For The Records: This is what Tom Ikimi said about Tinubu & the APC
1. Following my widely publicized
statement made in the aftermath of the 13th June 2014 All Progressives
Congress APC National Convention I took time off to reflect on the state
of the party, the emerging re-configuration of the general political
Structure in the country, and the visionary effects on the state of our
Nation.
2. I have spent almost 13 of the past 15
years faithfully dug in, in the trenches of the evolving democratic
dispensations in our country, steadfastly pursuing my conviction that
for true democracy to take firm root in Nigeria we should fall in line
with the model practiced in successful democracies in the world, of a
party in office and a scrutinizing alternative party holding the
Government to account. We all have watched with admiration how in those
other countries through a process of hitch-free General Elections, the
baton of leadership changes hands from time to time from one Party to
the other to provide alternative policies for their people. Therefore I
have never considered my location outside the ruling party, as being in
an
“opposition”, rather as supporting an alternative platform. All that
was necessary for me was the association with individuals committed to
build and uphold that platform. In this regard, my experiences during
the era of the NRC and SDP in 1990 -1993 are invaluable reference data
bank in my quest to work to reincarnate the reality of two dominant
political platforms in our country.
3. That is why in 2005, I was fully
involved in the creation of the Movement for the Restoration and Defense
of Democracy (MRDD), which transformed into the Action Congress (AC) in
2006. I worked with a few dedicated colleagues here in my Abuja
residence to successfully achieve the project. Two groups, comprising
those of us who broke away from the PDP and a breakaway faction from the
AD (notably the former South West AD Governors) made up the foundation
membership. For the benefit of political science students, I should now
reveal that the original documents we prepared for registration bore the
name All Peoples Congress (APC) We eventually settled for AC in order
to locate the new party higher up in the ballot paper. In 2010, in
pursuit of a bigger party ahead of the 2011 General Election, we changed
the name from AC to ACN, in a very poorly constructed merger
arrangement that failed. It was therefore an experience of great joy and
satisfaction for me to host and lead the process that gave birth in
February 2013, at my Abuja residence, to the All Progressives Congress
(APC) with the successful unification of the major opposition parties –
ACN, ANPP, CPC and a part of APGA. I am aware of the well known saying
that success breeds many uncles, therefore the subsequent and recent
claims of some persons as to the arrow heads of the creation of the APC
does not surprise me nor will it surprise my devoted 89 colleagues who
worked earnestly with me on the project.
4. The refreshing news of the entry of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) into the Nation’s political
firmament was received across the nation and beyond with great joy and
happiness. Our proclamation of a new party that would pursue democratic
principles by example with particularly a culture of internal Party
Democracy endeared us to the expectant public of teeming supporters who
were all eagerly waiting to take up membership in the new party. For me,
I thought we had finally broken the parochial boundaries of tribal and
regional politics, which in my recent experience had stunted the growth
of the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Our clarion call
for CHANGE reverberated across the country where all and sundry awaited
with high expectation to enroll in the new party. I myself looked
forward eagerly to a wider frontier of comradeship and to once again
recreate happiness color and pageantry in our National Politics which in
times gone by was so eloquently displayed in the legendary brotherly
hand shake across the river Niger and river Benue by the founding
fathers of our Nation’s politics.
5. It was my fervent hope that the
emergence of the APC would bring to an end the sad and bitter
experiences that I and some others endured in the ACN where one of the
leaders from the South West exploiting the narrow National success of
the party in that region virtually hijacked the party, proclaiming
himself Overall Leader. Five of the six Governors in the Party at that
time were all from that Region. Prominent leaders particularly from the
North and South East notably, personalities such as former Vice
President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Alhaji Gali
Naaba, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Alhaji Mohammed Shata, Amb. Yahaya Kwande,
Senator Iyorchia Ayu, Otumba Fashawe, Senator Ben Obi, Chief Dubem Onyia
etc who could not come to terms with the man’s behavior departed from
the party back to the PDP. This mass departure of prominent members,
from particular sections of the country, did not only seriously weaken
the party but blemished it with an image of Regional and Tribal status.
