16 APC Governors Back Oyegun To Return As Party Chairman

There are indications that sixteen (16) governors under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may be rooting for the return of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and his National Working Committee .

This is just as the party announced that its National Convention to elect new leadership for the party would hold on May 14.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had insisted that the party must hold an elective convention that will usher in a new set of executives.

Meanwhile, governors backing the return of Oyegun include: Bindo Jibrilla of Adamawa; Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar of Bauchi; Samuel Ortom, Benue; Badaru Abubakar, Jigawa; Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, Kaduna; Aminu Bello Masari, Katsina; Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Kebbi; Yahaya Bello, Kogi; Abdulfatah Ahmed, Kwara; Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, Nasarawa; Abubakar Sani Bello, Niger; Ibikunle Oyelaja Amosun, Ogun; Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, Ondo; Simon Lalong, Plateau; Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Sokoto; Ibrahim Geidam, Yobe.

The governors are said to be protecting their interest as the first term governors are pushing to ride on Buhari’s shoulders back to the office for a second term, while the second termers desire to control the party structure to be able to install their successors.

In another twist, governors loyal to National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu are in a battle supremacy to ensure former Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomole wins the position of the party Chairman at the forthcoming convention.

Governors lining up behind Tinubu to support Oshiomhole include Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state, Rochas Okorocha of Imo, Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos, Rauf Aregbesola of Osun, Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo, Abdullahi Ganduje of kano, Godwin Obaseki of Edo and Kashim Shettima of Borno.

Oyegun and Tinubu have not been in good terms over the conduct of party affairs.

In September 2016, Tinubu, in a communique from his media office, demanded that Oyegun should resign as the party’s Chairman. But in a swift response, Oyegun replied, saying: “The method of getting rid of a national chairman, if that is what I will call it, are spelt out in the constitution; they don’t take place on the pages of newspapers.”

As the APC Convention draws near, the governors are locked in a fight to finish, which many see as a battle for the survival of their own political career.