The controversy over the national convention of the All Progressives Alliance (APC) lingered yesterday as a chieftain of the party and former foreign affairs minister, Chief Tom Ikimi, explained why he boycotted the convention held in Abuja, on Friday.
Ikimi also said he would make his stand known on his speculated defection to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) this week.
Ikimi who planned to contest the national chairmanship position of the main opposition political platform was conspicuously absent at the convention held at the Eagles Square, Abuja.
Former Governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, emerged the national chairman of the party at the convention.
However, Ikimi, in a telephone interview with LEADERSHIP yesterday, said his presence would have given credibility to the ‘flawed processes’ that produced Odigie-Oyegun as national chairman of APC.
Ikimi said, “There was no election. Odigie-Oyegun was selected and appointed as chairman. That was why I did not fill and submit my nomination form. I boycotted the convention because its outcome was pre-determined.”
The former minister made the clarification less than 24 hours after Odigie-Oyegun insisted that Ikimi withdrew from the race on his own.
Odigie-Oyegun, told LEADERSHIP on Sunday that his rivals for the exalted party position stepped down voluntarily to pave the way for his emergence, asserting that nobody was compelled to withdraw from the contest.
He, however, disclosed that he had initiated moves to halt defections to other parties by those aggrieved by the outcome of the convention. He said a powerful reconciliation team, to be headed by him, would be constituted to reach out to all them.
According to him, the peace initiatives would start from Abuja and move to other parts of the country.
But Ikimi, who enjoyed the support of the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar ahead of the convention, said boycotting the convention was the best option in the prevailing circumstances.
The former minister, who was asked by our correspondent for his next plan, declined further comments, insisting that our correspondent should wait for a formal statement to be issued by him within the week.
Prodded to shed light on the widespread speculation that he was planning to return to the PDP, Ikimi said, “ I am not discussing with PDP and the Presidency. I read the fiction in some newspapers this morning but your newspaper (LEADERSHIP) is not among them. Please wait for a formal statement from me in the next few days, on the way forward.”
Aside Ikimi, former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, who also wanted the APC top job, also withdrew from the race at 11.27 pm on Friday.
Similarly, Chief Sam Jaja who was also speculated to be interested in the position did not purchase the nomination form.
Speculations were rife that Ikimi was engaged in secret meetings with the Presidency and the leadership of the PDP over his plan to defect to the ruling party.
Ikimi was said to have met with President Goodluck Jonathan and the national chairman of the ruling party, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, twice in Abuja in the two weeks apparently to perfect the strategies for his defection to the ruling party.
Impeccable sources told LEADERSHIP that a former governor of a North West state (name withheld) was coordinating the talks between the former minister and the Presidency.
“It is not a mere speculation that Chief Tom Ikimi was planning to defect to PDP; it is real and he has met President Goodluck Jonathan and national chairman of PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, secretly in Abuja since it became clear to him that he would not clinch the position of the national chairmanship of APC, to work out the modalities for his defection to the ruling party.”
“A former governor of a North West state (name withheld) is the one handling the assignment on behalf of the Presidency through the office of the secretary to the state government of the federation. If all the parties agree on the way forward and barring any unforeseen development, Chief Ikimi is out of the APC and he is set to announce his defection to the PDP,” added a confidant of the former governor who pleaded for anonymity.
Source: Leadership