At that time I refused to quit the party despite the fact that my
frequent solo protests against his behavior were dismissively ignored as
I was always told that the man was the overwhelming financier of the
Party. While I disagree stoutly with this bluff it is true that the
particular individual constantly boasted of his wealth and of his
funding of the party. I on the other hand could recall that this was a
man I knew who was an easily forgettable character in the 1990s when I
was National Party Chairman and when my candidate Sir Michael Otedola of
blessed memory, won the Governorship of Lagos State. It would come as
no great surprise if Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s boasted great wealth did not
derive from any stupendous inheritance ancient or modern. Or that his
sudden bragging as though Nigeria’s Bill Gates is an accumulation of
extraordinary hard work or financial wizardry. I would rather trust the
informed whispers in the inner circles of the party which have it that
having positioned himself as perceived leader in the most lucrative
income sources of the party, he is recipient and dispenser of bags and
bags of party funds. I am also become aware that he is, too, a
beneficiary of most of the lucrative contracts in all the ACN states
without exception. To further bolster his image it was also frequently
said that Tinubu has control of all the votes from South Western
Nigeria which, as has been currently touted, when added to the votes of
North Western Nigeria would guarantee victory for the APC in the
upcoming Presidential election.
6. This reckless and arrogant
self-aggrandizement paved the way for the imposition of a strange
leadership on the APC in July 2013 when the party obtained registration
from INEC. Those of us who had worked so hard towards the successful
merger and creation of the APC were manipulated out of the scheme of
things. In the bizarre struggle to seize control of the party we were
even openly accused by the self-proclaimed owners of the party, of
wanting to steal “their” party. Many of us in the party as well as keen
observers outside frowned at the skewed leadership image of the party
that was being paraded. An image that blatantly ignored National
sensitivities. The draft constitution prepared by the Merger Committee
included an exit clause, which provided a time limit of six months for
the Interim Management of the Party. That clause mysteriously
disappeared from the version of the constitution that was smuggled into
INEC records. Chief Bisi Akande’s National Chairmanship was therefore
primed to stay on in power ad infinitum! Asiwaju Bola Tinubu frantically
constituted a group of friends and cronies which he proclaimed to be
the APC Leadership. The press, led by the Nation Newspaper, was made to
propagate the aberration. And so rather than allow the construction of a
sound base for the party conducive to the free admission of members
Nationwide these self proclaimed leaders embarked on a National travel
spree all in a blaze of publicity, criss-crossing the country in private
aircraft, visiting PDP State Governors to offer them the State branches
of the APC if they would join the party. While they obviously but
ridiculously assumed that the crisis then in the PDP would last for ever
the details of the agreements they reached with PDP break away
Governors, were never revealed to the authentic Party Leadership but
they were such that they ignited the explosion of irreconcilable crisis
in some states, particularly Kano, Sokoto and Adamawa, resulting in the
instant loss of some valuable key members.
7. Major decisions said to be party
decisions now started emerging from this select group whose ad hoc
membership varied from time to time. They usually congregated at
Tinubu’s private parlor in his Asokoro – Abuja residence. Those who
wanted to belong had to find or force their way into that parlor. Once
initiated, your independence or capacity to challenge the plots that
emerged from that cult venue became seriously curtailed. Rather than
freely open up critical issues to free debate at the Interim Executive
Council for democratic decisions to emerge, positions plotted at the
notorious Asokoro parlor were being desperately foisted on the party for
execution. A handful of us constantly challenged this trend with little
success. Gradually, the direction of the Party assumed a focus on the
contest for the Presidency. Then the images of presumed Presidential and
Vice Presidential candidates as well as a privately cooked up Permanent
Chairman for the party started emerging signaling a Muslim/Muslim
Presidential and Vice Presidential ticket. The details of this issue I
have sufficiently dealt with in my previous statement. However let me
state again that their calculation that the Presidency in the 2015
General elections will be won by the APC through votes from the North
West and South West Nigeria became an obsession. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who
passionately believed in this theory and who arrogantly claimed custody
of all South West votes already picked an aspirant from North Western
Nigeria who will run as Presidential candidate with him as Vice
Presidential candidate. The National image of the party immediately
plummeted.
8. This disastrous trend was worsened by
the arrogant departure from observing the provisions of the Party’s
constitution particularly as it pertains to internal Party democracy.
