Tom Ikimi’s Missiles and Resignation Letter To The APC

1. Following my widely publicized statement made in the aftermath of the

13th June 2014 All Progressives Congress APC National Convention I took
time off to reflect on the state of the party, the emerging
re-configuration of the general political Structure in the country, and
the visionary effects on the state of our Nation.

2. I have spent almost 13 of the past 15 years faithfully dug in, in the
trenches of the evolving democratic dispensations in our country,
steadfastly pursuing my conviction that for true democracy to take firm
root in Nigeria we should fall in line with the model practiced in
successful democracies in the world, of a party in office and a
scrutinizing alternative party holding the Government to account. We all
have watched with admiration how in those other countries through a
process of hitch-free General Elections, the baton of leadership changes
hands from time to time from one Party to the other to provide alternative
policies for their people. Therefore I have never considered my location
outside the ruling party, as being in an “opposition”, rather as
supporting an alternative platform. All that was necessary for me was the
association with individuals committed to build and uphold that platform.
In this regard, my experiences during the era of the NRC and SDP in 1990
-1993 are invaluable reference data bank in my quest to work to
reincarnate the reality of two dominant political platforms in our
country.

3. That is why in 2005, I was fully involved in the creation of the
Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), which
transformed into the Action Congress (AC) in 2006. I worked with a few
dedicated colleagues here in my Abuja residence to successfully achieve
the project. Two groups, comprising those of us who broke away from the
PDP and a breakaway faction from the AD (notably the former South West AD
Governors) made up the foundation membership. For the benefit of political
science students, I should now reveal that the original documents we
prepared for registration bore the name All Peoples Congress (APC) We
eventually settled for AC in order to locate the new party higher up in
the ballot paper. In 2010, in pursuit of a bigger party ahead of the 2011
General Election, we changed the name from AC to ACN, in a very poorly
constructed merger arrangement that failed. It was therefore an experience
of great joy and satisfaction for me to host and lead the process that
gave birth in February 2013, at my Abuja residence, to the All
Progressives Congress (APC) with the successful unification of the major
opposition parties – ACN, ANPP, CPC and a part of APGA. I am aware of the
well known saying that success breeds many uncles, therefore the
subsequent and recent claims of some persons as to the arrow heads of the
creation of the APC does not surprise me nor will it surprise my devoted
89 colleagues who worked earnestly with me on the project.

4. The refreshing news of the entry of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
into the Nation’s political firmament was received across the nation and
beyond with great joy and happiness. Our proclamation of a new party that
would pursue democratic principles by example with particularly a culture
of internal Party Democracy endeared us to the expectant public of teeming
supporters who were all eagerly waiting to take up membership in the new
party. For me, I thought we had finally broken the parochial boundaries of
tribal and regional politics, which in my recent experience had stunted
the growth of the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Our
clarion call for CHANGE reverberated across the country where all and
sundry awaited with high expectation to enroll in the new party. I myself
looked forward eagerly to a wider frontier of comradeship and to once
again recreate happiness color and pageantry in our National Politics
which in times gone by was so eloquently displayed in the legendary
brotherly hand shake across the river Niger and river Benue by the
founding fathers of our Nation’s politics.

