APC Crisis: You Can’t Fire Me On The Pages Of Newspaper — Oyegun Tells Tinubu

John Oyegun, national chairman of the All progressives Congress (APC), has commented on his alleged rift with the Party National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stating that he cannot be fired on the pages of newspaper.

The first signs of cracks in the ruling party, according to TheCable, became public on September 25 when Tinubu — unhappy with the manner of emergence of Rotimi Akeredolu as candidate of the party for the November 2016 Ondo state governorship election — issued a public statement to demand Oyegun’s resignation.

Akeredolu had been declared winner of the primary on September 3, after he polled a total of 699 votes — ahead of Olusegun Abraham, preferred candidate of Tinubu, who polled 635 votes.

The victory appeared to have suffered a setback when the APC appeal committee recommended the annulment of the primary, citing controversies about the delegates’ list. But after the panel was overruled, Tinubu accused Oyegun of “safeguarding the fraud by perpetrating a greater fraud, arrogating to himself the right to submit the name of Rotimi Akeredolu to INEC as the candidate of the party”.

On Tuesday when he met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the villa, Oyegun was asked to comment on his rift with Tinubu and whether he would heed his demand to step down from office.

“There is no rift with Asiwaju; we [only] have difference of opinion, difference of perception, and I think that is normal.

“Yes, I agree that the nature of the statement was a bit harsh. The method of getting rid of a national chairman, if that is what I will call it, are spelt out in the constitution; they don’t take place on the pages of newspapers.

“Why can’t people who have mutual respect for each other have different opinions? All we had was difference of opinions. Yes it was expressed a bit harshly but that doesn’t remove the basic fact that we have worked together for a very long time.