Crisis broke out at uncontrollable levels in the prosecution of the most
undemocratic Ward, LGA, and State Congresses Nationwide. Machinery for
managing this self-inflicted crisis was virtually non-existent and it
was inside this mess that the controversial National Convention of 13th
June was staged. The Constitution of the Party clearly defines the Party
Organs and the Party Leadership. There is no provision for anyone to be
named as the Party Leader. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu having paraded himself
both at home and abroad as The Leader of Opposition and of the APC had
great difficulty in descending from the fictitious throne. In order to
continue manipulating the party from his parlors in Abuja and Lagos he
struggled to retain Chief Bisi Akande as Chairman. He was further
troubled by the growing influence of the Governors and panicked at the
realization that he and his South West select caucus were loosing their
grip on “their” party to the Governors. His last minute efforts to rally
a South West Leadership support for his absolute power over the party
failed and chances of retaining Chief Bisi Akande as National Chairman
also evaporated. In the circumstance as the only option was to find a
successor National Chairman as well as other National Officers, an
illegal process of horse trading between the Governors and Tinubu was
initiated. The Interim Executive Council had no knowledge of all these
processes. Chief John Oyegun a Tinubu plan B project said to be favored
for his NADECO and SDP credentials and also as one who could be
controlled now featured, came into the picture.
9. Until recently the APC had 16
Governors who describe themselves as The Progressive Governors. They are
made up of the original Merging Parties Governors and the break away
PDP Governors who as a group are determined to take control of the
Party. This composition of Merging Party Governors and PDP breakaway
Governors cannot in any realistic sense be described as PROGRESSIVE.
They have come together with different personal agendas built around the
central purpose of acquiring National Power. Some of them nurse Vice
Presidential ambition and some others are warming up for the
Presidential contest. In the circumstance the project of taking control
of the Party’s National machinery became crucial and it was out of the
Governor’s caucus that the plan of zoning the National offices was
initiated and concluded. The Interim Executive Committee had no input.
Although it is claimed that the National Chairmanship slot was zoned to
the South South, the horse-trading to produce the beneficiary took place
outside the zone. In order to secure the agreement of most of the
Governors I understand that an agreement was extracted from Chief Oyegun
that he would agree to step down as Chairman should a Governor from the
region emerge as either Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate.
And although the Governors may not have envisaged the present set back
they now suffer in their numerical strength the battle to take custody
of the APC platform that they waged against the Tinubu structure
signaled yet another twist in the tale.
10. Apart from the Tinubu Group and The
Governors Group there is a third Group, of known Presidential Aspirants
comprising in the main General Muhamadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
who are both Northerners. The inclination of the party had always been
to zone the Presidency to the North. Some Governors are now thinking
otherwise and given the decisive role that they seek to play in the
affairs of the Party as well as the tendency to ignore the principle of
internal party democracy, a monumental disaster looms large in the
selection of the Party’s Presidential and Vice Presidential flag bearers
later in the year. The construction of the new National Executive
Committee through horse-trading by the Governors and Tinubu has
established a tool structure that is not in the interest of transparency
or democracy. To whom will the newly installed National Chairman be
finally loyal? Will it remain the Nadeco/SDP comradeship that will drive
his loyalty to Tinubu or the current Governors ongoing tactics of
dressing up the National Chairman that may become the game clincher?
Time will surely tell! How these known Presidential aspirants will make
their way in the contest that may feature some Governors is better
imagined. Can Tinubu dare to ditch Buhari? I dey laf !
11. Chief John Oyegun has made various
statements since the 13th of June convention. He finally claimed that he
emerged as National Chairman as a consensus candidate, which puts to
rest his previous hasty announcement that I had stepped down for him.
Needless to say the process adopted at the APC convention for deciding
on a new National Chairman was a sham in which I did not participate.
