APC National Chairman Expresses Fears Ahead 2015

Chief John Odigie Oyegun, the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) on Thursday expressed fears over the 2015 general elections in Nigeria.

The national chairman, who played host to the ECOWAS Fact Finding team to Nigeria led by former Ghanaian President, John Kuffour, revealed that his party was concerned about what he described as unnecessary charged political atmosphere in the country, the Nation reports.

Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun

Chief Oyegun further hinted to the delegation that there were attempts to destabilize states like Edo and Rivers, noting that such were the signs to expect in February 2015.

The APC Chairman alleged that the coming together of the opposition parties to form the APC is making the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) jittery, which has now resulted in a charged political space in Nigeria.

Chief Oyegun also expressed fears that there could be a possible militarization of the electoral process as seen in most elections recently conducted in some states like Ekiti and Osun, as well as the attempts to announce fake election results in Osun State.

"Our prayer is that they don’t try to replicate that at the national level.We have a party in power that has been there for about 16 years. Naturally, given the reality of a growing opposition movement, they have become jittery for the first time in our recent democratic process. They become jittery and it has resulted in an unnecessary charging of the political space. This has manifested itself in the near brutality which they have wielded all the powers available to the national government in terms of security agencies, in terms of economic power and the rest of them,” he said.

The APC chairman further stated that the atmosphere is already naturally charged as displayed in Ekiti State with an attempted repetition in Osun State. It said the same attempt was made in Nasarawa State while that of Adamawa was successful.

“You can see it being displayed in the destabilization of states like Edo and Rivers States. We are very happy that the sub region is interested in the welfare of democracy in Nigeria and has dispatched somebody of no less status of the former President of Ghana. Really, what we are trying to do is to politically and in a democratic sense ensure that the voting population are made aware that power truly belong to them and that they can hire as they wish and fire when they so wish. That is the basic reason for the APC,” Oyegun said.


Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to show better understanding of democracy by immediately restoring the police security details the Inspector General of Police unlawfully withdrew from the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.