National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, has expressed fear that Nigerians may vote against the party in 2019 if it makes the mistakes that made Nigerians to throw out the PDP.
“We created a machine that has started a significant move in entrenching democracy in this country. What is democracy? It is the ability to hire and fire”, he said.
“It was the first time that Nigerians had the ability of firing and it has become internalised in our political psyche. We know that we should not make the mistakes of the PDP. We too now know that we can be fired and that is democracy”, he added.
Oyegun spoke on Tuesday at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, when he was formally presented with the book “APC: The Making of a Change Agent” written by Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution, Okoi Obono-Obla who also served as the Secretary of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Alliance/Merger Committee.
Oyegun urged others who “participated intimately” in the formation of the APC to document their record of events for posterity.
“It is important because in a few years, peripheral people like happens today in the case of June 12, sort of claim ownership of an event they know very little about In fact, we encourage all those who participated intimately to document their record of what they think happened”, he said.
“Historians will then later take these slightly different versions considering the perspectives were you were standing to watch the show. And we will eventually have a comprehensive rendition of what happened.
“It was the first time a merger of that type had succeeded. It is the first time people had the intense nationalism to make the degree of sacrifice that was called for in agreeing to a merger.”
Oyegun however hailed the contributions of chairmen of parties that merged, ex-vice president, Atiku Abubakar, ex-governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu and ‘new PDP’ entrants in ensuring victory for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
The ‘new PDP’ members were senators, Reps members, governors under the People’s Democratic Party that defected to the APC after its formation. Rotimi Amaechi was the arrowhead of the defection.
“We had three party chairmen, and a lot of other individuals- former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and a few others who participated actively. And we must not forget the role that was played by the new PDP.”
Speaking, Obono-Obla said, “The book tells the story of the APC; How the APC was founded; the intense negotiations; support of the governor; and how the APC dethroned an incumbent government, unprecedented in the history of Nigeria.
“It was necessary for a member of the merger committee to tell the story so that there is no distortion and misrepresentation of facts. This generation and generations to come will read this story and also see how the PDP failed so that the APC will not make the same mistake.
“Because if we make that mistake, the Nigerian people will punish us as they punished the PDP. We should run a democratic party. I am happy that the APC National Chairman is doing his best and despite all the turbulence, the Party is still one.”