The Chief knows very well that an even playing field, a fundamental
requirement for sound intra party contest did not exist. He also knows
what I know that the conspiracy, with all the plotting and scheming to
install him as National Chairman had been cooking long before the
Convention process was revealed. The delegation that visited Benin City
unceremoniously, last year, to admit him into the ACN party made no
contact with the State Party Leadership. He was drafted into our State
Party by outsiders who had ulterior motives. I was away in Dacca Senegal
on a private visit two weeks or so before the convention. It was in the
Senegalese capital I read on the Internet Chief Oyegun’s press
declaration of his candidature. When I returned home I was reliably
informed that he had been instructed by his patrons to proceed and print
campaign posters. All these maneuvers taking place even before the
emergence of convention guidelines were manifestations of a festering
conspiracy. Having been secretly assured of the outcome, the chief not
only ignored the position of the Edo State Party on the issue, he never
bothered to campaign. On my part I did not approach any of the 16
Governors or any Party leader to solicit for support to contest the
National Chairmanship except for Governor Adams Aliu Oshiomhole of Edo
State whom I saw in Benin City a few days to the convention when I
became aware that the National Chairmanship had been zoned to the South
South zone. My State Party- Edo State APC naturally supported me
unanimously but I printed no posters, did not campaign, did not return
the nomination forms as there was to be no election.
12. I have read statements in the press
credited to one of the Governors who claims knowledge of what
transpired, to the effect that the allocation of National Chairman and
other National offices of the Party was negotiated between the Governors
and Tinubu. The late night event that took place at Eagle Square on the
13th of June was just a stage-managed ritual to satisfy INEC
requirements and deceive the nation. I was never part of any talks that
resulted in the allocation decisions and certainly could never have been
in support of a strange process that replaced the democratic procedures
enshrined in the party’s constitution.
13. In the course of his maiden visit to
Edo State Chief Oyegun, in his statement in the Governor’s office
referred to me as those “disgruntled” at his emergence as National
Chairman. In a subsequent interview in the Vanguard and Punch News
Papers widely advertised on the Internet under the caption “Ikimi made
mistake threatening to leave APC” he said among other things ” It is
unfortunate that when you feel hurt, you threaten your party. That alone
creates suspicion about you in the party that you still belong to. Let
me say it was a mistake for him to threaten to leave the party”
Certainly the euphoria and relish of his new office may have taken
possession of him, blurring his vision such that he does not see the
deep wound inflicted on the party, which is now disintegrating rapidly
across the country. For the record let me state that it was I who
admitted Chief Oyegun into the APP in 1999. He joined the ACN a year ago
in Benin City after he departed from the ANPP where in the 2011 General
Elections he was that party’s vice Presidential candidate. He certainly
did not depart from the ANPP with great pleasure. Therefore moving from
one party to another should not be so strange to him as his strange
statement portrays. Let me state that notwithstanding my well known
disagreement over the years with the conduct of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, his
actions within the AC, ACN and APC and notwithstanding the amazing
retention of Chief Bisi Akande as National Chairman of all these parties
since 2006, there was absolute mutual respect between me and Chief Bisi
Akande. I have no difficulty in accepting any qualified member of the
Party from any part of Nigeria emerging legitimately as National
chairman. Chief John Oyegun visits me regularly in Benin City and Abuja
where I treat him graciously but I demand of him to clarify what he
meant by “the suspicion” he claimed the Party he joined through ACN (a
party he became a member of last year) would have about me, a founding
foundation member of AC, ACN and APC. Is he speaking for himself or
singing his master’s tune?
14. Senator Ali Modu Sherriff, former
two terms Governor of Bornu State enthusiastically supported the merger.
In fact his influence as Chairman Board of Trustees of the defunct ANPP
was crucial to bringing the party on board. Senator Sherriff achieved
his first tenure as a Nigerian Senator in 1991 under the NRC party when I
was the National Chairman. He always recalls the support i gave him in
what was his maiden political outing. I appreciate the co-operation he
gave to the merger committee, which substantially helped us to overcome
impediments put on our way during the merger talks, by some leaders of
the ACN and CPC, who did not want the ANPP on board. To get the APC off
the ground Senator Sherriff made substantial contributions, which
included huge finance.
