Acting National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress APC,
\nComrade Timi Frank has written an open letter to President Muhammadu
\nBuhari, saying if Nigerians must key into his recently-launched social
\nreorientation campaign, #ChangeBeginsWithMe, and the president must
\nkick-start the process from within the APC.<\/p>\n
Frank was again reacting to the face-off between the national chairman of
\nthe party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and one of its national leaders,
\nAsiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu who had accused the chairman of mishandling the
\nOndo state governorship primary election of the party.<\/p>\n
The Letter Reads:<\/p>\n
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI:
\nAN URGENT APPEAL TO SAVE OUR PARTY NOW!
\nMr President sir, it is with great enthusiasm and patriotism that I’ve
\ndecided to write you once again through this open letter to intimate you
\non the impending danger lurking to befall our great party and I’m
\noptimistic that this letter will serve its urgency and purpose of reaching
\nyou and our leaders and elders of our great party.<\/p>\n
In the words of Ola Rotimi- the gods are not to be blamed, “When a
\nchameleon brings forth a child, it is not the child that is expected to
\ndance. Yes, the king should act as a king.” The recent outburst by one of
\nour founding fathers and a National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
\nagainst the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun seems to be
\nthreatening the smooth sail and peaceful coexistence of our great party
\nthe All Progressives Congress (APC) and if nothing is done urgently, them
\nI’m afraid\u00a0 \u00a0“the pot left on the fire will definitely burn.”<\/p>\n
Mr. President sir, I wish to reiterate my earlier stand on this matter and
\nI’m also elated that I’ve been vindicate in my struggle to save our party
\nall the while, when so many thought of me as a rebel or paid apologist. It
\nis therefore no secret\u00a0 that I was one of the very first persons in the
\nparty who took the bull by the horn and openly raised the alarm of urgent
\nissues which had to be addressed in other to steer the APC ship in its
\nright\u00a0 course. Suffice to say that all my efforts to plead with the party
\nleadership to redirect its affairs fell on deaf ears as no one took me
\nseriously at the time.<\/p>\n
You may recall Mr President, that the origin of this crisis began when the
\nissue of the National Assembly leadership arose and the decision of the
\nparty at the time against\u00a0 party members, especially against the Senate
\nPresident and Speaker of the House of Representative. I foresaw the
\nimpending cracks at the time when the party leaders ignored the injustice
\nagainst these two persons and I subsequently raised viable concerns which
\nstill fell on deaf ears.<\/p>\n
Again, when I raised concerns against the manner in which Chief Oyegun
\nhandled the conduct of the Bayelsa state governorship primaries that
\nproduced the APC candidate, no one listened to me, and alas the outcome of
\nthat election became a clear testament to my alleged fears. Subsequently,
\nwhen my immediate boss, Alhaji Lai Mohammed became the Minister of
\nInformation, I was supposed to immediately fill in the gap and act in his
\nstead as enshrined in our party constitution as the Acting National
\nPublicity Secretary of the party, but this was not to be as I was
\noutrightly being persecuted for reasons unknown and perhaps for selfish
\ninterest. I was deprived from performing my duties and my duties assigned
\nto themselves.<\/p>\n
It is worthy to note that Today, we are witnessing the same concerns and
\nfears being expressed by one of the founding fathers of our great party,
\nwho also doubles as a national leader agreeing with my earlier call that
\nChief Oyegun should resign as the National Chairman.<\/p>\n
This allegation of bribery raised by Asiwaju Tinubu as regards the recent
\nOndo governorship primaries should be of concern to all well meaning party
\nleaders and elders and should not be swept under carpet or taken of
\nlevity. This weighty allegations should and must be properly investigated
\nbecause of course “there is no smoke without fire”. Mr. President sir, you
\nrecall the launch of the “Change Begins With Me Campaign” a fortnight ago,
\nwhere we were admonished to lead by example, and I dare say that this
\nchange must start from within the party so that Nigerians can follow suit.<\/p>\n
Mr. President sir, the episode of the recent Ondo primaries is just one