5. It was my fervent hope that the emergence of the APC would bring to an
end the sad and bitter experiences that I and some others endured in the
ACN where one of the leaders from the South West exploiting the narrow
National success of the party in that region virtually hijacked the party,
proclaiming himself Overall Leader. Five of the six Governors in the Party
at that time were all from that Region. Prominent leaders particularly
from the North and South East notably, personalities such as former Vice
President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Alhaji Ghali
Na’Abba, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Alhaji Mohammed Shata, Amb. Yahaya Kwande,
Senator Iyorchia Ayu, Otumba Fashawe, Senator Ben Obi, Chief Dubem Onyia
etc who could not come to terms with the man’s behavior departed from the
party back to the PDP. This mass departure of prominent members, from
particular sections of the country, did not only seriously weaken the
party but blemished it with an image of Regional and Tribal status. At
that time I refused to quit the party despite the fact that my frequent
solo protests against his behavior were dismissively ignored as I was
always told that the man was the overwhelming financier of the Party.
While I disagree stoutly with this bluff it is true that the particular
individual constantly boasted of his wealth and of his funding of the
party. I on the other hand could recall that this was a man I knew who was
an easily forgettable character in the 1990s when I was National Party
Chairman and when my candidate Sir Michael Otedola of blessed memory, won
the Governorship of Lagos State. It would come as no great surprise if
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s boasted great wealth did not derive from any
stupendous inheritance ancient or modern. Or that his sudden bragging as
though Nigeria’s Bill Gates is an accumulation of extraordinary hard work
or financial wizardry. I would rather trust the informed whispers in the
inner circles of the party which have it that having positioned himself as
perceived leader in the most lucrative income sources of the party, he is
recipient and dispenser of bags and bags of party funds. I am also become
aware that he is, too, a beneficiary of most of the lucrative contracts in
all the ACN states without exception. To further bolster his image it was
also frequently said that Tinubu has control of all the votes from South
Western Nigeria which, as has been currently touted, when added to the
votes of North Western Nigeria would guarantee victory for the APC in the
upcoming Presidential election.

6. This reckless and arrogant self-aggrandizement paved the way for the
imposition of a strange leadership on the APC in July 2013 when the party
obtained registration from INEC. Those of us who had worked so hard
towards the successful merger and creation of the APC were manipulated out
of the scheme of things. In the bizarre struggle to seize control of the
party we were even openly accused by the self-proclaimed owners of the
party, of wanting to steal “their” party. Many of us in the party as well
as keen observers outside frowned at the skewed leadership image of the
party that was being paraded. An image that blatantly ignored National
sensitivities. The draft constitution prepared by the Merger Committee
included an exit clause, which provided a time limit of six months for the
Interim Management of the Party. That clause mysteriously disappeared from
the version of the constitution that was smuggled into INEC records. Chief
Bisi Akande’s National Chairmanship was therefore primed to stay on in
power ad infinitum! Asiwaju Bola Tinubu frantically constituted a group of
friends and cronies which he proclaimed to be the APC Leadership. The
press, led by the Nation Newspaper, was made to propagate the aberration.
And so rather than allow the construction of a sound base for the party
conducive to the free admission of members Nationwide these self
proclaimed leaders embarked on a National travel spree all in a blaze of
publicity, criss-crossing the country in private aircraft, visiting PDP
State Governors to offer them the State branches of the APC if they would
join the party. While they obviously but ridiculously assumed that the
crisis then in the PDP would last for ever the details of the agreements
they reached with PDP break away Governors, were never revealed to the
authentic Party Leadership but they were such that they ignited the
explosion of irreconcilable crisis in some states, particularly Kano,
Sokoto and Adamawa, resulting in the instant loss of some valuable key
members.

7. Major decisions said to be party decisions now started emerging from
this select group whose ad hoc membership varied from time to time. They
usually congregated at Tinubu’s private parlor in his Asokoro – Abuja
residence. Those who wanted to belong had to find or force their way into
that parlor. Once initiated, your independence or capacity to challenge
the plots that emerged from that cult venue became seriously curtailed.
Rather than freely open up critical issues to free debate at the Interim
Executive Council for democratic decisions to emerge, positions plotted at
the notorious Asokoro parlor were being desperately foisted on the party
for execution. A handful of us constantly challenged this trend with
little success. Gradually, the direction of the Party assumed a focus on
the contest for the Presidency. Then the images of presumed Presidential
and Vice Presidential candidates as well as a privately cooked up
Permanent Chairman for the party started emerging signaling a
Muslim/Muslim Presidential and Vice Presidential ticket. The details of
this issue I have sufficiently dealt with in my previous statement.
However let me state again that their calculation that the Presidency in
the 2015 General elections will be won by the APC through votes from the
North West and South West Nigeria became an obsession. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
who passionately believed in this theory and who arrogantly claimed
custody of all South West votes already picked an aspirant from North
Western Nigeria who will run as Presidential candidate with him as Vice
Presidential candidate. The National image of the party immediately
plummeted.

