Tom Ikimi's Missiles and Resignation Letter To The APC

1. Following my widely publicized statement made in the aftermath of the

13th June 2014 All Progressives Congress APC National Convention I took

time off to reflect on the state of the party, the emerging

re-configuration of the general political Structure in the country, and

the visionary effects on the state of our Nation.
2. I have spent almost 13 of the past 15 years faithfully dug in, in the

trenches of the evolving democratic dispensations in our country,

steadfastly pursuing my conviction that for true democracy to take firm

root in Nigeria we should fall in line with the model practiced in

successful democracies in the world, of a party in office and a

scrutinizing alternative party holding the Government to account. We all

have watched with admiration how in those other countries through a

process of hitch-free General Elections, the baton of leadership changes

hands from time to time from one Party to the other to provide alternative

policies for their people. Therefore I have never considered my location

outside the ruling party, as being in an “opposition”, rather as

supporting an alternative platform. All that was necessary for me was the

association with individuals committed to build and uphold that platform.

In this regard, my experiences during the era of the NRC and SDP in 1990

-1993 are invaluable reference data bank in my quest to work to

reincarnate the reality of two dominant political platforms in our

country.
3. That is why in 2005, I was fully involved in the creation of the

Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), which

transformed into the Action Congress (AC) in 2006. I worked with a few

dedicated colleagues here in my Abuja residence to successfully achieve

the project. Two groups, comprising those of us who broke away from the

PDP and a breakaway faction from the AD (notably the former South West AD

Governors) made up the foundation membership. For the benefit of political

science students, I should now reveal that the original documents we

prepared for registration bore the name All Peoples Congress (APC) We

eventually settled for AC in order to locate the new party higher up in

the ballot paper. In 2010, in pursuit of a bigger party ahead of the 2011

General Election, we changed the name from AC to ACN, in a very poorly

constructed merger arrangement that failed. It was therefore an experience

of great joy and satisfaction for me to host and lead the process that

gave birth in February 2013, at my Abuja residence, to the All

Progressives Congress (APC) with the successful unification of the major

opposition parties – ACN, ANPP, CPC and a part of APGA. I am aware of the

well known saying that success breeds many uncles, therefore the

subsequent and recent claims of some persons as to the arrow heads of the

creation of the APC does not surprise me nor will it surprise my devoted

89 colleagues who worked earnestly with me on the project.

4. The refreshing news of the entry of the All Progressives Congress (APC)

into the Nation's political firmament was received across the nation and

beyond with great joy and happiness. Our proclamation of a new party that

would pursue democratic principles by example with particularly a culture

of internal Party Democracy endeared us to the expectant public of teeming

supporters who were all eagerly waiting to take up membership in the new

party. For me, I thought we had finally broken the parochial boundaries of

tribal and regional politics, which in my recent experience had stunted

the growth of the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Our

clarion call for CHANGE reverberated across the country where all and

sundry awaited with high expectation to enroll in the new party. I myself

looked forward eagerly to a wider frontier of comradeship and to once

again recreate happiness color and pageantry in our National Politics

which in times gone by was so eloquently displayed in the legendary

brotherly hand shake across the river Niger and river Benue by the

founding fathers of our Nation's politics.
5. It was my fervent hope that the emergence of the APC would bring to an

end the sad and bitter experiences that I and some others endured in the

ACN where one of the leaders from the South West exploiting the narrow

National success of the party in that region virtually hijacked the party,

proclaiming himself Overall Leader. Five of the six Governors in the Party

at that time were all from that Region. Prominent leaders particularly

from the North and South East notably, personalities such as former Vice

President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Alhaji Ghali

Na'Abba, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Alhaji Mohammed Shata, Amb. Yahaya Kwande,

Senator Iyorchia Ayu, Otumba Fashawe, Senator Ben Obi, Chief Dubem Onyia

etc who could not come to terms with the man's behavior departed from the

party back to the PDP. This mass departure of prominent members, from

particular sections of the country, did not only seriously weaken the

party but blemished it with an image of Regional and Tribal status. At

that time I refused to quit the party despite the fact that my frequent

solo protests against his behavior were dismissively ignored as I was

always told that the man was the overwhelming financier of the Party.