\ncase too many befalling the APC\u00a0 under the leadership of Chief Oyegun and
\nI’m therefore challenging Chief Oyegun to tell Nigerians if he has been
\nable to mediate over any crisis that has been successful. As far as I am
\naware, APC under Oyegun has not been able to resolve any crisis in the
\nparty since we became the ruling party.<\/p>\n
Chief Oyegun has shown that he lacks the capacity to resolve all the
\ncrisis currently rocking our party in nearly all the states of the
\nfederation. Not even personal grudges and rifts between party members, eg
\nSenator Shehu Sani vs Gov. El rufai in Kaduna, or Senator Kwankwaso vs Gov
\nGanduje in Kano, Senator Goje vs Senator Nafada in Gombe, and lastly the
\nrift between late Chief Audu’s family against\u00a0 Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi
\nstate . The crisis rocking the Bayelsa state APC which is also divided
\nagainst itself as well as Delta, Ondo and Ogun states are visible examples
\nto mention a few.<\/p>\n
Mr. President sir, I’m aware you may not have forgotten hurriedly your
\nexperience under Chief Oyegun’s chairmanship in the defunct All Nigerians
\nPeople’s Party (ANPP) that eventually led to the series of events which
\nsaw your exit from the party, and this same man is at it again.<\/p>\n
It is said that “A stitch in time saves nine”. I recall how we raised
\nsimilar concerns when the PDP was still PDP under Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
\nThis warnings were of no effect even as things got worse daily, suffice to
\nsay that the appeal from party leaders to former President Jonathan to act
\nyielded no result as he acted rather late and the result is the very
\nobvious which is still bedevilling the PDP up until this day.<\/p>\n
It is no longer news today that so many leaders of the APC are aggrieved
\nas a result of the handling of party affairs by Chief John Oyegun.
\nInjustice has become an order of the day, whilst so many leaders and party
\nfaithfuls might be contemplating an exit of the party if nothing is being
\ndone urgently to salvage the already soar taste. I’m aware that in a swift
\nreaction to Sen Bola Tinubu’s outburst, former Vice President and
\nchieftain of the APC Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, pointed out vividly that the
\nparty leadership is expected to be guided always by respect for the rules,
\nfairness, equity, neutrality and respect for democratic consensus. We must
\ntherefore be bold to say that these principles may not be found in the
\ndictionary of Chief Oyegun.<\/p>\n
Six months down the line after the last NEC meeting,\u00a0 Chief John Oyegun
\nhas not deemed it necessary to call for either the carcus meeting, BoT,
\nNEC or any other leadership meeting to discuss issues of national
\nimportance and those confronting our great party. This clearly is in sharp
\ncontrast with the party’s constitution, which states in article 25 b( i)
\nthat “the National Executive Committee shall meet every quarter and or at
\nany time decided by the national chairman\u00a0 or at the request made in
\nwriting by at least two-third of the members of the National Executive
\nCommittee provided that not less than fourteen (14) days notice is given
\nfor the meeting to be summoned.”<\/p>\n
In the light of the aforesaid therefore, I am appealing to Mr. President
\nto immediately direct Chief John Oyegun to summon an emergency NEC\/ BOT
\nand Caucus meeting which will enable the party leadership to sit face to
\nface to confront and resolve all pending issues before our great party,
\nwhist finding a lasting solution moving forward.<\/p>\n
Finally Mr. President, I am appealing to you that this open letter should
\nbe treated with all sincerity of purpose to enable us surmount our
\nchallenges as a party. It must be noted that with a strong, vibrant and
\nindivisible party, we will together achieve our dream of queuing behind
\nyour able leadership in delivering the much needed change to Nigerians. I
\nam therefore optimistic that this open letter will serve as the yardstick
\nof the beginning of new things to come for our great party.<\/p>\n
Thanks<\/p>\n
God bless President Muhammadu Buhari!
\nGod bless our party APC!!
\nGod bless Nigeria!!!
\nSIGNED:
\nComrade Timi Frank
\nAPC Acting National Publicity Secretary.
\n02\/10\/2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acting National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress APC, Comrade Timi Frank has written an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, saying if Nigerians must key into his recently-launched…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n