8. This disastrous trend was worsened by the arrogant departure from
observing the provisions of the Party’s constitution particularly as it
pertains to internal Party democracy. Crisis broke out at uncontrollable
levels in the prosecution of the most undemocratic Ward, LGA, and State
Congresses Nationwide. Machinery for managing this self-inflicted crisis
was virtually non-existent and it was inside this mess that the
controversial National Convention of 13th June was staged. The
Constitution of the Party clearly defines the Party Organs and the Party
Leadership. There is no provision for anyone to be named as the Party
Leader. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu having paraded himself both at home and abroad
as The Leader of Opposition and of the APC had great difficulty in
descending from the fictitious throne. In order to continue manipulating
the party from his parlors in Abuja and Lagos he struggled to retain Chief
Bisi Akande as Chairman. He was further troubled by the growing influence
of the Governors and panicked at the realization that he and his South
West select caucus were losing their grip on “their” party to the
Governors. His last minute efforts to rally a South West Leadership
support for his absolute power over the party failed and chances of
retaining Chief Bisi Akande as National Chairman also evaporated. In the
circumstance as the only option was to find a successor National Chairman
as well as other National Officers, an illegal process of horse trading
between the Governors and Tinubu was initiated. The Interim Executive
Council had no knowledge of all these processes. Chief John Oyegun a
Tinubu plan B project said to be favored for his NADECO and SDP
credentials and also as one who could be controlled now featured, came
into the picture.

9. Until recently the APC had 16 Governors who describe themselves as The
Progressive Governors. They are made up of the original Merging Parties
Governors and the breakaway PDP Governors who as a group are determined to
take control of the Party. This composition of Merging Party Governors and
PDP breakaway Governors cannot in any realistic sense be described as
PROGRESSIVE. They have come together with different personal agendas built
around the central purpose of acquiring National Power. Some of them nurse
Vice Presidential ambition and some others are warming up for the
Presidential contest. In the circumstance the project of taking control of
the Party’s National machinery became crucial and it was out of the
Governor’s caucus that the plan of zoning the National offices was
initiated and concluded. The Interim Executive Committee had no input.
Although it is claimed that the National Chairmanship slot was zoned to
the South South, the horse-trading to produce the beneficiary took place
outside the zone. In order to secure the agreement of most of the
Governors I understand that an agreement was extracted from Chief Oyegun
that he would agree to step down as Chairman should a Governor from the
region emerge as either Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate. And
although the Governors may not have envisaged the present set back they
now suffer in their numerical strength the battle to take custody of the
APC platform that they waged against the Tinubu structure signaled yet
another twist in the tale.

10. Apart from the Tinubu Group and The Governors Group there is a third
Group, of known Presidential Aspirants comprising in the main General
Muhamadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who are both Northerners. The
inclination of the party had always been to zone the Presidency to the
North. Some Governors are now thinking otherwise and given the decisive
role that they seek to play in the affairs of the Party as well as the
tendency to ignore the principle of internal party democracy, a monumental
disaster looms large in the selection of the Party’s Presidential and Vice
Presidential flag bearers later in the year. The construction of the new
National Executive Committee through horse-trading by the Governors and
Tinubu has established a tool structure that is not in the interest of
transparency or democracy. To whom will the newly installed National
Chairman be finally loyal? Will it remain the Nadeco/SDP comradeship that
will drive his loyalty to Tinubu or the current Governors ongoing tactics
of dressing up the National Chairman that may become the game clincher?
Time will surely tell! How these known Presidential aspirants will make
their way in the contest that may feature some Governors is better
imagined. Can Tinubu dare to ditch Buhari? I dey laf!

