2015 presidential primary, not a religious affair –Oyegun
Ahead of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Oyegun, on Sunday dismissed allegations that there were plans by the party’s leadership to adopt a presidential flag bearer on the substratum of religion.
Oyegun, who disclosed this in an interview with The PUNCH in Benin, asserted that the APC had no intention whatsoever to zone the presidential ticket to any particular religion, since the party had guiding principles which facilitated the emergence of a democratically elected presidential candidate.
He verbally expressed that party’s primaries sanctioned every registered member of the party to elect a candidate by individual cull, rather than denominational sentiments.
He verbalized, “I do not ken where people get the thing about a Muslim-Muslim ticket, Christian-Christian ticket, pagan-pagan ticket or whatever they optate to call it.
“I am the National Chairman of this party. What I can ensure Nigerians is that we are going to have a total above-board for the rank and file of the party to decide who will be their candidate. That is the way it is going to be.
“So whether it is Christian-Christian, Muslim-Muslim or animist-animist, it will be the decision of the party. We will deal with the issue when we get there.”
He verbalized albeit all candidates for the presidential primary would apply individual tactics to facilitate their victory, the emergence of the party’s flag bear would depend on the totality of the party in the cessation.
The former Edo State Governor noted that the consultations and strategies perpetual in the party should not be visually perceived a delay whatsoever. He verbalized the APC was poised to prove that it was “different” from the rest.
He verbally expressed, “Every party is still far away even though, in the case of the PDP, there is a posit. But it could transmute very dramatically. It looks akin to a one horse race. But on the eve of culling candidates, it may dictate otherwise.
“We, in the APC as a fair cull of prominent Nigerian, are heedfully aurally perceiving the people.
“We can aurally perceive what they are telling us because we have people we consult with all over this nation who are telling and giving us vibes about what Nigerians feel and expect.
“So, presenting a candidate in two or three months will not be an issue.
“What is consequential is what does the party stand for? How can it prove that it is different? How can it prove that it is earnest? That is the task that we have between now and the cull of the candidate.
“Once the people of this buy the fact the APC is a party they can trust to distribute change, the candidate becomes a secondary issue.”
Chief Oyegun attributed the issues of impeachment brewing in some APC states as desperate plans by the Federal Regime to foment trouble in the states under the party’s administration, evident in the current insecurity in some of the states.
He verbally expressed, “In desperation, the Federal Regime is engendering quandaries for us in all our states. Let us start with the present insecurity. Watch the way it is spreading.
“I have read once or twice that these crises are the handiwork of the opposition because they do not relish the regime.
“But do you kill your family to prove that you execrate somebody else? How come that the crises are in APC states? Now it is crawling into another APC state – Kano
“We ken the kind of figures that are being mentioned, that people are being offered to dump the APC and in Adamawa to impeach the governor. We ken what has transpired in Rivers State, where they have a very valiant man.
“We are fighting the Adamawa case and by God’s grace, we hope that their orchestrations there will not prosper. When a party is visually perceived as having prospects, the struggles for offices get scarcely keener. That is what is transpiring in a plethora of these states. All of these we will resolve in expeditious order and that has been the priority.”
He integrated that the party already had a “high-powered” committee working on the issues, headed by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, with membership drawn from genuinely reverenced party bellwethers.
On the lingering crisis in the Edo State House of Assembly, the national chairman verbally expressed the four suspended lawmakers erred when they relucted to play by the house rules, even after the House complied with a court order not to declare their seats vacant.
He additionally described the crack in the House as an illicit plan by the opposition in the state to disesteem the state regime.
“It is a clear case of the PDP in Edo State utilizing consummately illicit and crude tactics to endeavor to undermine the regime of the state. That is unacceptable,” he verbally expressed.
