A former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar, has faulted the national leadership of the All Progressives
Congress for overruling the recommendation of its appeal panel on the
Ondo State governorship primary.
The appeal panel had recommended the
cancellation of the APC governorship primary in Ondo State, where a
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, emerged the winner.
The National Working Committee of the
ruling party, however, ignored the panel’s report and submitted
Akeredolu’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission as the
APC candidate for the November 26 governorship election in the state.
Atiku, in a statement in Abuja on
Wednesday by his Media Office, urged the NWC of the party, led by Chief
John Odigie-Oyegun, to promote the rule of law and due process in the
conduct of its affairs.
This, he said, was germane to the unity
and stability of the party, adding that the leaders should stop breaking
their own rules.
The National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu, had, in a statement, criticised Odigie-Oyegun for rejecting
the recommendation of the appeal panel on the Ondo primary of the
party.
Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor,
who called for the resignation of the national chairman, said
Odigie-Oyegun was promoting injustice in the party by manipulating the
Ondo primary.
In the statement by his media office,
Atiku stated that it was imperative for the national leadership of the
party to respect internal democracy and democratic tenets, warning that
“you cannot break your own rules without creating problems.”
Atiku added that the NWC was supposed to
be an impartial umpire in the arbitration of crisis among its members
in any given election.
He noted that since the APC found
veritable reasons to review the outcome of the governorship primary, and
was able to establish valid grounds to cancel the exercise as well as
call for a fresh one, the decision to deviate from the panel’s decision
was a negation of due process and “an unfashionable hollow in democratic
best practices.”
The former vice-president stated that it
was wrong for the APC to have set aside a resolution its own organ
reached on the crisis.
He advised the leadership of the party to do a soul-searching on why problem arose and escalated.
According to Atiku, the party leadership
should always be guided by respect for the rules, fairness, equity,
neutrality and respect for democratic consensus.
The former vice-president, however,
urged aggrieved members of the APC in the Ondo election to exercise
restraint in seeking redress to the crisis.
He asked the leadership of the party to
retrace its steps and restore confidence among the conflicting parties
in the state for the overall benefit of the ruling party.
One of our correspondents learnt that a meeting of the party leaders and some governors would take place next week.
It was gathered that the meeting was part of moves to resolve the crisis caused by the Ondo State primary.
A party leader, who confided in The PUNCH,
on Wednesday, said, “I can tell you we will meet on the crisis,
possibly on Wednesday (next week). Our leaders will also reach out to
Asiwaju.”
There were reports on Wednesday that the party mandated the Progressives Governors’ Forum to intervene in the crisis.
According to the report, the party and the forum had mandated the Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, to meet Tinubu.
Tambuwal was said to have been contacted
by the party leaders on Tuesday to mediate in the dispute between
Tinubu and Odigie-Oyegun.
The PUNCH learnt that the governor would meet the APC leader on Saturday as part of efforts to resolve the crisis in the party.
It was reported on Wednesday that the
crisis was one of the issues discussed at a meeting Tambuwal and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had with
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday.
The media aide to Tinubu, Tunde Rahman,
however, said he was not aware of any planned meeting between the former
governor and Tambuwal.
“I thought that when Tambuwal was asked
if his meeting with Buhari had to do with the matter of the Ondo APC, he
said he did not know,” Rahman said while parrying the question.
Meanwhile, a member of the appeal panel
set up on the Ondo governorship primary, who spoke on condition of
anonymity with our correspondent on Wednesday in Abuja, expressed
sadness over the flouting of rules in the party.
He said, “I am glad our leaders have
started speaking out. We cannot continue to have a situation where the
proper things are jettisoned under the guise of expediency.
“That former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is standing up to be counted is something we should be happy about.”
Copyright PUNCH.
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