The pioneer member of the All Progressives Congress, Tom Ikimi, has attributed his problems with the party to the tyrannical approach to leadership of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, whom he said threatened “fire and brimstone” if the former Edo State governor, John Odigie-Oyegun, did not emerge as the APC national chairman.
Describing the power the former governor of Lagos State wields in the APC, Ikimi said, “Former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu operated as the core of one of these caucuses whose membership varied from time to time within the realms of his whims and caprice.
“We on our part have not yet gained national power so we cannot say for certain what we will do should we win the Presidency but in my projection, from current experiences, indicates a rather frightening prospect. May the good Lord spare us the regime of any tyrant.”
Ikimi, a former Foreign Affairs minister, said in statement on his personal letterhead paper on Wednesday, said Tinubu had turned the opposition party into a private property and that some stalwarts of the APC were willing to accede to his whims, which eventually turned the party’s convention last week to a “charade”.
Ikimi added that the party’s governors colluded with the former Lagos State governor to truncate democratic process in the last convention. “The Governors and the Tinubu groups decided on a zoning process that was limited only to party offices as well as the choice of individuals to fill them.
“They proceeded in a manner that was neither open nor transparent. Most undemocratic and bizarre procedures then prevailed.
“The governors initiated a zoning plan that allocated the national chairman to the South-South. This proposal was reluctantly accepted by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, whose well-known preferred option had been to retain Chief Bisi Akande as Chairman forever.
“Nevertheless, he in the circumstance proceeded to draw up a list of his cronies for the entire National Executive all by himself. Very strange as this may sound, it was the reality. Nothing was ever referred to the National Interim Executive Council for approval or even information.
“This rather illegal and most undemocratic process ended up ceding the position of National Chairman as well as a number of other key offices to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to nominate the beneficiaries.
“I am now aware of the background horse trading that occurred within the ranks of the governors that resulted in the national chairmanship being zoned to the South-South.”
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