While I disagree stoutly with this bluff it is true that the particular

individual constantly boasted of his wealth and of his funding of the

party. I on the other hand could recall that this was a man I knew who was

an easily forgettable character in the 1990s when I was National Party

Chairman and when my candidate Sir Michael Otedola of blessed memory, won

the Governorship of Lagos State. It would come as no great surprise if

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu's boasted great wealth did not derive from any

stupendous inheritance ancient or modern. Or that his sudden bragging as

though Nigeria's Bill Gates is an accumulation of extraordinary hard work

or financial wizardry. I would rather trust the informed whispers in the

inner circles of the party which have it that having positioned himself as

perceived leader in the most lucrative income sources of the party, he is

recipient and dispenser of bags and bags of party funds. I am also become

aware that he is, too, a beneficiary of most of the lucrative contracts in

all the ACN states without exception. To further bolster his image it was

also frequently said that Tinubu has control of all the votes from South

Western Nigeria which, as has been currently touted, when added to the

votes of North Western Nigeria would guarantee victory for the APC in the

upcoming Presidential election.
6. This reckless and arrogant self-aggrandizement paved the way for the

imposition of a strange leadership on the APC in July 2013 when the party

obtained registration from INEC. Those of us who had worked so hard

towards the successful merger and creation of the APC were manipulated out

of the scheme of things. In the bizarre struggle to seize control of the

party we were even openly accused by the self-proclaimed owners of the

party, of wanting to steal “their” party. Many of us in the party as well

as keen observers outside frowned at the skewed leadership image of the

party that was being paraded. An image that blatantly ignored National

sensitivities. The draft constitution prepared by the Merger Committee

included an exit clause, which provided a time limit of six months for the

Interim Management of the Party. That clause mysteriously disappeared from

the version of the constitution that was smuggled into INEC records. Chief

Bisi Akande's National Chairmanship was therefore primed to stay on in

power ad infinitum! Asiwaju Bola Tinubu frantically constituted a group of

friends and cronies which he proclaimed to be the APC Leadership. The

press, led by the Nation Newspaper, was made to propagate the aberration.

And so rather than allow the construction of a sound base for the party

conducive to the free admission of members Nationwide these self

proclaimed leaders embarked on a National travel spree all in a blaze of

publicity, criss-crossing the country in private aircraft, visiting PDP

State Governors to offer them the State branches of the APC if they would

join the party. While they obviously but ridiculously assumed that the

crisis then in the PDP would last for ever the details of the agreements

they reached with PDP break away Governors, were never revealed to the

authentic Party Leadership but they were such that they ignited the

explosion of irreconcilable crisis in some states, particularly Kano,

Sokoto and Adamawa, resulting in the instant loss of some valuable key

members.
7. Major decisions said to be party decisions now started emerging from

this select group whose ad hoc membership varied from time to time. They

usually congregated at Tinubu's private parlor in his Asokoro – Abuja

residence. Those who wanted to belong had to find or force their way into

that parlor. Once initiated, your independence or capacity to challenge

the plots that emerged from that cult venue became seriously curtailed.

Rather than freely open up critical issues to free debate at the Interim

Executive Council for democratic decisions to emerge, positions plotted at

the notorious Asokoro parlor were being desperately foisted on the party

for execution. A handful of us constantly challenged this trend with

little success. Gradually, the direction of the Party assumed a focus on

the contest for the Presidency. Then the images of presumed Presidential

and Vice Presidential candidates as well as a privately cooked up

Permanent Chairman for the party started emerging signaling a

Muslim/Muslim Presidential and Vice Presidential ticket. The details of

this issue I have sufficiently dealt with in my previous statement.

