Bola Tinubu writes stinging eight page letter to APC chair Oyegun accusing him of tearing party apart

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has written a stinging letter to the party's national chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun accusing him of frustrating efforts at reconciling aggrieved members who have differences.

With Nigeria's general elections due next year, political jostling has already begun and several APC members are at each other's throats as the battle for candidates heats up. Asiwaju Tinubu has been asked by President Muhammadu Buhari to chair a reconciliation committee with the aim of reconciling party members and restoring peace to the APC ahead of its impending primaries.

In an eight-page letter dated February 21, which was copied to the president, vice president, senate president and speaker of the House of Representatives, Asiwaju Tinubu accused Chief Odigie-Oyegun of taking actions aimed at sabotaging his presidential assignment. Specifically, he accused the national chairman of not cooperating with him, saying some of his unilateral actions were capable of worsening the situation in some of the crisis-ridden states.

Saying he approached his assignment with an open mind, Asiwaju Tinubu expressed concern that Chief Odigie-Oyegun’s response was cynical and unhelpful. In the letter titled Actions and Conduct Weakening the Party from Within, the national leader outlined his position on the state of the party and the way forward, saying the solution lay in a balanced appreciation of its daunting challenges.

Asiwaju Tinubu wrote: “Upon my appointment, I gave the president my word that I would work diligently and objectively to achieve the goal set before me. In this vein, my first port of call after receiving my assignment was our party’s national secretariat to present myself before the national working committee with you as one of its members by virtue as the chairman of the party.

“On your part, you promised unalloyed support for my mission and consonant with that vow, you said that you would provide all the information at your disposal and you vowed to act as a liaison between us and the state party chapters. Unfortunately the spirit of understanding and of cooperative undertaking to revive the party seemed not to have lived beyond the temporal confines of that meeting."

According to Asiwaju Tinubu, the APC can only restore the party by resolving its current deficiencies in an unbiased, neutral manner that allows it to strengthen its internal democracy by annealing those internal institutions and processes vital to such internal fairness. He suggested that Chief Odigie-Oyegun was not similarly persuaded, contending that the national chairman was apparently incapable of measuring up to his leadership responsibilities.

“Those who were entrusted with positions of high responsibility within the party seemed unable to handle the success given them. Little attention was tendered to the principles upon which this party was formed and pursuant to which it was presented to the public as an alternative to the cynical politics of the Peoples Democratic Party,” Asiwaju Tinubu added.