Group wants Timi Frank sanctioned for calling for Oyegun’s resignation

A group operating under the aegis of Fresh Hope for Nigeria (FHN) has come down hard on Timi Frank, deputy national secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), for condemning the position of the party over the recent elections at the National Assembly and for also demanding for the resignation of John Odigie-Oyegun, the national chairman of the party.

 

The deputy national publicity secretary had on Monday faulted the leadership of the party on the
role it played in the just conclud- ed National Assembly elections where Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara emerged as Senate presi- dent and speaker of the House

of Representatives, respectively, a development which contravenes the position taken by the party at the straw poll it conducted where Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila were anointed as the party’s consensus candidates.

Calling for strong sanctions against Frank, the group said: “Timi could not have ordinarily come out bold to do such thing if not that he has allowed himself to be used by some interests within and outside the party.”

A statement signed Wednesday in Abuja by the national coordina- tor of the group, Tamuno Banigo, said Timi acted outright in error to have attacked the leadership of his party on the pages of newspapers.

“He has even gone ahead to call himself a member of the National Working Committee, this is a lie; Timi Frank should not continue to confuse the members of the public. He is not known as a member of NWC,” he said.

While reacting to some of the is- sues raised in the report, the group explained that the policy of the party is that they wanted to present one candidate for the National Assembly leadership election and to provide a platform to achieve that, and that was what has been guiding the party in all the primaries that have been organised on the basis of providing a level playing ground for all the members of the party.

According to Banigo, “Nobody is allowed to dictate for the party on how that should be done.”

Speaking on the mock election conducted before the inauguration of the NASS, he said what the party did was to provide platform for all its members at the National Assembly to freely choose preferred candidates for all the positions.

“This is what the party feels it owes its members and we will continue to do that,” he further said.

On whether party intervention was late in coming, he said it is a matter of individual opinion, saying, as far as the party was concerned, the step taken was taken at the right time.

On the issue that the national chairman of the party was under pressure, Banigo said: “The chairman of a big party like APC is always under pressure from all interest groups, but his job is to manage such pressure and be able to come up with what is in the best interest of the party.

“Different people want different things, but the job of the chairman is to moderate to get what is the best for the party.”