The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, has assured the party’s national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, of his support in the reconciliation task of the party.
Odigie-Oyegun gave the assurance on Friday in a letter against the backdrop of Tinubu’s complaints that he (Odigie-Oyegun) was frustrating his efforts to reconcile the party.
The letter reads in part: “Let me once again formally congratulate you on the peace making assignment Mr. President has entrusted you with. It is most challenging but I believe you will ultimately justify the confidence reposed in you by Mr. President. In this you have my fullest support.
“Be assured, dear Asiwaju, of my highest regards now and always.”
Indication emerged on Friday that President Muhammadu Buhari may have intervened in the feud between Tinubu and Odigie-Oyegun.
Tinubu, in a letter addressed to Odigie-Oyegun, accused him of frustrating his bid to reconcile the party ahead of the 2019 general election.
Copies of the letter were sent to Buhari, Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.
Tinubu was, on February 6, assigned the task by President Buhari.
However, barely two days after the letter, Odigie-Oyegun surfaced at the Presidential Villa on Friday to see the president.
He spent about an hour before leaving.
He however did not speak with State House correspondents before leaving.
In the letter dated February 21, Tinubu accused Odigie-Oyegun of taking some improper unilateral decisions injurious to his reconciliation efforts.
He also accused the national chairman of not making necessary information available to assist him achieve the desired goal.
Tinubu stated in the letter: “Drawing from your behaviour in Kogi, Kaduna and with regard to the state chapter assessment requested, I am led to the inference that you have no intention of actually supporting my assignment.
“Instead, you apparently seek to undermine my mandate by engaging in dilatory tactics for the most part. When forced to act, you do so in an arbitrary and capricious manner, without the counsel of other NWC members and without regard to our internal procedures.
“You may have personal qualms with me. That is your right as a human being. However, you have no such right as the chairman of this party. This party belongs to all of its members. You have no greater claim on it than any of the rest of us.
“Whatever personal qualms you may have with me are secondary at this point. You have a moral and professional obligation as the party chairman to act in the party’s best interests. Your hurried and unilateral actions belie the important agency you hold for the party.
“Thus, in furtherance of the assignment given to me by President Buhari, I request that you make available to me the status reports and all other pertinent information regarding the state chapters without further delay.”
Tinubu stated further: “To lessen animosity and return the party to the path of internal democracy and openness, I beg that you refrain from taking any more improper unilateral decisions with regard to the national and state chapters of the party.
“As the chairman of the party you must work within the confines of the duties and responsibilities enumerated under the party constitution.
“If you continue to do so, I fear you may undermine the party in no small degree. You may well cause internal fractures and dissension difficult to repair yet visible to all. I fear this can undermine our goodwill with the electorate and make the approaching challenges to the party materially more difficult than they need to be.”
