The APC chairman\u00a0has proven to be a most unique man. \u00a0John Oyegun\u2019s reply to what we have revealed about his malfeasant handling of the Ondo primaries shows\u00a0but one thing: he\u00a0has decided\u00a0that he is better served by continuing his romance with\u00a0misdirection and falsehood.While these\u00a0slick\u00a0tools may be useful to Oyegun\u2019s ulterior designs, they ill suit the interests of the APC and of the electorate which the party is meant to serve.<\/p>\n
In our initial submission, we warned that Oyegun is willing to dash the ideals and the institutions of the party in order to advance some hidden agenda in stark opposition to the progressive goals upon which this party has been founded. Oyegun\u2019s reply is that of a\u00a0guilty\u00a0man who\u00a0has hired a legal pettifogger to manufacture what seem like sound arguments but which are\u00a0really\u00a0nothing but sound.<\/p>\n
Oyegun has become so accustomed to lying that falsehood\u00a0is now\u00a0his default utterance.\u00a0Attempting\u00a0to lend\u00a0the image of formality and honesty to his misdeeds, Oyegun\u2019s hired lawyers\u2019 who\u00a0drafted his\u00a0response\u00a0as if some\u00a0sort of\u00a0legal brief. Again, Oyegun submits himself to the false belief that form\u00a0outweighs\u00a0substance.\u00a0Yet, a\u00a0well-dressed lie is no closer to the truth than the most\u00a0nakedfalsehood.<\/p>\n
In his submission, Oyegun claims\u00a0that we somehow imagined there was an NWC vote to cancel the flawed primary. Those who do not read closely\u00a0will\u00a0be tricked by\u00a0Oyegun\u2019s verbal\u00a0indirection. However,\u00a0those accustomed to\u00a0his methods\u00a0will read carefully and find the warts\u00a0on his\u00a0statement.\u00a0Oyegun claims the minutes of\u00a0the emergency NWC meeting which\u00a0spanned from Monday September 19\u00a0to Thursday September 22 shows that no such vote was\u00a0taken. Something\u00a0is\u00a0patently\u00a0wrong with this.<\/p>\n
The four-day meeting was called specifically to discuss the flawed Ondo primary. Yet, Oyegun\u2019s claims that for nearly a week he\u00a0did not table a vote\u00a0for\u00a0the NWC to\u00a0clearly decide whether the NWC\u00a0would attach its official stamp to the flawed primary or reject\u00a0it. Based on his\u00a0own\u00a0words, either Oyegun\u00a0admits to being so\u00a0grossly incompetent as a chairman of a national party\u00a0that he could not steer the NWC to a simple vote or that he was engaged in a game of subterfuge that would not permit a straightforward yes-or-no vote\u00a0on the central issue.<\/p>\n
\n
Showing his penchant to mislead, Oyegun writes that the \u201caccording to the minutes of the meeting\u201d there was no\u00a0such\u00a0vote. \u00a0If the vote did not take place, why doesn\u2019t Oyegun just say no vote took place? That is how an honest man without nothing to hide would have\u00a0replied. Not Oyegun. He\u00a0dare not say that he did not hold the vote. Instead, he hides\u00a0behind the words his lawyers gave him to say to\u00a0deceive an unsuspecting public. \u00a0If he has nothing\u00a0to conceal, there would be no reason to have to resort to the awkward phrase, \u201caccording to the minutes of\u00a0the\u2026meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here, we get to the core of Oyegun\u2019s trickery. Oyegun approved the use of the tampered delegates list.\u00a0Oyegun unilaterally submitted the name of Akeredolu as the party candidate although, according to his own admission, no vote was held. If Oyegun can be an active party to inserting over 150 fraudulent\u00a0names in delegate roster\u00a0and can ignore\u00a0the\u00a0stated wishes of the\u00a0NWC\u00a0majority,\u00a0it is but\u00a0\u00a0a minor chore for him to doctor the NWC minutes\u00a0as a way\u00a0to cover his\u00a0larger\u00a0wrongs. He thus points to the minutes to\u00a0give the appearance of following\u00a0correct procedure. What he forgets to tell you is that falsifying minutes of a meeting is a small thing\u00a0for a\u00a0person helping\u00a0to engineer the thief of\u00a0an entire state\u00a0primary. If\u00a0one is\u00a0bold enough to steal a house,\u00a0that same person will not wilt from\u00a0falsifying\u00a0the deed to it\u00a0as well.<\/p>\n
