Disquiet in APC as protesters storm party headquarters, demand sack of Oyegun

Some angry members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said to be from the six geo-political zones of the country, on Monday stormed the party headquarters demanding that its national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun must step down as leader of the party.
The agitations put a lie to the strenuous efforts made by party stalwarts to create a semblance of harmony within the ruling party.

The group under the aegis of Save APC and Democracy Youth Vanguard (SADEMVA), stormed the Blantyre street headquarters of the ruling Party and would have disrupted the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting scheduled to hold at the place but for the change of venue.

The angry protesters, who were mostly youths said they have only a single agenda, a demand that the national chairman, who has been the Party’s national chairman since 2014, either resign or be removed by the APC..

It has apparently not been easy for Odigie-Oyegun who has been in running battles with some powerful stakeholders including some big wigs in the party who were instrumental to his emergence.

Among other things, he has been accused of perceived disregard to these chieftains, favouritism, patronage, and corruption.

Among leaders of the party Odigie-Oyegun is believed to have offended include former Lagos State governor, Senator Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

The APC national chairman has also offended younger elements of the party like Timi Franks who has persistently criticized Odigie-Oyegun, insisting that he must be sacked for the party to make any meaningful progress.

The protesters who demanded that the national chairman must go displayed various placards with messages as, “We support Buhari, but Oyegun must go! Remove Oyegun now! No To non-elective convention; Stop protecting anti-APC members,” among several others.

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They also sang different anti-Oyegun songs and resisted attempts by security men to push them out of the party’s headquarters, even as they vowed to continue their protests on Tuesday and beyond until Oyegun resigns or is removed.

The protesters expressed disappointment that the NEC meeting earlier scheduled to hold at the party’s national headquarters was moved elsewhere.

It was learnt that the protesters had also attempted to block Oyegun’s convoy from gaining entrance into the party secretariat but decided to allow him after much persuasion by security agents around.

By Ebere Ndukwu …

 

 

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