Saraki, Oyegun, Dogara Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said that despite the challenges the party is facing in forming government, particularly the National Assembly leadership crisis, APC will get it right and make Nigeria great.
He admitted that the APC made a mistake, which led to the crisis ins the National Assembly.
Speaking with journalists yesterday in Benin, Edo State, the APC chairman said the party was working hard to fashion out “a workable solution to the problem.” He stated that the expected solution would address the issue of indiscipline and also “create an environment in which everyone within the party will find very comfortable to work.”
Odigie-Oyegun said: “I think the reality is there, I don’t think there is any leader that doesn’t realize that Dogara and Senate President Saraki are reality, they are part of life. There is also no leader of the party who does not recognize that this was against the basic position of the party and that has created problem which has brought out issues of discipline, issues of supremacy of the party and others.
That is what is engaging us at the moment, to hammer out a workable solution to the problem which will address the issue of indiscipline and at the same time create an environment in which everyone within the party will find comfortable to work.
“I hope that at the end of this week, we will arrive at a workable arrangement to put this issue behind us. But it attracted all the attention it had attracted because it was, so to speak, the only subject in town. But now, there are other issues that are beginning to engage the media and I think we will get a little bit less attention to what is going on in the National Assembly.”
The APC chairman also admitted that the party made a mistake which gave room to the election of some principal officers of the National Assembly. He faulted the position of Chief Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President under the platform of the opposition PDP. He said there was a parallel meeting among some members of the APC which gave way for the emergence of some key principal officers in the Senate and the House of Representatives but assured Nigerians that the issues “would be taken care of in due course.”
“We, the party made a mistake by having a parallel meeting or calling a parallel meeting on the same day as the inauguration of the National Assembly. That was why that happened. That is unfortunate, but we will take care of that in due course.”
On the Deputy senate Presidency, he stated: “Yes, that was an aberration which sooner than later we will be taking care of. You all know the way it happened; we had an unfortunate incident on the very day of the inauguration of the National Assembly. The situation could easily have been worse, there was a mistake that was made and we have paid for it but that too will be taken care of.”
Odigie-Oyegun blasted the opposition PDP for picking holes in what he described as current move against some aides of former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, over their activities while in office. “Let’s not start building theories and start building scenarios that don’t exist and are not likely to exist. The PDP still hasn’t found its feet, hasn’t found its voice and hasn’t found its relevance. So, we will just wait.”
On the complaints in some quarters that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is slow to action, Odigie-Oyegun said the government is taking its time to ensure that right procedural steps are taken to address the myriads of challenges confronting the nation.
“I don’t think the government is slow, I think the government is deliberate; it can’t be tagged as such.