If you read\u00a0Oyegun\u2019s statement,\u00a0he says that an NWC member, who he does not name, mentioned\u00a0some collateral\u00a0decision taken by the NWC. Oyegun says the implication of that prior decision meant that the NWC wanted the primary result to stand as is. Thus, he took it upon himself and \u201cruled\u201d to uphold the primary result. Again, he applies\u00a0confusing words in order to cover-up\u00a0the injury he has caused.<\/p>\n
A careful examination of his words\u00a0once more\u00a0shows\u00a0he is either supremely negligent or\u00a0deeply\u00a0crooked. His own words\u00a0prosecute\u00a0him. There is no way a skilled or honest chairman would base such a momentous decision\u00a0on what he infers from a prior vote not directly on point as to the core issue at hand. \u00a0What he\u00a0admits to\u00a0is taking it\u00a0solely\u00a0upon himself to assume that a vote on a lesser\u00a0matter should\u00a0preclude a vote on the\u00a0central\u00a0issue that led to the calling of the emergency session\u00a0in first instance.\u00a0He now claims the gift of clairvoyance. \u00a0He asks us to belief he can perfectly and conclusively determine how someone will vote based on a prior vote on a different issue.\u00a0For this to be the logic upon which he relies, something is\u00a0fatally\u00a0wrong with\u00a0his\u00a0defense of his actions.\u00a0Oyegun\u2019s attempts to obfuscate are vain. His own words still hang him.<\/p>\n
\n
Once more hiding behind his pettifoggers, Oyegun says he rejected the recommendation of the Appeals Committee because the Committee said that the conduct of the overall primary was in \u201csubstantial compliance\u201d with pertinent rules. Because he wished to steer the result to an appointed end that had nothing to do with the justice of the matter, Oyegun gave this phrase a meaning that its authors clearly did not intend. Reading the Appeals Committee report not as\u00a0a loose amalgam of\u00a0separate phrases but in\u00a0its entirety\u00a0as a coherent\u00a0document in order to give it the true meaning intended, one easily can see the findings of the Committee.<\/p>\n
The Committee found that in most aspects of the exercise, the primary was well conducted. However, when it came to the\u00a0validity the delegate list and of right of many on the list to actually vote as delegates, the process was\u00a0too\u00a0flawed\u00a0to ignore.\u00a0Due to\u00a0these\u00a0few yet\u00a0material reasons, the Committee determined the primary should be redone notwithstanding the otherwise proper aspects of the exercise.\u00a0It is more than obvious that this is the intent of\u00a0the Committee. It is also more than obvious why Oyegun and his crude subordinates choose to ignore this interpretation which stared them right in the face.<\/p>\n
Oyegun and his lawyers thus\u00a0disobeyed\u00a0the first rule of interpretation when they failed to give\u00a0true\u00a0measure to the document in its entirety. Instead, they decided to hang their hat\u00a0on\u00a0a single\u00a0this phrase\u00a0taken out of context. This is what people do when trying to conceal something or\u00a0to trick people. This is not the\u00a0behavior\u00a0of one seeking fair play and honest dealings.<\/p>\n
Oyegun took it upon himself to interpret the\u00a0phrase\u00a0as if\u00a0to mean that the Committee had given the primary a stamp of approval. For him to do so,\u00a0however, required him to totally ignore the explicit recommendation of the Committee to dismiss the flawed primary in order to hold a corrective one. Oyegun\u00a0strains to\u00a0defend his\u00a0position\u00a0by claiming to stand on correct ground because he drew a conclusion based on a single phrase when the tenor and letter of the entire document explicitly stated the opposite.\u00a0Frankness\u00a0is not what comes\u00a0from Oyegun. It is sophistry of the lowest kind. His lawyers have engaged in the grossest malpractice because they were guided by\u00a0a terrible\u00a0malevolence\u00a0to\u00a0bury and\u00a0not raise the truth.<\/p>\n
Oyegun stands alone in defense of his actions and in calling our submission a product of wild imaginings. Funny, Oyegun takes no issue\u00a0with\u00a0and\u00a0seems purposefully not to mention the statements of NWC member Chief Pius Akinyelure and\u00a0acting National\u00a0Publicity Secretary\u00a0Timi Frank.<\/p>\n
