Politics
How Oyegun Divided Osinbajo, Tinubu
By Editor
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday broke ranks with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as he poured commendations on immediate past national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun saying he is a man he has always admired.
Osinbajo spoke at the 80th birthday celebration of the former party chairman in Abuja.
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who was Odigie-Oyegun’s successor as national chairman and also a successor as governor of Edo State put up an appearance despite the recent faceoff between the two men over the political crisis in Edo State.
Tinubu who helped Odigie-Oyegun to the position of the first substantive national chairman of the party and had a famous falling away with Odigie-Oyegun was absent at the celebration.
Tinubu had in a letter in February 2018 following perceived challenges to the job given him by President Muhammdu Buhari to reconcile party members flayed Odigie-Oyegun saying:
“Disappointment greeted me when I discovered that you had swiftly acted in contravention of the spirit of our discussions. Instead of being a bulwark of support as promised, you positioned yourself in active opposition to the goal of resuscitating the progressive and democratic nature of the APC”, Tinubu wrote.
Tinubu further accused Odigie-Oyegun of intending to “undermine my mandate by engaging in dilatory tactics for the most part. When forced to act, you do so in an arbitrary and capricious manner.”
Tinubu had in an earlier statement deposed that “To rescue the party, Oyegun must go. He has shown that he and democratic fair play cannot exist in the same party at the same time.”
Osinbajo, a stalwart of Tinubu, however, differed on Saturday saying:
“I have always admired Chief John Odigie Oyegun for two reasons. First reason is that somehow, he has always been his own man, charting his own course, sometimes, making some real troubles.
“For example, when as a permanent secretary, he raised contempt proceedings when he refused to testify in principle. As a young man, I watch with bathed breadth when they were going to carry him to jail. But he ended up on the right side. It is not always that you find one on the right side of history.
“As a founding member of AD, a founding member of NADECO and later its secretary of those abroad, founding member of the APC and the first chairman, the one who led our party to tat historic victory to unseat the ruling party.
“The second reason for my admiration is that some how, he manages to be so deep in Nigerian politics even though he doesn’t look like a politician or sound like one. He always sound like a fine, well read and well spoken gentleman driven into politics by some rascals.
“But indeed, he is a consummate politician and an astute strategist. It is this particular attribute of being in politics without being a politician that I will like to be when I grow up. Aside from lawyers, I do not know a group of people who are more maligned than politicians.
“People like Chief Oyegun has shown that politicians can be loyal and distinguished men and women and it makes us proud to belong to this company of credible human beings. Despite what people say, we are often more loyal than some other people.”
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