On the 7th of March 2014 the APC staged a
National Summit at the Hilton Hotel in Abuja which was an elaborate
event choreographed to officially unveil the new party. An extensive
presentation was displayed to showcase how the party was formed. Most
fair-minded persons who attended the event were shocked to observe that
not even a word was mentioned of me as one of those who contributed to
the creation of the APC. Film clips were shown of Bola Tinubu, Muhamadu
Buhari, Bisi Akande, Ogbonnaya Onu and a few selected others who in
most cases gave distorted accounts of the merger process. Surprisingly
it was Senator Ali Modu Sherriff who became so disgusted by the
deliberate distortion of the facts that he had the courage to take the
microphone and openly berated the injustice. Some were obviously
embarrassed but it turned out that those who prepared the presentation,
many of them high ranking members of the party, were working on the
instructions of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. For his noteworthy and courageous
public intervention on this matter, Senator Sherriff was now marked down
by Bola Tinubu as having opposed him so much so that shortly after the
event both men almost engaged in physical combat at an expanded National
Exco meeting in Abuja.
Senator Ali Modu Sherriff may be a
friend and long time political ally but he is certainly not my sponsor. I
read several newspaper fictional stories that said Senator Sherriff was
sponsoring me for National Chairman. That is not true.
15. The merger talks of 89 members
hosted by me, was managed by a leadership of four which included HE
Ibrahim Shekarau of ANPP, Alhaji Garba Gadi of CPC, Senator Ani Okonkwo
of the APGA faction and myself of ACN. I was unanimously nominated by
the group to preside as coordinating chairman. We worked harmoniously
together and on the 6th February 2013 the four of us signed the
agreement for the merger of the three parties and a part of APGA. I
announced the merger and presented the agreement to the world. We
continued to the next and difficult stages of agreeing a name, flag,
motto and symbol for the party. These were very intricate negotiations!
Our Sub-Committees worked on the Constitution and Manifesto. After all
these were accomplished Asiwaju Bola Tinubu prevented a smooth
establishment of the party in accordance with our agreements. HE Alhaji
Ibrahim Shekarau former Governor of Kano State was sidelined in his
State by a curious arrangement that ceded the party leadership in the
state to the present Governor of Kano State with no defined role for the
former Governor to play. He was compelled to withdraw his membership
from the Party. He joined the PDP where he was recently appointed
Minister of Education. Alhaji Shekarau possesses a very sound and
critical mind. I found his contributions to our work most invaluable.
Senator Ani Okonkwo has also announced his departure from the APC. The
popular will, prevailing at the time among a cross section of members
was that the Merger Leadership should continue to mold the party for at
least six months and bring it to fruition by diligently establishing all
its structures. Regrettably this was foiled by hijackers who have now
crashed the project.
16. Former Governor of Sokoto State
Alhaji Atahiru Bafarawa could not accept the shabby treatment meted out
to him by those who seized the new party. Governor Bafarawa is very
loyal and dependable. He is an astute politician with whom I have been
associated for about thirty years now. He was NRC State Party Chairman
of Sokoto State in 1991 when I was National Chairman. He has always been
very keen on the unification of the opposition parties and consequently
hosted several merger meetings prior to the 2011 General Elections. On
this occasion he hosted the sittings of the Constitution committee..
Alhaji Bafarawa suffered unprecedented humiliation in the ACN in 2011 in
a kangaroo convention staged in Lagos to select the ACN Presidential
candidate. He therefore withdrew from the ACN party to return to the
ANPP. This time as an ANPP delegate he enthusiastically participated in
the merger talks. He has now withdrawn from the APC to join the PDP as
he could not accept the sudden hand over of the APC Sokoto Party to the
present Governor who during his tenure was his deputy.
Senator Ali Modu Sherriff has not hidden
his very strong disapproval of the precarious direction that the Party
is heading. The conduct of 13th June Convention was totally
unacceptable to him. Following his open challenge of Tinubu it did not
surprise me that Tinubu negotiated away all Sherriff’s nominees from the
newly constituted National Executive committee. I understand that Sen.
Ali Modu Sherriff is on his way out of the party, along with a very
large slice of the party membership particularly from the North East.
It is not a coincidence to me that the
prominent members of APC targeted by Bola Tinubu such as Alhaji Atahiru
Bafarawa, Sen Ali Modu Sherriff and myself are former NRC members or
those perceived as Conservatives.
