Former National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) and ex-governor of Edo State, Chief John Oyegun, x-rays the leadership struggle in the ruling party, amid other issues in this interview with Ben Ogbemudia and Idu Jude

As the South-South APC Elders Council chairman, your task is to reconcile all the aggrieved parties, how far have you gone?

APC has never been in office in any of the South-South states, except Edo State. The Peoples Democratic Party is deep-rooted since about a decade and has been more entrenched in office. So, to dislodge the PDP in the South-South, we must also be so strong, well-organised and united in purpose.

What we are trying to do is to reconcile everybody. We also have to really find out what is happening at various APC states and chapters because we have been in the opposition for so long. We have not enjoyed patronage in the zone.

To remove the incumbent from office, we must not run as if we are in the Olympic race. It is politics; it is victory when it is achieved. We must organise for victory, not just for participation. That defines the enormity of the task. I will not go ahead to give you details because I would have to report to the party that gave us the assignment before I can go any details with the media, but I can tell you that we are making enough progress.

In your time as the APC chairman, the PDP was the shining light, what caused it?

Point of correction, the PDP never took the control of the National Assembly in our time. The National Assembly was under the control of APC except for one unfortunate incident where the Deputy Senate President turned out to be a PDP member. Yes, the former party leaders might have made one or two mistakes because they were involved in irreconcilable differences that led to that unfortunate situation. Incidentally, they sustained the bitterness to the end of our tenure. This for me was so unnecessary.

We made several efforts to reconcile the factions but you know reality is reality. The man had been elected the Senate President. We called a meeting of all our elected members that very day, and that very morning, the proclamation was issued to take place, which was signed by Mr. President that the Assembly will get into session that very morning.

And the meeting unfortunately was wrongly fixed. It was one of those terrible mistakes, which was done wrongly and unfortunately used the President’s name to convene. We used his name to summon a meeting at a very wrong time. And our people were not there. We were busy trying to meet at the International Conference Centre. Meanwhile, election was going on at the ICC. So, we blame ourselves seriously for what happened. It was totally an avoidable mistake.

How come you were not re-elected for a second term as the APC chair even after the governors endorsed you?
Well, first point of correction, I never wanted a second term. I never asked for it. Secondly, we were approaching congresses, convention as well as the presidential election. So, in their wisdom, governors and other party leaders thought that it was not the proper time to make fundamental changes to the party’s leadership, which made us accept a one year extension.

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Remember, congresses always bring animosity, and we had national elections ahead of us. So, in their wisdom, they thought we could put that aside until after the election. Obviously, the main party structures were very unanimous to the extent of the one year extension, but behind the scene, a lot of things were happening. There were also legal issues; do we have that legal extension? For one year, we got legal opinions from three senior advocates of Nigeria. They advised that the worst that could happen was to hold a special convention to give us that legal backing. But many thought that the opposition, the PDP, may take us to court to question the constitutionality of one year extension. So, at the end of the day, it became clear where the president’s mind was, and that was what happened.

Will you say the Oshiomohle ambition was the reason?

Let me re-emphasise, I did not ask for a second tenure, and I was almost 80 years old then. At 80, I knew the distress that accompanied the job. So, go and ask anybody, I never asked for it. Otherwise, I would have gone to the special convention and gotten what I wanted. So, I have nothing against Oshiomhole or any other person who wanted to be national chairman because it was of no consequence to me.

At what point did you have disagreement with Oshiomhole?

There was never a time I had disagreement with him. Never. I handed over to him in a beautiful ceremony. It is rare for any political party to change its leadership strictly by the constitution. You see, every time it was based on carelessness. Sometimes, he made speeches and he referred to the past leadership of the party as having done this or that. This happened once or twice and I raised objection quietly. But when I thought it was getting out of hand, that was when I had to speak up to say that is not the way to do things. That, however, is not to say that I had quarrel with him. And there was no personal differences between us.

Why did you allow Edo State to slip into the hands of PDP?

It was not me; it was the party that took the decision that made the people to revolt. It was not me. I had only one vote. The party took the decision that was against the electoral fortunes of the party in Edo. Again, do not forget that I warned about the consequences of the decision that was being taken. It was the people that decided in Edo State, it has nothing to do with me.

You were also accused of working against the party in the state
Well, some people could interpret it like that, but it is their fundamental right. For me, principle is cardinal. If we had abided by the details of the constitution of the party, what happened in Edo State wouldn’t have happened. So, I stood by my principle of speaking the truth of not working against the party. As I said earlier, the people revolted, not me.

Will you say that your reconciliation committee can approach Obaseki and bring him back to the party?

I will celebrate it if he agrees to come back. Well, I don’t think you know the seriousness of the matter. At the end of the selections for the primaries of the party in the South-South, the bitterness was so much on ground in virtually all the states. The bitterness was so much, that it affected the party from being a political force. There were too many factions in each and every state.

We are trying to bring all these people together and let them see reasons. So that they can now reason that they have one objective, and that everybody must be committed to it, irrespective of differences. Everybody must struggle to win and return to the party to the government houses in the South-South.

Basically, we are equally going to approach all the different parties in Edo State, including the governor, where we will tell them, please hold on, the past is gone. We have to think of bringing everybody back, including the governor, whose originality is APC. I think that the bitterness in Edo State must not get to that extent. So, it is very, very strategic that we have to think like that and get the government back in Edo State.

