
To the consternation of the party chieftains in Kogi State anxious to see the party national working committee implement recommendations of the Tony Mommoh Fact Finding and Reconciliation Committee on the impasse in the state chapter of the party, its national chairman, Odigie Oyegun yesterday inaugurated another seven man reconciliation committee.
Speaking with newsmen last June shortly after submitting his report to Chief Oyegun, former national chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, (CPC) Prince Mommoh said he was confident that his Committee’s recommendations would go a long way to restore amity in the Kogi State chapter while appealing to the state governor, Yahaya Bello to accommodate aggrieved chieftains of the party.
But Chief Oyegun on Monday at the party national secretariat inaugurated another reconciliation committee with General Idris Garba as chairman and the Party’s Deputy National Secretary, Hon. Victor Giadom as the Secretary.
Tribune Online had penultimate week in an exclusive report detailed move to rubbish the report of Tony Mommoh Committee.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the APC National Chairman said the crisis rocking the Kogi state chapter was unique and his leadership was committed to exploring all avenues to ensure lasting peace.
He said: “The situation in Kogi is unique. And we want to give every possible opportunity for a settlement. What triggered the events in Kogi was very tragic in their nature. So for us as a Party, we are bending over backwards to say, yes we understand your feelings; we understand what you have been through; we understand the work that you have put in to get the APC elected; we understand also that God who disposes of power, brought somebody at the last minute to be the beneficiary of all the work and labour that everybody obviously has put in.
“So we are bending over backward and we have assembled this very top-level team so that those on the ground there will see that we mean everything we say when we say we want peace in Kogi state. So your responsibility is a very great one. ‘’
In apparent reference to the report of the Tony Mommoh Committee, Oyegun appealed to General Garba to look at it and pick from it any of its recommendations it found relevant to its assignment.
‘’Fortunately, we had a fact-finding committee that has done a lot of the basic work and submitted a report which will be made available to the reconciliation committee. We know the principal parties in the various groups in Kogi; we know what their grievances are. So the issue now is really to call just the principal groups and say look, this has to stop, how do we go about it? The governor of course will be there to say his piece and give you all the assistance necessary to make your task successful.
“We want peace in Kogi State. Events there have been very unusual.
But like I said, given the emotive nature of the event that led to it, we have decided to stretch the opportunities for reaching peace.”
In his response, General Garba thanked the Party for selecting the committee members for the assignment. He expressed the resolve of the committee to bring peace and settlement to the Party’s Kogi State Chapter.
He said: “There is no doubt that it is an onerous task. But we are committed people and believe bringing our experiences to bear on the issue, we will be able to resolve the issue as directed by our great party. I want to assure the National Chairman that we will put in everything possible to succeed in the task given to us.”