17. Since after the 13th of June APC
Convention and after my post convention statement, a few leaders of the
APC have come to see me on their individual personal basis to plead with
me not to abandon the party. I have received quite a number of
telephone calls as well, conveying similar views to me. None of these
persons could disagree with my very strong views against the turn of
events regarding the mismanagement of the party nor of the grave
injustice that has been perpetrated against me through an unprecedented
level of conspiracy and bad faith. All they are saying to me is that I
should not abandon what I had helped so much to build. It is truly
amazing that all who have spoken to me privately without exception agree
with me that the image of the APC as is a Tinubu Party has severely
damaged the party but each time I openly raise issues that challenge the
consequences everyone keeps quiet. It is common knowledge that the vote
against the very popular candidate Sen Chris Ngige in the Anambra
Governorship election and recently against one of the most successful
Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State was indeed a vote against Tinubu.
Tinubu’s obsessive calculation of South West/North West votes is
unproven and untested. It is in pursuit of a very selfish ambition that
has seriously alienated block zones, such as South East, South South,
North East and most of North Central from the party. The Party has
collapsed in very many states such as Adamawa, it is in distress in Edo,
Ogun, Oyo. Lagos, Nasarawa.
Who by the way is the buyer? Is it the PDP Government that opened its
doors once more recently to one of the APC foremost boastful and noisy
leader to consummate a mega oil deal on the eve of that controversial
APC convention? Who then is really selling and who is indeed buying? Who
sold Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s ACN Presidential candidature in 2011? Was it
Chief Tom Ikimi?
18. In consideration of all the above I have come to the following conclusions:
(i) I have lived to see one of my major
political yearnings in place. Now there are two major Political Parties
in my Country – The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and The All
Progressives Congress (APC). I am satisfied that I have played an
important and historic role in ensuring the emergence of an alternative
platform to the party in office. There are many now claiming leadership
of the APC who were very skeptical when we embarked on the merger
project who openly dismissed the idea that it would never work. Yes,
some of them tried several times in the past to unify some parties in
order to achieve bigger platforms but in an atmosphere of prevailing
dishonesty, greed, unbridled ambition, uncompromising and undiplomatic
approaches to such delicate negotiations, their efforts yielded
resounding failure. For my part I enjoyed the respect of all the 89
delegates who met with me for about six months because they were very
confident I had no personal agenda not even taking sides to protect
positions of the ACN my own party then. But immediately we established
what they had considered impossible to do, I became a prime target, as
they believed that they could only control and manipulate the affairs of
the party if I was not there. By my credentials in Political Party
Leadership my claim to the top table in any party to which I belong is
well earned! In the present atmosphere of envy, plots and gossip the
long-term satisfaction of a political comradeship and brotherhood
anchored on shared principles and ideology, of honor, trust and
confidence in pursuit of a common goal remain elusive.
(ii) I understand they claim that I
possess a strong and independent personality as well as a mind of my own
which cannot be bent and so I am said to be one that could not be
controlled. On a rather mischievous note, my foremost assailant in that
party, peddles in one breadth a smear campaign that if I were to be in
charge, I would sell the party while in another fowl breadth that I am
an enemy as I had served in the Abacha Government. My so called strong
and independent personality sometimes misconstrued as an arrogant mien
is merely the creation of nature and I have never ever been harmful at
all to anyone around me but as for an independent and firm mind I
believe it is an asset and an attribute which indeed is so direly needed
for good and fair leadership in our society today and I apologize to no
one for being so created. It is really ironic that I was not accused of
going to sell the party over the past 13 years or so that I struggled
in different recorded ways to make notable contributions in creating and
building it up in its various forms but that i was now to sell the
party after working successfully to achieve its present mega format. Who
by the way is the buyer? Is it the PDP Government that opened its doors
once more recently to one of the APC foremost boastful and noisy leader
to consummate a mega oil deal on the eve of that controversial APC
convention? Who then is really selling and who is indeed buying? Who
sold Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s ACN Presidential candidature in 2011? Was it
Chief Tom Ikimi? My tenure as Foreign Affairs Minister during the Abacha
Regime has turned out to be a befitting reference in patriotic
diplomatic Service in our country for which I am extremely proud! Why am
I targeted for being that Foreign Minister that brought peace to
Liberia, restored democratic Government in Sierra Leone, maintained the
leadership of Nigeria in the OAU, ECOWAS and the UN, the first to turn
to China with a trade delegation that opened up massive opportunities
for our country but they fail to point even a feeble finger at others in
their midst who benefitted immensely from the Abacha Government, some
who ran the most lucrative agencies during that tenure, some others who
made away with giant oil fields or are we blind not to see the giant,
fancy lucrative projects currently being executed in partnership with
well known Abacha foreign friends!