However let me state again that their calculation that the Presidency in

the 2015 General elections will be won by the APC through votes from the

North West and South West Nigeria became an obsession. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

who passionately believed in this theory and who arrogantly claimed

custody of all South West votes already picked an aspirant from North

Western Nigeria who will run as Presidential candidate with him as Vice

Presidential candidate. The National image of the party immediately

plummeted.
8. This disastrous trend was worsened by the arrogant departure from

observing the provisions of the Party's constitution particularly as it

pertains to internal Party democracy. Crisis broke out at uncontrollable

levels in the prosecution of the most undemocratic Ward, LGA, and State

Congresses Nationwide. Machinery for managing this self-inflicted crisis

was virtually non-existent and it was inside this mess that the

controversial National Convention of 13th June was staged. The

Constitution of the Party clearly defines the Party Organs and the Party

Leadership. There is no provision for anyone to be named as the Party

Leader. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu having paraded himself both at home and abroad

as The Leader of Opposition and of the APC had great difficulty in

descending from the fictitious throne. In order to continue manipulating

the party from his parlors in Abuja and Lagos he struggled to retain Chief

Bisi Akande as Chairman. He was further troubled by the growing influence

of the Governors and panicked at the realization that he and his South

West select caucus were losing their grip on “their” party to the

Governors. His last minute efforts to rally a South West Leadership

support for his absolute power over the party failed and chances of

retaining Chief Bisi Akande as National Chairman also evaporated. In the

circumstance as the only option was to find a successor National Chairman

as well as other National Officers, an illegal process of horse trading

between the Governors and Tinubu was initiated. The Interim Executive

Council had no knowledge of all these processes. Chief John Oyegun a

Tinubu plan B project said to be favored for his NADECO and SDP

credentials and also as one who could be controlled now featured, came

into the picture.
9. Until recently the APC had 16 Governors who describe themselves as The

Progressive Governors. They are made up of the original Merging Parties

Governors and the breakaway PDP Governors who as a group are determined to

take control of the Party. This composition of Merging Party Governors and

PDP breakaway Governors cannot in any realistic sense be described as

PROGRESSIVE. They have come together with different personal agendas built

around the central purpose of acquiring National Power. Some of them nurse

Vice Presidential ambition and some others are warming up for the

Presidential contest. In the circumstance the project of taking control of

the Party's National machinery became crucial and it was out of the

Governor's caucus that the plan of zoning the National offices was

initiated and concluded. The Interim Executive Committee had no input.

Although it is claimed that the National Chairmanship slot was zoned to

the South South, the horse-trading to produce the beneficiary took place

outside the zone. In order to secure the agreement of most of the

Governors I understand that an agreement was extracted from Chief Oyegun

that he would agree to step down as Chairman should a Governor from the

region emerge as either Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate. And

although the Governors may not have envisaged the present set back they

now suffer in their numerical strength the battle to take custody of the

APC platform that they waged against the Tinubu structure signaled yet

another twist in the tale.
10. Apart from the Tinubu Group and The Governors Group there is a third

Group, of known Presidential Aspirants comprising in the main General

Muhamadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who are both Northerners. The

inclination of the party had always been to zone the Presidency to the

North. Some Governors are now thinking otherwise and given the decisive

role that they seek to play in the affairs of the Party as well as the

tendency to ignore the principle of internal party democracy, a monumental

disaster looms large in the selection of the Party's Presidential and Vice

Presidential flag bearers later in the year. The construction of the new

National Executive Committee through horse-trading by the Governors and

Tinubu has established a tool structure that is not in the interest of

transparency or democracy. To whom will the newly installed National

Chairman be finally loyal? Will it remain the Nadeco/SDP comradeship that

will drive his loyalty to Tinubu or the current Governors ongoing tactics

of dressing up the National Chairman that may become the game clincher?

Time will surely tell! How these known Presidential aspirants will make

their way in the contest that may feature some Governors is better

imagined. Can Tinubu dare to ditch Buhari? I dey laf!

