Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Founding leaders of the legacy parties that coalesced into the All Progressives Congress (APC) have claimed that the tacit approval by the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was responsible for the “impunity” the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, is perpetrating in the party.
In a statement signed by Salihu Mustapha, Polycap Udah, Capt. Mohammed Bala Jibrin, Ray Morphy, Umar Kachalla Zubair, Dr. Sylvanus Amechi, Shaba Emangi, Emeka Enechi, Charles Idahosa, Mohammed Aboki Mahmud, Prince Mackor Shaka Momodu, and Yesufu Omonemi, the group warned the former governor of Lagos to resolve the crisis rocking the party or forget his 2023 presidential ambition.
They equally accused the ruling party chairman of constituting himself into a one-man National Working Committee (NWC), stressing that he has murdered democracy.
“The expectation was that party members, irrespective of their background would get justice through fair and transparent reconciliation process because the National Leader had experientially tasted in real life and politics what it means to be at the receiving end of official injustices and impunity. It is against this background that we believe that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has a historic duty to come out and assure party members and indeed the Nigerian citizens that he still stands on the pillars of equity, fairness and justice.
“Let us not be misunderstood. We are not in any way suggesting that Asiwaju jumps into the fray in many of the festering and lingering internal disagreements within the APC, requiring reconciliation. However, we expect that by now, he should be able to provide incontestably fair leadership to all party members through which some specific actions of the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole can be moderated and made to conform with internal due processes as provided in the provisions of the APC constitution, no matter how loosely defined given the motto of our great party – justice, peace and unity.
“We are also making this demand, bearing in mind that Bola Tinubu is eagerly desirous of continuing from where PMB stops in 2023, and his response to issues of the day within the APC will signposts how the soup will eventually taste.
We made this assertion with all sense of responsibility based on the belief that our party deserves the best and we are proud to have some of the best democrats Nigeria has produced as leaders of our party.
“Therefore as one of the best democrats in the history of our country, Tinubu need to categorically declare his position on many of the contentious decisions of the Oshiomhole’s NWC. This calls to question the democratic credentials of our party and with it the democratic orientation of our leaders in the party. Will our leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, be on the side of fairness and democracy? The side of justice and reconciliation or the side of impunity and disunity perpetrated by no other person than the APC National Chairman, Oshiomhole?”