If Oyegun is right he would confront them. Instead he ignores their accounts in hope that the public will ignore them as well. Akinyelure attended the meeting and refuted Oyegun\u2019s version of events to its core. The accounts of these two\u00a0prominent APC members are consistent and track with what we have said.\u00a0In his statement, Akinyelure affirmed that the delegate list was unilaterally altered by the National Organising Secretary without informing the NWC until after the primary.\u00a0This exposes Oyegun\u2019s claim about the propriety of the list as the bare lie it is.\u00a0Evidently, Oyegun knew of the Secretary\u2019s actions beforehand;\u00a0yet, for reasons known to Oyegun, decided not to tell the rest of the NWC\u00a0until after the misdeed had achieved its desired result.<\/p>\n
\n
Chief Akinyelure further refutes Oyegun by affirming that the majority of the NWC accepted the Election Appeal\u00a0Committee report as credible. The majority of NWC members wanted to cancel the\u00a0result and redo the primary,\u00a0says Akinyelure. He stated\u00a0the NWC had voted by a six to five\u00a0margin to\u00a0submit an interim\u00a0or\u00a0substitute\u00a0name\u00a0to INEC as placeholder while the party redid the flawed primary. However, Oyegun would not adhere to the position of the NWC majority.<\/p>\n
Akinyelure has publicly stated that Oyegun and his accomplice, the\u00a0National\u00a0Organising Secretary, submitted Akeredolu\u2019s name to INEC in open defiance of the NWC. \u00a0Akinyelure also has stated that the majority of NWC members support his account of events. No wonder that Oyegun did not dare respond to what Akinyelure and Frank, as participants and eyewitnesses, have said of him.<\/p>\n
\n
The statements of Akinyelure and\u00a0Oyegun cannot be harmonized. We know the character and integrity of Chief Akinyelure.\u00a0They are impeccable.\u00a0We\u00a0have become\u00a0acutely\u00a0familiar with\u00a0the slick\u00a0manner\u00a0of Oyegun.\u00a0He has unfurled to be a master of deceit.\u00a0If faced with the option of believing in the veracity of Akinyelure compared to that of Oyegun, there no option. Akinyelure is telling the truth.\u00a0Coupled with the information contributed by Timi\u00a0Frank,\u00a0Akinyelure\u2019s\u00a0indictment of Oyegun\u2019s actions is unassailable.<\/p>\n
John Oyegun\u00a0may\u00a0shed\u00a0an actor\u2019s tears about the damage to\u00a0his\u00a0reputation and feign indignation. Yet, the wise and prudent can see through the veil\u00a0he\u00a0casts.\u00a0His\u00a0theatrics\u00a0are unavailing. Any damage to\u00a0his\u00a0reputation is self-inflicted. If there is any insult\u00a0he\u00a0feels,\u00a0it is not\u00a0a sentiment\u00a0derived from being innocent;\u00a0it is\u00a0the\u00a0anger of one\u00a0caught\u00a0amidst his bad acts.<\/p>\n
In all of this\u00a0his\u00a0personal feelings are of secondary import. As chairman,\u00a0he\u00a0have done more damage to the party than are most ardent\u00a0opponents.\u00a0He has\u00a0made a mockery of the internal processes of the party.\u00a0He has\u00a0helped impose a candidate in Ondo that the vast majority of our members stridently oppose.\u00a0The stealth-like\u00a0imposition\u00a0of this unpopularity\u00a0further intensifies this\u00a0internal\u00a0objection.\u00a0John Oyegun, your agenda,\u00a0we\u00a0do not know and cannot fathom. But we\u00a0do\u00a0know\u00a0that your agenda\u00a0is not that of the party so many progressive and democratic Nigerians have sacrificed\u00a0to build.<\/p>\n
\n
As long as you remain chairman, the weakening of\u00a0the APC is\u00a0mostly assured. If there is a single fiber of decency in your\u00a0being, you would resign forthwith so that those who care may rescue this party and return it to its true and proper democratic course.\u00a0The\u00a0APC\u00a0should not become the\u00a0PDP-lite\u00a0simply because you deign it within your right to turn it so.<\/p>\n
\n
Joe igbokwe<\/p>\n
\n
Lagos.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The APC chairman\u00a0has proven to be a most unique man. \u00a0John Oyegun\u2019s reply to what we have revealed about his malfeasant handling of the Ondo primaries shows\u00a0but one thing: he\u00a0has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n