11. Chief John Oyegun has made various statements since the 13th of June

convention. He finally claimed that he emerged as National Chairman as a

consensus candidate, which puts to rest his previous hasty announcement

that I had stepped down for him. Needless to say the process adopted at

the APC convention for deciding on a new National Chairman was a sham in

which I did not participate. The Chief knows very well that an even

playing field, a fundamental requirement for sound intra party contest did

not exist. He also knows what I know that the conspiracy, with all the

plotting and scheming to install him as National Chairman had been cooking

long before the Convention process was revealed. The delegation that

visited Benin City unceremoniously, last year, to admit him into the ACN

party made no contact with the State Party Leadership. He was drafted into

our State Party by outsiders who had ulterior motives. I was away in Dacca

Senegal on a private visit two weeks or so before the convention. It was

in the Senegalese capital I read on the Internet Chief Oyegun's press

declaration of his candidature. When I returned home I was reliably

informed that he had been instructed by his patrons to proceed and print

campaign posters. All these maneuvers taking place even before the

emergence of convention guidelines were manifestations of a festering

conspiracy. Having been secretly assured of the outcome, the chief not

only ignored the position of the Edo State Party on the issue, he never

bothered to campaign. On my part I did not approach any of the 16

Governors or any Party leader to solicit for support to contest the

National Chairmanship except for Governor Adams Aliu Oshiomhole of Edo

State whom I saw in Benin City a few days to the convention when I became

aware that the National Chairmanship had been zoned to the South South

zone. My State Party- Edo State APC naturally supported me unanimously but

I printed no posters, did not campaign, did not return the nomination

forms as there was to be no election.
12. I have read statements in the press credited to one of the Governors

who claims knowledge of what transpired, to the effect that the allocation

of National Chairman and other National offices of the Party was

negotiated between the Governors and Tinubu. The late night event that

took place at Eagle Square on the 13th of June was just a stage-managed

ritual to satisfy INEC requirements and deceive the nation. I was never

part of any talks that resulted in the allocation decisions and certainly

could never have been in support of a strange process that replaced the

democratic procedures enshrined in the party's constitution.

13. In the course of his maiden visit to Edo State Chief Oyegun, in his

statement in the Governor's office referred to me as those “disgruntled”

at his emergence as National Chairman. In a subsequent interview in the

Vanguard and Punch News Papers widely advertised on the Internet under the

caption “Ikimi made mistake threatening to leave APC” he said among other

things ” It is unfortunate that when you feel hurt, you threaten your

party. That alone creates suspicion about you in the party that you still

belong to. Let me say it was a mistake for him to threaten to leave the

party” Certainly the euphoria and relish of his new office may have taken

possession of him, blurring his vision such that he does not see the deep

wound inflicted on the party, which is now disintegrating rapidly across

the country. For the record let me state that it was I who admitted Chief

Oyegun into the APP in 1999. He joined the ACN a year ago in Benin City

after he departed from the ANPP where in the 2011 General Elections he was

that party's vice Presidential candidate. He certainly did not depart from

the ANPP with great pleasure. Therefore moving from one party to another

should not be so strange to him as his strange statement portrays. Let me

state that notwithstanding my well known disagreement over the years with

the conduct of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, his actions within the AC, ACN and APC

and notwithstanding the amazing retention of Chief Bisi Akande as National

Chairman of all these parties since 2006, there was absolute mutual

respect between me and Chief Bisi Akande. I have no difficulty in

accepting any qualified member of the Party from any part of Nigeria

emerging legitimately as National chairman. Chief John Oyegun visits me

regularly in Benin City and Abuja where I treat him graciously but I

demand of him to clarify what he meant by “the suspicion” he claimed the

Party he joined through ACN (a party he became a member of last year)

would have about me, a founding foundation member of AC, ACN and APC. Is

he speaking for himself or singing his master's tune?

14. Senator Ali Modu Sherriff, former two terms Governor of Bornu State

enthusiastically supported the merger. In fact his influence as Chairman

Board of Trustees of the defunct ANPP was crucial to bringing the party on

board. Senator Sherriff achieved his first tenure as a Nigerian Senator in

1991 under the NRC party when I was the National Chairman. He always

recalls the support i gave him in what was his maiden political outing. I

appreciate the co-operation he gave to the merger committee, which

substantially helped us to overcome impediments put on our way during the

merger talks, by some leaders of the ACN and CPC, who did not want the

ANPP on board. To get the APC off the ground Senator Sherriff made

substantial contributions, which included huge finance. On the 7th of

March 2014 the APC staged a National Summit at the Hilton Hotel in Abuja

which was an elaborate event choreographed to officially unveil the new

party. An extensive presentation was displayed to showcase how the party

was formed. Most fair-minded persons who attended the event were shocked

to observe that not even a word was mentioned of me as one of those who

contributed to the creation of the APC. Film clips were shown of Bola

Tinubu, Muhamadu Buhari, Bisi Akande, Ogbonnaya Onu and a few selected

others who in most cases gave distorted accounts of the merger process.

