24th August, 2019
John Oyegun on Friday said the All Progressives Congress (APC) will have challenges in retaining the ruling party status in 2023 general election.
The former national chairman of the ruling party said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS. He said the issues will arise because President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the main figure of the party’s agenda will not be qualified to contest.
“When the APC was formed, all the predictions were that it will implode in another year or two, but the APC did not implode,” he said.
“The APC will have issues in 2023 and it has to start now, it has time to put its acts together for 2023. In 2023, there will be no President Buhari.”
Oyegun rebuffed allegations that the Party failed to deliver its promises to Nigerians in their first tenure, stating that they never promised an overnight change but admitted things weren’t simple as they had thought.
“We never told you that we have that magic switch which immediately our president is turned into office, he flicks it, the whole of the country has changed. No, it is a process and let me admit, the realities on ground turned out to be a little bit more difficult than we thought,” he said.
“Even as we move to the very next level, we are carrying change with us.”
Oyegun, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday with opposition party members in attendance, said he did that to send a message.
“I wanted to make a point so I invited people across the party divide because we are not enemies, we all want to govern Nigeria. We may have different methods, but that does not make us mortal enemies. So I thought that was an opportunity to make that point,” he said.
On the crisis within the party and Edo state, here is what Oyegun said:
“We cannot allow this crisis in Edo state or even in the party. My message is that we must try to achieve a leadership that is by compromise, by agreement and that is inclusive. We must let the constitution, both of the party and the nation to be our guide,” he said.
“I have always believed that things can be done better. That our politics does not have to be as aggressive as it is.
“When we embarked on the doctrine of change, for me, this meant change for everybody in the nation, change in our attitude, change in our respect for law, change in our respect for due process, change in our respect for what is right and our ability to differentiate it from what is wrong. And I offered myself for leadership because I wanted to contribute to that process, that our politics can be different.”