11. Chief John Oyegun has made various statements since the 13th of June
convention. He finally claimed that he emerged as National Chairman as a
consensus candidate, which puts to rest his previous hasty announcement
that I had stepped down for him. Needless to say the process adopted at
the APC convention for deciding on a new National Chairman was a sham in
which I did not participate. The Chief knows very well that an even
playing field, a fundamental requirement for sound intra party contest did
not exist. He also knows what I know that the conspiracy, with all the
plotting and scheming to install him as National Chairman had been cooking
long before the Convention process was revealed. The delegation that
visited Benin City unceremoniously, last year, to admit him into the ACN
party made no contact with the State Party Leadership. He was drafted into
our State Party by outsiders who had ulterior motives. I was away in Dacca
Senegal on a private visit two weeks or so before the convention. It was
in the Senegalese capital I read on the Internet Chief Oyegun’s press
declaration of his candidature. When I returned home I was reliably
informed that he had been instructed by his patrons to proceed and print
campaign posters. All these maneuvers taking place even before the
emergence of convention guidelines were manifestations of a festering
conspiracy. Having been secretly assured of the outcome, the chief not
only ignored the position of the Edo State Party on the issue, he never
bothered to campaign. On my part I did not approach any of the 16
Governors or any Party leader to solicit for support to contest the
National Chairmanship except for Governor Adams Aliu Oshiomhole of Edo
State whom I saw in Benin City a few days to the convention when I became
aware that the National Chairmanship had been zoned to the South South
zone. My State Party- Edo State APC naturally supported me unanimously but
I printed no posters, did not campaign, did not return the nomination
forms as there was to be no election.

12. I have read statements in the press credited to one of the Governors
who claims knowledge of what transpired, to the effect that the allocation
of National Chairman and other National offices of the Party was
negotiated between the Governors and Tinubu. The late night event that
took place at Eagle Square on the 13th of June was just a stage-managed
ritual to satisfy INEC requirements and deceive the nation. I was never
part of any talks that resulted in the allocation decisions and certainly
could never have been in support of a strange process that replaced the
democratic procedures enshrined in the party’s constitution.

13. In the course of his maiden visit to Edo State Chief Oyegun, in his
statement in the Governor’s office referred to me as those “disgruntled”
at his emergence as National Chairman. In a subsequent interview in the
Vanguard and Punch News Papers widely advertised on the Internet under the
caption “Ikimi made mistake threatening to leave APC” he said among other
things ” It is unfortunate that when you feel hurt, you threaten your
party. That alone creates suspicion about you in the party that you still
belong to. Let me say it was a mistake for him to threaten to leave the
party” Certainly the euphoria and relish of his new office may have taken
possession of him, blurring his vision such that he does not see the deep
wound inflicted on the party, which is now disintegrating rapidly across
the country. For the record let me state that it was I who admitted Chief
Oyegun into the APP in 1999. He joined the ACN a year ago in Benin City
after he departed from the ANPP where in the 2011 General Elections he was
that party’s vice Presidential candidate. He certainly did not depart from
the ANPP with great pleasure. Therefore moving from one party to another
should not be so strange to him as his strange statement portrays. Let me
state that notwithstanding my well known disagreement over the years with
the conduct of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, his actions within the AC, ACN and APC
and notwithstanding the amazing retention of Chief Bisi Akande as National
Chairman of all these parties since 2006, there was absolute mutual
respect between me and Chief Bisi Akande. I have no difficulty in
accepting any qualified member of the Party from any part of Nigeria
emerging legitimately as National chairman. Chief John Oyegun visits me
regularly in Benin City and Abuja where I treat him graciously but I
demand of him to clarify what he meant by “the suspicion” he claimed the
Party he joined through ACN (a party he became a member of last year)
would have about me, a founding foundation member of AC, ACN and APC. Is
he speaking for himself or singing his master’s tune?

