National chairman of All Progressives Congress, Chief John Oyegun, has
said the party’s presidential candidate for the 2015 general election
would emerge from an open contest where all interested aspirants,
irrespective of geopolitical zone, will compete in a free and fair
atmosphere. Speaking with newsmen, he also explained why APC decided to
challenge the conduct of the Ekiti State governorship election in court.
This was as the party convened a stakeholders’ meeting at the weekend
in an effort to prevent the impeachment of Adamawa State Governor,
Murtala Nyako. The meeting held yesterday at the Government House, Yola,
was attended by prominent APC members from the state and it deliberated
on ways to save Nyako’s job and the integrity of the party in the
state. Some of the stakeholders at the meeting were former chairman of
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, AIG Nuhu Ribadu; Nyako; APC
North-east zonal vice chairman, Mr. David BBM Lawal; APC state
chairperson, Honourable Binta Masi Garba; Vice President Atiku
Abubakar’s representative, Alhaji Abdulrazak Namdas; commissioners and
special advisers; local government chairmen, and some development area
administrators.In Abuja, Oyegun, a former governor of Edo State, who emerged APC chairman at the June 13 convention of the party under a consensus arrangement, said, “There is that unspoken issue of realism and that realism dictated that candidates for chairmanship should come from areas that are least likely to vie for the presidency of the country. It is not really zoning per say. As regards the presidency, we have said that any person from any part of the country can contest, but we also know that as at today there are areas that are least likely to do so.”
“It is still a possibility,” the APC chairman said regarding how the presidential candidate would be picked, “if anybody feels strongly about it and the party feels that that is the candidate that will help us win the election, whether in the case of presidency or vice presidency, we will quickly rearrange every other thing to fall in line. Our target is to win the election in February next year, and salvage this country.”
He said, “For example, it will not be wise for anybody from the South-south to say he is vying for APC presidential ticket. I say this because I am from the South-south. Of course, there are already known faces itching to fly our party’s flag, very prominent politicians. Although, they may not have commenced campaigns, but they have made known their intentions publicly. It is not for us to preempt anything. It is for them to inform Nigerians at the appropriate time. But we in the party know that there are at least four people already running for the presidential ticket.”
On the decision of the party leadership to go to the electoral court over the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State, “We want to call the attention of the public and the judicial system to this travesty of the constitution, which should not be repeated. There has to be a level playing ground if we are to have a free and fair election. We want to plead with the media to make that distinction very clear,” Oyegun said.
He added, “There was a great unconstitutionality in what the federal government did during the last Ekiti governorship election, which put our members and supporters at a terrible disadvantage. We do not want it repeated in the Osun election.
“We will depend on the pressure from the media and the public to ensure that nothing of such is repeated in both Osun election and subsequent ones. That is why we have gone to court to draw a limit to such actions regarding what is acceptable during the run-up to an election. We are trying to be law-abiding and we are praying that the federal government, too, will respect the law and to do the needful.”
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