Tinubu, who is also a former Lagos State governor, had, in a letter leaked to the media on Thursday, accused Chief Oyegun of sabotaging his efforts at reconciling aggrieved party chieftains across the nation.
A source at the party chairman’s office told Saturday Tribune on Friday that Chief Oyegun had planned to give a detailed reply to the former Lagos State governor in the same way he was addressed but had to shelve it following the intervention of President Buhari.
The APC National Chairman who was at the Presidential Villa Friday afternoon refused to speak with State House correspondents. He later surfaced at the party’s national secretariat in the evening where he again declined to speak to anxious newsmen.
The APC source who asked not to be named said the president asked Oyegun not to escalate the crisis by replying Tinubu point by point.
Consequently, Saturday Tribune gathered that Chief Oyegun told his media aide to stay action on his response to the issues raised by Tinubu which would have been released to the media last night.
Instead of a detailed media response, it was learnt that a decision was taken to release to the media the party chairman’s acknowledgement of Tinubu’s letter. A copy of the acknowledgement letter dated February 23, 2018 was obtained by Saturday Tribune on Friday.
Oyegun in the terse response acknowledged receipt of Tinubu›s letter and prayed that God would give him peace. The letter reads in part: “I thank you for your letter dated February 21, 2018 and for your prayers and good wishes for my health. I wish you well and pray that our good God keeps you strong and grant you His peace.
“Let me once again formally congratulate you on the peace-making assignment Mr. President has entrusted you with. It is most challenging but I believe you will ultimately justify the confidence reposed in you by Mr. President.
“In this you have my fullest support. Be assured, Asiwaju, of my highest regards now and always.”
Saturday Tribune recalls that the former Lagos state governor and the national chairman of the party had in 2016 engaged each other
in a media war following the controversy that trailed the Ondo state governorship primary that produced Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, the incumbent governor, as the party’s standard-bearer for the November 2016 election.
Tinubu in a scathing statement entitled, “Oyegun’s Ondo fraud: The
violation of democracy in the APC,” demanded for Oyegun’s resignation.
The former Lagos state governor said APC’s democratic credentials
had been dealt a big blow by Odigie-Oyegun’s conduct, especially with his handling of the outcome of the Ondo State governorship primary. He said the APC was a party borne out of the quest for democratic good governance, arguing that the ideology was currently under a critical threat “by those who managed to be in the party but were never part
of it.’’
“If the party can not justly govern itself, it will find it difficult to establish and maintain just government throughout the nation,” he
said.
On October 8, 2016, a few days after his meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, the APC National Chairman released a full response to the allegations levelled against him by Tinubu, over the outcome of the Ondo State governorship
primary election.
Oyegun, in the rejoinder he personally signed titled ‘The Facts – 2016 Ondo State APC Governorship Election Primaries,’’ described the content of the widely publicized statement by the media office of Tinubu as “reckless and baseless.”
Oyegun said he was angered by the false accusation of corruption, rigging the outcome of the primary and overruling the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) “vote” on the Election Appeal Committee Report.
Meanwhile, following the latest feud between Odigie-Oyegun and Tinubu, governors elected under the party have thrown their weight behind the party chairman.
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state disclosed this to State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja on Thursday night.
But he added that the governors were also happy with the decision of the president to appoint Tinubu to reconcile contending interests in the party.
Bello, however, maintained that one solution cannot work for the different states affected.
Tinubu had written to the president, accusing Odigie-Oyegun of sabotaging his efforts by inaugurating a parallel state executive of the party in Kogi.
Asked to comment on the accusation, Governor Bello said: “We the governors and majority of APC members have confidence in our national chairman,, Chief John Oyegun. We also believe in the President by appointing Bola Tinubu, our leader, to reconcile some aggrieved members of our party. However, one size fits all will not work in all the states where some erring members need to be disciplined.”
Bello also spoke on why the APC governors were pressing Buhari to run for a second tenure in office.
According to him, the president had done well so far and had put fears in state governors about corrupt practices.
On the justification for the call on the president to re-contest, the Kogi governor stated: “There are three things. One, he has done excellently well, secondly, on fighting corruption. Even we, among the governors are competing among ourselves to ensure that the little resources available, we utilize for the people. So, corruption is reduced to the barest minimum.
“Next is the revival of the economy, job creation and making sure that average Nigerians are comfortable. Based on these performance, we are urging Mr. President to please run and fly in 2019.
“So, there is nothing more to that. And if you look at it critically, the governors themselves, who naturally have immunity, we are very careful because you know that Mr. President is incorruptible.
“If you do, you are going to face the consequences. So, we are careful about that and we are utilizing it,” he said.
“You see among ourselves, we are competing among the states to see who does more unlike the previous regime.
“So, we want such Mr. President to continue to lead the way so that we can follow and Nigerians will have the dividend of democracy.”
He said Buhari was still consulting with Nigerians and would love to hear from citizens before taking a decision on the 2019 presidential election.
“The President is still consulting and he wants more Nigerians to speak before he can make up his mind. But I am very comfortable that Nigerians will speak loud,” Bello declared.
and then