14. Senator Ali Modu Sherriff, former two terms Governor of Bornu State
enthusiastically supported the merger. In fact his influence as Chairman
Board of Trustees of the defunct ANPP was crucial to bringing the party on
board. Senator Sherriff achieved his first tenure as a Nigerian Senator in
1991 under the NRC party when I was the National Chairman. He always
recalls the support i gave him in what was his maiden political outing. I
appreciate the co-operation he gave to the merger committee, which
substantially helped us to overcome impediments put on our way during the
merger talks, by some leaders of the ACN and CPC, who did not want the
ANPP on board. To get the APC off the ground Senator Sherriff made
substantial contributions, which included huge finance. On the 7th of
March 2014 the APC staged a National Summit at the Hilton Hotel in Abuja
which was an elaborate event choreographed to officially unveil the new
party. An extensive presentation was displayed to showcase how the party
was formed. Most fair-minded persons who attended the event were shocked
to observe that not even a word was mentioned of me as one of those who
contributed to the creation of the APC. Film clips were shown of Bola
Tinubu, Muhamadu Buhari, Bisi Akande, Ogbonnaya Onu and a few selected
others who in most cases gave distorted accounts of the merger process.
Surprisingly it was Senator Ali Modu Sherriff who became so disgusted by
the deliberate distortion of the facts that he had the courage to take the
microphone and openly berated the injustice. Some were obviously
embarrassed but it turned out that those who prepared the presentation,
many of them high ranking members of the party, were working on the
instructions of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. For his noteworthy and courageous
public intervention on this matter, Senator Sherriff was now marked down
by Bola Tinubu as having opposed him so much so that shortly after the
event both men almost engaged in physical combat at an expanded National
Exco meeting in Abuja. Senator Ali Modu Sherriff may be a friend and long
time political ally but he is certainly not my sponsor. I read several
newspaper fictional stories that said Senator Sherriff was sponsoring me
for National Chairman. That is not true.

15. The merger talks of 89 members hosted by me, was managed by a
leadership of four which included HE Ibrahim Shekarau of ANPP, Alhaji
Garba Gadi of CPC, Senator Ani Okonkwo of the APGA faction and myself of
ACN. I was unanimously nominated by the group to preside as coordinating
chairman. We worked harmoniously together and on the 6th February 2013
the four of us signed the agreement for the merger of the three parties
and a part of APGA. I announced the merger and presented the agreement to
the world. We continued to the next and difficult stages of agreeing a
name, flag, motto and symbol for the party. These were very intricate
negotiations! Our Sub-Committees worked on the Constitution and
Manifesto. After all these were accomplished Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
prevented a smooth establishment of the party in accordance with our
agreements. HE Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau former Governor of Kano State was
sidelined in his State by a curious arrangement that ceded the party
leadership in the state to the present Governor of Kano State with no
defined role for the former Governor to play. He was compelled to
withdraw his membership from the Party. He joined the PDP where he was
recently appointed Minister of Education. Alhaji Shekarau possesses a
very sound and critical mind. I found his contributions to our work most
invaluable. Senator Ani Okonkwo has also announced his departure from the
APC. The popular will, prevailing at the time among a cross section of
members was that the Merger Leadership should continue to mold the party
for at least six months and bring it to fruition by diligently
establishing all its structures. Regrettably this was foiled by hijackers
who have now crashed the project.

16. Former Governor of Sokoto State Alhaji Atahiru Bafarawa could not
accept the shabby treatment meted out to him by those who seized the new
party. Governor Bafarawa is very loyal and dependable. He is an astute
politician with whom I have been associated for about thirty years now. He
was NRC State Party Chairman of Sokoto State in 1991 when I was National
Chairman. He has always been very keen on the unification of the
opposition parties and consequently hosted several merger meetings prior
to the 2011 General Elections. On this occasion he hosted the sittings of
the Constitution committee. Alhaji Bafarawa suffered unprecedented
humiliation in the ACN in 2011 in a kangaroo convention staged in Lagos to
select the ACN Presidential candidate. He therefore withdrew from the ACN
party to return to the ANPP. This time as an ANPP delegate he
enthusiastically participated in the merger talks. He has now withdrawn
from the APC to join the PDP as he could not accept the sudden hand over
of the APC Sokoto Party to the present Governor who during his tenure was
his deputy. Senator Ali Modu Sherriff has not hidden his very strong
disapproval of the precarious direction that the Party is heading. The
conduct of 13th June Convention was totally unacceptable to him. Following
his open challenge of Tinubu it did not surprise me that Tinubu negotiated
away all Sherriff’s nominees from the newly constituted National Executive
committee. I understand that Sen. Ali Modu Sherriff is on his way out of
the party, along with a very large slice of the party membership
particularly from the North East. It is not a coincidence to me that the
prominent members of APC targeted by Bola Tinubu such as Alhaji Atahiru
Bafarawa, Sen Ali Modu Sherriff and myself are former NRC members or those
perceived as Conservatives.

