As the controversy surrounding the emergence of Buko- la Saraki and Yaku- bu Dogara as the Senate president and speaker of the House of Representa- tives, respectively, continues, Timi Frank, deputy national publicity secretary of the party, has called for the immediate resignation of John Odigie- Oyegun, the party’s national chairman, and other members of the National Working Com- mittee ( NWC) for embarking on what he described as “em- barrassing mock election that never had the blessings of the entire party’s leadership”.
Saraki and Dogara emerged Senate president and House speaker, respectively, against the consensus candidates adopted by the party after a straw poll.
Speaking in Abuja, Frank said the “chairman and leadership of the party ought to resign having embarked on an embarrass- ing mock election that never had the blessings of the entire party’s leadership, more so that the leadership exhibited gross incompetence to manage the NASS issue until it blew out of hand.
This he said was because of the vested interest manifested by the chairman and few of his colleagues in the party.
“If my party could not keep to the promise of change, then we must correct them to keep to that. I have no fear or favour than to say that the current leadership of the party has practically failed. With this incident alone, the chairman should resign from his posi- tion after taking a position against the people and the people’s position has finally come to stay. In the Western world, by today the party’s national chairman would have resigned honourably. Not just the national chairman but the entire leadership that took this decision of conducting mock election against the outcry of the larger members of the party and against the bigger picture of Nigerians. A hand-full of the party leadership came to take a decision, and by today, the people have shown that the voice of the people is the voice of God,” Frank stated.
He specifically blamed APC chairman for failing to consult widely before embarking on the mock election which he said ridiculed the party.
He submit- ted that the chairman’s action suggested that he acted under undue pressure to conduct the mock elections, adding that if the APC was to rid itself of the mistakes of the PDP, it needed a chairman that would insulate himself from undue pressure, no matter where such pressure emanates from.
“You could see the way the party, including the national chairman, was speaking before the NASS leadership elections; it showed clearly that the chair- man had totally taken sides which wasn’t meant to be. I understand, he took some of those decisions based on pressure. In this century, APC as a party does not need a chairman that will be under pressure,” he said.
On remarks attributed to the APC’s national publicity sec- retary that Buhari is a product of the party and not the party’s leader, Frank who frowned at the statement, called on Lai Mohammed to desist from such comments as it was capable of putting the party in bad light.
“Let’s go back and ask Lai Mohammed who the leader of the party is, if he does not recog- nise the President as the leader. In my own view, If Lai Moham- med that is my direct boss could come up to tell Nigerians that the president is only a product of the party and not the national leader of the party, then he should have been able to tell us who the leader of the party is.
“We have seen that even in the PDP, former President Good- luck Jonathan was the leader of the party. If in our own case the President cannot be the leader of the party, he should tell us who the leader is then,” Frank averred.
He described what transpired at the National Assembly as good for democracy, noting that Nigeria stood to be the overall beneficiary.
“Those that are calling for the deputy Senate president to resign are anti-people, and I will campaign against it. I will continue to support Bukola Sara- ki and Ike Ekweremadu and ev- ery progressive Nigerian should support this mission as it will take Nigeria to the next phase because failure to do this will disrupt democracy,” he added.
KEHINDE ABDUSALLAM, Abuja
