Adams Oshiomhole is tipped to replace Oyegun as APC chairman
- The former Edo governor is reportedly being backed by the party's national leader Tinubu
- Some southeast leaders are also showing interest in the position
Former governor of Edo state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, is reportedly preparing to take over as chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) following President Muhammadu Buhari’s rejection of the tenure extension of the National Working Committee.
The John Oyegun-led committee had earlier
received a one-year tenure extension but the president described it as illegal.
Vanguard reports that Oshiomhole is prepared to take over the party leadership although he would face stiff opposition from southeast leaders. It was also reported that Oshiomhole is receiving support from Chief Bola Tinubu who is also against the tenure extension.
The Edo state chapter of the APC also hailed
President Buhari’s position indicating that it was in support of Oshiomhole’s possible emergence despite the fact that Oyegun is a former governor of the state too.
The party said: “It was a statement that was timely and justified. By that statement alone, the President has enhanced the profile of our party and saved us the disgrace that was imminent in implementation of that unconstitutional proposal.
“In the past two years, we have had a number of people from other parties joining our party. Now, these people are joining with the hope that they will be fully integrated into the party. One of the ways that this integration takes place is in the participation in these congresses.
“And in some cases, some of them are free to aspire and hold offices. By implementing this proposal, you would have shut those out, at least, for another one year and perhaps, another four years.
“The most important thing which is fundamental is that our constitution as a party does not permit it. But the President has even taken it beyond that to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is the most important law in our land and that law expressly forbids any body holding an office in a political party being there for more than four years without an election."
Meanwhile, the embattled national chairman of the APC, John Oyegun, on Wednesday, March 28, called off a meeting s cheduled between the National Working Committee of the party and the House of Representatives caucus.
It was reported that the meeting was unceremoniously called off after President
Buhari rejected the elongation of the tenure of the party's executives.
Recall that Buhari had in an earlier report
described as illegal, the tenure elongation for the national chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, and other elected officials of the party.
The president demanded that the decision to extend the party’s national working committee
led by Oyegun, be reconsidered and reversed.
It was gathered that the meeting led by Oyegun was earlier scheduled to hold on Wednesday, March 28, at 2pm but never took place.
A source within the APC said while they were waiting in the complex for the meeting to begin, Oyegun sent word that the meeting will no longer hold.
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