must be ready to go there, all these attempt to divert attention from
\nthe reality will not just work. The mere fact that the current leader is
\ninvestigating what happened before his time is a clear indication that he
\nis unlikely to repeat the same mistake as the next government will
\ninvestigate the current administration too. We must be ready to put up
\nwith the inconveniences and moral decadence this administration is trying
\nto get the country out of. When people start to make diversionary
\nstatements, I just laugh because this is not the time for this, we are
\ninvestigating yesterday, let tomorrow investigate us, that is how this
\ncountry will get out of this rots.
\nOn whether ex-president Goodluck Jonathan should be called for questioning
\nIt is not my job, it is the job of EFCC, wherever the train leads to, so
\nbe it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun in an interactive session with journalists at the APC headquarters in Abuja on Monday spoke on several important…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n