17. Since after the 13th of June APC Convention and after my post
convention statement, a few leaders of the APC have come to see me on
their individual personal basis to plead with me not to abandon the party.
I have received quite a number of telephone calls as well, conveying
similar views to me. None of these persons could disagree with my very
strong views against the turn of events regarding the mismanagement of the
party nor of the grave injustice that has been perpetrated against me
through an unprecedented level of conspiracy and bad faith. All they are
saying to me is that I should not abandon what I had helped so much to
build. It is truly amazing that all who have spoken to me privately
without exception agree with me that the image of the APC as is a Tinubu
Party has severely damaged the party but each time I openly raise issues
that challenge the consequences everyone keeps quiet. It is common
knowledge that the vote against the very popular candidate Sen Chris Ngige
in the Anambra Governorship election and recently against one of the most
successful Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State was indeed a vote
against Tinubu. Tinubu’s obsessive calculation of South West/North West
votes is unproven and untested. It is in pursuit of a very selfish
ambition that has seriously alienated block zones, such as South East,
South South, North East and most of North Central from the party. The
Party has collapsed in very many states such as Adamawa, it is in distress
in Edo, Ogun, Oyo. Lagos, Nasarawa.

18. In consideration of all the above I have come to the following
conclusions:

(i) I have lived to see one of my major political yearnings in place. Now
there are two major Political Parties in my Country – The People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) and The All Progressives Congress (APC). I am
satisfied that I have played an important and historic role in ensuring
the emergence of an alternative platform to the party in office. There are
many now claiming leadership of the APC who were very skeptical when we
embarked on the merger project who openly dismissed the idea that it would
never work. Yes, some of them tried several times in the past to unify
some parties in order to achieve bigger platforms but in an atmosphere of
prevailing dishonesty, greed, unbridled ambition, uncompromising and
undiplomatic approaches to such delicate negotiations, their efforts
yielded resounding failure. For my part I enjoyed the respect of all the
89 delegates who met with me for about six months because they were very
confident I had no personal agenda not even taking sides to protect
positions of the ACN my own party then. But immediately we established
what they had considered impossible to do,I became a prime target, as they
believed that they could only control and manipulate the affairs of the
party if I was not there. By my credentials in Political Party Leadership
my claim to the top table in any party to which I belong is well earned!
In the present atmosphere of envy, plots and gossip the long-term
satisfaction of a political comradeship and brotherhood anchored on shared
principles and ideology, of honor, trust and confidence in pursuit of a
common goal remain elusive.

(ii) I understand they claim that I possess a strong and independent
personality as well as a mind of my own which cannot be bent and so I am
said to be one that could not be controlled. On a rather mischievous note,
my foremost assailant in that party, peddles in one breadth a smear
campaign that if I were to be in charge, I would sell the party while in
another fowl breadth that I am an enemy as I had served in the Abacha
Government. My so called strong and independent personality sometimes
misconstrued as an arrogant mien is merely the creation of nature and I
have never ever been harmful at all to anyone around me but as for an
independent and firm mind I believe it is an asset and an attribute which
indeed is so direly needed for good and fair leadership in our society
today and I apologize to no one for being so created. It is really ironic
that I was not accused of going to sell the party over the past 13 years
or so that I struggled in different recorded ways to make notable
contributions in creating and building it up in its various forms but that
i was now to sell the party after working successfully to achieve its
present mega format. Who by the way is the buyer? Is it the PDP Government
that opened its doors once more recently to one of the APC foremost
boastful and noisy leader to consummate a mega oil deal on the eve of that
controversial APC convention? Who then is really selling and who is indeed
buying? Who sold Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s ACN Presidential candidature in
2011? Was it Chief Tom Ikimi? My tenure as Foreign Affairs Minister during
the Abacha Regime has turned out to be a befitting reference in patriotic
diplomatic Service in our country for which I am extremely proud! Why am I
targeted for being that Foreign Minister that brought peace to Liberia,
restored democratic Government in Sierra Leone, maintained the leadership
of Nigeria in the OAU, ECOWAS and the UN, the first to turn to China with
a trade delegation that opened up massive opportunities for our country
but they fail to point even a feeble finger at others in their midst who
benefitted immensely from the Abacha Government, some who ran the most
lucrative agencies during that tenure, some others who made away with
giant oil fields or are we blind not to see the giant, fancy lucrative
projects currently being executed in partnership with well known Abacha
foreign friends!