Is the APC revalidation exercise all about 2023 general elections?

It is not about 2023 general elections. The leadership of the party decided to have a fresh register. There are many reasons why a lot of people have moved from one party to the other at all levels. Major stakeholders also moved, but down below, you may even be sitting down holding meetings with fifth columnists, or rather half of the people you are holding meetings with are no longer your members.

I think the revalidation is necessary to know who is in APC or not. I think the leadership of the party is trying to establish firm control in their register and other documents.

That is why I’m fully in support of what they are doing. That does not also mean that a few ignorant people in some states will want to take control of the party. But they have forgotten one thing, that it is not the parties that elect governors or senators or members of the representatives or even presidents.

Yes, they are important in terms of party primaries for the selection of party candidates, but at the end of the day, it is the people that elect leaders. There are some people who make that mistakes that ‘oh, I am in control of the party in my state’. In such places, you have a lot of confusion.

Do you see the APC remaining intact as a party with this huge challenge of insecurity in the country?

Well, really there are issues in the polity; there is no question about that – security, economy. Let me just say I am not blaming anybody because they elected us to solve problems. And that is why they preferred us. But unfortunately, due to a series of circumstances totally out of our control, we have not been able to deliver the way we were seriously supposed to do.

Security wise, we promised. It was one of our high points. Economy, we promised, but circumstances totally beyond the control of the government have made us not achieve the level of delivery we wanted. We must accept that.

The people must not be taken for granted. People are suffering; there is no question about that. That was why they rejected the PDP and gave us power. So, they now understand that things are difficult all along, and we have another year plus to mend fences to get the security under control. We have to do this so that when we are talking in 2023, people will listen to us.

People are waiting anxiously to see where the APC will zone the presidency in the coming dispensation. What is your take on it?

I don’t think the party leadership have made a statement regarding this issue, and I think at the appropriate time they will do and make their views official. I can only speak as an individual by a simple common sense and in the interests of the Nigerian nation. The difficulties we are passing through are enormous.

The party’s presidency should be zoned to the South, and what part of the South it comes is a different thing; but it should be a southern citizen. It is very necessary to have this kind of rotation to the key offices of the nation because we are still in the process of building a nation state. It is critical that every part of this nation should have a sense of belonging.

That is why we have a Federal Character Commission -the issue of ministers that each one has to come from each state. That is why in making an appointment, everyone has to watch banners of the geographical areas. All these are for the reason of building a process of a state because there is no part of the country that does not have a qualified citizen to that position. So, it is very right that we build banners so that everybody in any part of this country has a sense of belonging. That is very, very critical.

Earlier, you claimed that you had no quarrel with Oshiomhole. As an elder, why did you not reconcile Obaseki and Oshiohmole?

Life is not simple. Tempers rose at fever pitch. We must allow the temper to cool down. The situation was that the people started antagonizing themselves. So, a time will come when the main actors will start blaming each other. When they go to that extent, at that point, they will be ready to listen to people.

Even as we speak, do you know whether they exchange phone calls? You cannot tell. When it gets to that stage, everything will be sorted out. That process of reconciliation is still there. It is not just a switch. Even me, personally, I don’t still know what was the issue between them. I took a position strictly based on what I believed. My position was not based on the fact that I am a Benin man, but sometimes it is possible that a chain of events have nothing to do with being a Benin man or not.

For me, those issues are gone; they are behind me, and totally closed. But you have a governor that is in a ruling party; not that he has committed a heinous crime like murder or any other crime. You need to have a very good reason to treat him the way he was treated. He was a member of the governing party, and we threw him away.

People are not happy with this government over poverty and hunger; as a leader of the party, are you happy with the government?

All these things do not really make me happy, but I also understand that I am a trained economist. I understand the worldwide development that has put us in this position. Yes, there are one or two things that we may have not managed well, but that does not mean total condemnation. I know that there are problems. We could have even managed our security better, though I am not a security expert. We could have managed the economy better, no question about that.

The issue that put us where we are is the collapse of oil, insurgency in the north, and the infiltrations into our country. They don’t even manage it properly, and if we do not get on top of it, I am afraid.

Nowadays, corruption is the order of the day, and it was a high point in your party’s campaign manifesto, what has gone wrong?

Well, if you say so, I’m not in the system to know what is going on. However, I hear things just the way others do. But I cannot from the social media and the rest conclude and make my decision. No

Is your party still capable of winning elections in the country?

We are capable of doing things; there is no question about that. We pray that we have learnt valuable lessons counting from what is going on now. So, my answer will be yes, and I pray that we have learnt lessons that will get us out of the difficulties that we found ourselves right now. I really pray that we get out of it. So many difficulties, so much hunger. We need to work and return hope to the people. We need to give them hope which is principally missing right now so that their tomorrow will be better. We need to get to that point.

During the last revalidation, we learnt that you were not able to register in your unit. What really happened?
Let me ask you, does that make sense? I am not registering to vote. I am registering in the party, in my ward, whether it is unit one or two. It is Independent National Electoral Commission that gives the number of people who are going to vote. INEC will now say you belong to unit one or two. It is not a party thing. They do not know what they are talking about. I am registered as a party man, full stop.