Senate crisis: Oyegun’s fate shaky as APC caucus meets

Chief John Odigie-Oyegun’s political future is hanging in the balance. TheAll Progressives Congress (APC) chairman should step down, some forces within the party are pushing, ahead of tomorrow’s meeting of the National Caucus Committee. Odigie-Oyegun’s offence, sources said at the weekend, is his perceived failure to nip in the bud the National Assembly crisis that has shaken the party so much. Most of the APC governors, some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) and party elders are unhappy that Odigie-Oyegun allowed the “crisis to fester”. They alleged that his “slow pace” attitude emboldened Senate President Bukola Saraki and House Speaker Yakubu Dogara to “negotiate” with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members. The delay in sending the list of APC nominees for principal offices in the Senate and the House of Representatives has fuelled the anger against Odigie-Oyegun. Party leaders are divided on whether to retain Odigie-Oyegun or dump him. A source, who briefed some reporters in Abuja on the situation in the party and the backlash of the crisis in the National Assembly, said there was apprehension in APC that if the chairman remained in office, it might collapse. The source cited two instances where Odigie- Oyegun failed to be “decisive” on the choice of principal officers in the National Assembly. The source alleged that the chairman was virtually forced to hold the mock elections that elected Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila as the party’s choices for Senate President and House Speaker. It also took the intervention of the APC governors before he could send the list of party nominees for some principal posts to Saraki and Dogara. The source added: “There is much anger in the party against Oyegun. Many leaders have accused him of being indecisive or afraid to take the right decision. “It is as if the man has no backbone or self- respect. When he should move, he sits down. When he should talk, he is mute. When he should make a decision, he sleeps and after finally making a decision, he takes days to implement something that could be done in minutes. “After Saraki and Dogara rebelled by aligning with PDP National Assembly members, Oyegun remained strangely mum and unmoved to the harm being done to his and the party’s authority. ‘He took the rebuff too lightly and quickly as if he almost welcomed it.’ “It was only after APC governors intervened and applied heavy pressure that he wrote a letter to the Senate President and House Speaker naming the party’s choices for majority leader and the other posts. “Even then, the letter was half-hearted, oddly brief and strangely passive in tone. It was as if he wrote it under compulsion because he had been boxed into a corner by the governors and not by conviction. Once again, Saraki and Dogara rebuffed him and once again Oyegun took the insult as if he asked for it.” Also, a member of NEC said: “What happened in the National Assembly was a pure case of failure of leadership by the National Chairman. “Certainly, his lapse is one of the major issues we will discuss at the National Caucus meeting in Abuja and later at our NEC session. “We are all disappointed and feel betrayed by Oyegun because he refused to take action at the right time even when President Muhammadu Buhari said he would leave the party to resolve the logjam in the National Assembly.” Analysing the APC and the National Assembly crisis in an article published on page 3 of this newspaper, former Interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, warned of the danger ahead for the party if nothing urgent is done to remedy the crisis arising from the election of Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara. He said: “Now that the whole conspiracy has blown open, it is doubtful if the present institutions of party leadership can muster the required capacity to arrest the drift. “It is my opinion that President Buhari, and the APC governors should now see APC as a recking platform that may not be strong enough again to carry them to political victory in 2019 and they should quickly begin a joint damage control effort to reconstruct the party in its claim to bring about the promised change before the party’s shortcomings begin to aggravate the challenges of governance in their hands.” The former Osun State Governor added: “Before the party knew it, the process had been hijacked by polluted interests who saw the inordinate contests as a loop-hole for stifling APC governments’ efforts in its desire to fight corruption. “Most Northern elites, the Nigerian oil subsidy barons and other business cartels who never liked Buhari’s anti-corruption political stance are quickly backing-up the rebellion against APC with strong support. “While other position seekers are waiting in the wings until Buhari’s ministers are announced, a large section of the South-West see the rebellion as a conspiracy of the North against the Yoruba.” Odigie-Oyegun himself has said that he cannot be stampeded out of office, saying efforts will be made to resolve all issues. The party’s state chairmen also last week after a meeting in Abuja, expressed support for the party chairman. In a communique signed by Chairman of the Kano chapter Alhaji Umar Haruna Mohammed, the party chiefs expressed concern over the crises rocking the party over the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly. “As state party chairmen and direct grassroots leaders, we are all concerned about the development and therefore re-affirm our belief and loyalty to our party, the APC, its supremacy as contained in the party’s constitution and the decision of its leadership. “We are also not happy with recent development in the National Assembly, especially the lower chamber, and call on the party leadership to put in place proper machineries to checkmate further occurrences. “We also call on the party leaders to use the long break with the view of resolving the matter so that the much needed change will be seen and enjoyed by everybody.”