By BASHIR ADEFAKA
Former Member, Nigeria’s House of Representatives and former Oyo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Hon. Bosun Oladele, has thrown more light on the rejection of proposed amendment to Constitution of the nation’s governing All Progressives Congress (APC), by some stakeholders in the South West.
The stakeholders, operating under the aegis of ‘Asiwaju Delegates’ and also believed to be the APC Statutory Delegates from the geopolitical zone, declined to accept the proposed amendment, which seeks to delist former and serving national assembly members as statutory delegates.
Bosun Oladele, who is a notable member of the Asiwaju Delegates and Secretary General of South West Agenda for Asiwaju 2023 (SWAGA’23), in an exclusive chat with The DEFENDER in Lagos on Friday, described the proposed amendment to legal document of a party “we all own together” as uncalled for because, it seeks to keep some willing party members out of its national convention.
‘Asiwaju Delegates’, which have been viewed by some watchers of the political developments as Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Boys, have in their list namely, Senator Adegbenga Kaka, Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, Honourable Ayo Omidiran, with Honourable Bosun Oladele as their Protem Secretary.
In furtherance to the earlier position of the group, Oladele also warned against the imposition and fielding of unpopular candidates as consensus in the forthcoming National Convention of the party, which holds ate this month, precisely on 26 February.
According to the Protem Secretary, “We held a meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State yesterday that is Thursday and arrived at a communique with a clearly stated seven-point position and they are as I will list to you,” Bosun Oladele said.
According to him, the communique reads: “The APC Statutory Delegates of South-West Extraction loyal and supportive to His Excellency – Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu under the aegis of “ Asiwaju Delegates” met today the 17th Day of February, 2022 at Kakanfo Inn and Conference Centre Ibadan, Oyo State to deliberate on the forth coming Convention of our great party the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the interest of our leader in the Presidential Electoral Contest of 2023 where we resolved as follows:
“1. That we are fully in support of the presidential ambition of His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and shall continue to advocate and network for same.
“2. That we are in support of the decision of the Caretaker (Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of our great party led by His Excellency Mai Mala Buni to hold our National Convention on the 26th day of February, 2022.
“3. We shall continue to support every decision of our party that is devoid of injustice, arbitrariness or any attempt to disenfranchise legitimate party members from exercising their democratic rights in line with our party constitution and extant rules.
“4. We are opposed to all moves and decisions that will not allow the upcoming national convention to be contested by willing party members in an atmosphere devoid of any imposition and unpopular consensus arrangements.
“5. We are opposed to any proposed amendment seeking to exclude former and serving members of the National Assembly of our party APC from National Convention OR any proposed amendment seeking to alter the membership of the party’s National Convention as presently composed as this is tantamount to “changing the rules in the middle of the game” because of primordial vested interests and such will not encourage popular participation in the National Convention and Presidential primaries and will definitely rob the party of robust contest and emergence of candidates by popular choice.
“6. That by all known convention and democratic tenets, former and serving National Assembly members are ranking party members and statesmen that play vital roles in party management and critical democratic process across all parties thus the question is: “who benefits from their removal”???
“7. Towards the actualisation our set goal of ensuring the emergence of His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as our presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, we have resolved to continue to hold periodic meetings as and when necessary and to further network with other zones of the Country”.
Hon. Bosun Oladele, who lauded The DEFENDER for being a paper for the defence of truth and national integrity, reiterated his commitment to the collective course that will stop at nothing to ensure the emergence of Asiwaju Tinubu, not only as Presidential Candidate of the APC but also as next president of Nigeria come 2023.
Emphatically, the constitutional lawyer said, “as stated in the communique, we shall continue to support every decision of our party but those decisions must not be the ones founded on injustice, arbitrariness or any attempt to disenfranchise legitimate party members from exercising their democratic rights in line with our party constitution and extant rules, I am saying this by way emphasis.”
Such moves and decisions that will not enable what is called internal democracy or let willing party members contest and participate in the forthcoming National Convention “will not be acceptable to us”, the former National Assembly member said.