In consideration of all these I now have
grave difficulty in operating side-by-side petty minded people who are
so scared of my personality and are not willing to submit to firm
impartial authority. I will not accept any imaginary bar to be installed
over me, deliberately constructed by political enemies to prevent my
ascension to any height of my choice in any party that I belong to, such
as has been so blatantly done in the APC.
(iii). The recent mass exodus from the
Party has effectively put the movement of the APC firmly in reverse
gear. Those who have left include notables such as Alhaji Ibrahim
Shekarau of Kano State, Alhaji Atahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State, Alhaji
Ali Modu Sherriff of Bornu State, Brg Gen Buba Marwa of Adamawa State,
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of Adamawa State, Senator Ani Okonkwo of Anambra
State , Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu of Edo State. I understand Chief
Olusegun Osoba of Ogun State is on his way out too. The very weak
National Leadership appointed for the Party in the last Convention is
definitely incapable of restoring any positive movement to the party.
The prevailing hostile atmosphere in the party does not present the
opportunity for any intervention from me at this time at National, Zonal
or State Level as I have done in the past.
(iv). I led the process of change in Edo
State politics in 2006 when as National Leader of the Action Congress
(AC) I brought the new party to the state. I worked with dedicated and
courageous colleagues to establish the party in Edo State and we
recorded a resounding success in the 2007 General Elections – our very
first outing in the State. AC and eventually ACN has therefore been the
Government in power in Edo State from 2008 to date and I am proud of the
quality of peaceful, respectable and dignified leadership that I was
able to provide to the party through these years. Comrade Adams Aliu
Oshiomhole who joined us in the middle of our preparation for the 2007
General Elections met me in firm control of the Party and its Leadership
in the State at the time. We welcomed him warmly and with our support
he was lucky to emerge victorious in the State Governorship election and
I have over the years enjoyed an excellent working relationship with
the Comrade. Now as he is the APC Governor of Edo State, I wish him good
luck, good health and God’s guidance as he proceeds to conclude his
second term in office. But during the past seven years of performing my
role as leader of the party in Edo State, my personal experiences of the
relationship between the political party, the legislature and the
Executive at State level has instilled in me very useful lessons that
would be immensely helpful in any future roles.
(v). I have no current or perceivable
ambition to contest for executive power. My quest for an alternative
political platform in the country is basically in pursuit of a credible
political structure that would guarantee the vital checks and balances
in the system so that our people may enjoy the benefits of alternative
choices of National Government from time to time. It is certainly not
for the creation of a vengeful ravaging army of flatterers and
favor-seekers at the command of a desperate upstart with the hideous
mission of stampeding an illusory enemy. While I have always regarded
the entire country as my constituency, I am not oblivious of the reality
of my circumstance as a South Southerner, a Christian from a so called
minority stock who will continue to align with the forces of change that
would guarantee justice, prosperity, peace and happiness for all our
peoples. The forces that have now seized the APC in a stranglehold are
on a mission very much against my conscience and indeed my very being.
(vi). I have always viewed a political
party as a congregation of like-minded persons who become welded
together in a close-knit brotherhood in a manner beyond mere friendship.
In a Nation of two dominant political parties or even diverse political
parties the members, across party lines, who are all in politics need
not be sworn enemies. After all they are citizens of the same Nation
with I suppose a mission of service to their people. Therefore their
hold to power has to be at the discretion of the people.
(vii). I am at the stage of currently
critically re-examining the two dominant political parties in our
country, which are the APC and the PDP, in both of which I have had
close working knowledge. I have not ignored the other political parties
but in the light of the foregoing I must now search to really ascertain
where indeed my true political friends exist. I need to be, at this time
of my life where I have friends who share a common vision with me and
where my freedom, respect, honor and dignity would be guaranteed.
Notwithstanding my enormous contributions over the past 12 years or so
to building the alternative platform, after very deep thought and the
widest consultations I have made the decision to withdraw my membership
from the All Progressives Congress (APC) from today, Wednesday 27th
August 2014
-Being Excerpts of a Statement by Chief Tom Ikimi