(iii). The recent mass exodus from the Party has effectively put the
movement of the APC firmly in reverse gear. Those who have left include
notables such as Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State, Alhaji Atahiru
Bafarawa of Sokoto State, Alhaji Ali Modu Sherriff of Bornu State, Brg Gen
Buba Marwa of Adamawa State, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of Adamawa State, Senator
Ani Okonkwo of Anambra State, Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu of Edo State. I
understand Chief Olusegun Osoba of Ogun State is on his way out too. The
very weak National Leadership appointed for the Party in the last
Convention is definitely incapable of restoring any positive movement to
the party. The prevailing hostile atmosphere in the party does not present
the opportunity for any intervention from me at this time at National,
Zonal or State Level as I have done in the past.

(iv). I led the process of change in Edo State politics in 2006 when as
National Leader of the Action Congress (AC) I brought the new party to the
state. I worked with dedicated and courageous colleagues to establish the
party in Edo State and we recorded a resounding success in the 2007
General Elections – our very first outing in the State. AC and eventually
ACN has therefore been the Government in power in Edo State from 2008 to
date and I am proud of the quality of peaceful, respectable and dignified
leadership that I was able to provide to the party through these years.
Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole who joined us in the middle of our
preparation for the 2007 General Elections met me in firm control of the
Party and its Leadership in the State at the time. We welcomed him warmly
and with our support he was lucky to emerge victorious in the State
Governorship election and I have over the years enjoyed an excellent
working relationship with the Comrade. Now as he is the APC Governor of
Edo State, I wish him good luck, good health and God’s guidance as he
proceeds to conclude his second term in office. But during the past seven
years of performing my role as leader of the party in Edo State, my
personal experiences of the relationship between the political party, the
legislature and the Executive at State level has instilled in me very
useful lessons that would be immensely helpful in any future roles.

(v). I have no current or perceivable ambition to contest for executive
power. My quest for an alternative political platform in the country is
basically in pursuit of a credible political structure that would
guarantee the vital checks and balances in the system so that our people
may enjoy the benefits of alternative choices of National Government from
time to time. It is certainly not for the creation of a vengeful ravaging
army of flatterers and favor-seekers at the command of a desperate upstart
with the hideous mission of stampeding an illusory enemy. While I have
always regarded the entire country as my constituency, I am not oblivious
of the reality of my circumstance as a South Southerner, a Christian from
a so called minority stock who will continue to align with the forces of
change that would guarantee justice, prosperity, peace and happiness for
all our peoples. The forces that have now seized the APC in a stranglehold
are on a mission very much against my conscience and indeed my very being.

(vi). I have always viewed a political party as a congregation of
like-minded persons who become welded together in a close-knit brotherhood
in a manner beyond mere friendship. In a Nation of two dominant political
parties or even diverse political parties the members, across party lines,
who are all in politics need not be sworn enemies. After all they are
citizens of the same Nation with I suppose a mission of service to their
people. Therefore their hold to power has to be at the discretion of the
people.

(vii). I am at the stage of currently critically re-examining the two
dominant political parties in our country, which are the APC and the PDP,
in both of which I have had close working knowledge. I have not ignored
the other political parties but in the light of the foregoing I must now
search to really ascertain where indeed my true political friends exist. I
need to be, at this time of my life where I have friends who share a
common vision with me and where my freedom, respect, honor and dignity
would be guaranteed. Notwithstanding my enormous contributions over the
past 12 years or so to building the alternative platform, after very deep
thought and the widest consultations I have made the decision to withdraw
my membership from the All Progressives Congress (APC) from today,
Wednesday 27th August 2014.