The National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu who has been mandated to reconcile all aggrieved and feuding members of the party appears to be aggrieved following the recent decision by the National Executive Committee of the party to extend the tenure of the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Oyegun by additional one year.
The former governor of Lagos state made his position known in an interview granted by his Special Adviser, on Media and Publicity, Tunde Rahman. Speaking with Independent, Rahman said the tenure extension violates the constitution of Nigeria and the Party, stressing that his principal was totally against it.
“I don’t know if Asiwaju Tinubu was privy to the meeting or whether he was consulted or not before the decision was reached. But I do know that he has always spoken in support of doing things constitutionally. Did the so-called elongation of tenure of the party executives follow the country’s constitution, and even the APC’s constitution?
“Section 223 of the 1999 constitution talks about election of executives of political parties periodically. And the section further explains that the election of the party executives will be deemed to be periodical if done every four years.
“What is the fear of those behind the elongation? The executives can contest for re-election and if they are re-elected, so be it. No one can deny them that right, but why circumvent due process? Why thwart constitutional process?
“Asiwaju Tinubu would wish that due constitutional process was followed because that’s what has always made the difference between the APC and the other parties. In 2014, three conventions were done in a space of seven months, including the election of new party executives, presidential primaries, and even amendment of some aspects of the party’s constitution, and heaven did not fall.”