Surprisingly it was Senator Ali Modu Sherriff who became so disgusted by

the deliberate distortion of the facts that he had the courage to take the

microphone and openly berated the injustice. Some were obviously

embarrassed but it turned out that those who prepared the presentation,

many of them high ranking members of the party, were working on the

instructions of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. For his noteworthy and courageous

public intervention on this matter, Senator Sherriff was now marked down

by Bola Tinubu as having opposed him so much so that shortly after the

event both men almost engaged in physical combat at an expanded National

Exco meeting in Abuja. Senator Ali Modu Sherriff may be a friend and long

time political ally but he is certainly not my sponsor. I read several

newspaper fictional stories that said Senator Sherriff was sponsoring me

for National Chairman. That is not true.
15. The merger talks of 89 members hosted by me, was managed by a

leadership of four which included HE Ibrahim Shekarau of ANPP, Alhaji

Garba Gadi of CPC, Senator Ani Okonkwo of the APGA faction and myself of

ACN. I was unanimously nominated by the group to preside as coordinating

chairman. We worked harmoniously together and on the 6th February 2013

the four of us signed the agreement for the merger of the three parties

and a part of APGA. I announced the merger and presented the agreement to

the world. We continued to the next and difficult stages of agreeing a

name, flag, motto and symbol for the party. These were very intricate

negotiations! Our Sub-Committees worked on the Constitution and

Manifesto. After all these were accomplished Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

prevented a smooth establishment of the party in accordance with our

agreements. HE Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau former Governor of Kano State was

sidelined in his State by a curious arrangement that ceded the party

leadership in the state to the present Governor of Kano State with no

defined role for the former Governor to play. He was compelled to

withdraw his membership from the Party. He joined the PDP where he was

recently appointed Minister of Education. Alhaji Shekarau possesses a

very sound and critical mind. I found his contributions to our work most

invaluable. Senator Ani Okonkwo has also announced his departure from the

APC. The popular will, prevailing at the time among a cross section of

members was that the Merger Leadership should continue to mold the party

for at least six months and bring it to fruition by diligently

establishing all its structures. Regrettably this was foiled by hijackers

who have now crashed the project.
16. Former Governor of Sokoto State Alhaji Atahiru Bafarawa could not

accept the shabby treatment meted out to him by those who seized the new

party. Governor Bafarawa is very loyal and dependable. He is an astute

politician with whom I have been associated for about thirty years now. He

was NRC State Party Chairman of Sokoto State in 1991 when I was National

Chairman. He has always been very keen on the unification of the

opposition parties and consequently hosted several merger meetings prior

to the 2011 General Elections. On this occasion he hosted the sittings of

the Constitution committee. Alhaji Bafarawa suffered unprecedented

humiliation in the ACN in 2011 in a kangaroo convention staged in Lagos to

select the ACN Presidential candidate. He therefore withdrew from the ACN

party to return to the ANPP. This time as an ANPP delegate he

enthusiastically participated in the merger talks. He has now withdrawn

from the APC to join the PDP as he could not accept the sudden hand over

of the APC Sokoto Party to the present Governor who during his tenure was

his deputy. Senator Ali Modu Sherriff has not hidden his very strong

disapproval of the precarious direction that the Party is heading. The

conduct of 13th June Convention was totally unacceptable to him. Following

his open challenge of Tinubu it did not surprise me that Tinubu negotiated

away all Sherriff's nominees from the newly constituted National Executive

committee. I understand that Sen. Ali Modu Sherriff is on his way out of

the party, along with a very large slice of the party membership

particularly from the North East. It is not a coincidence to me that the

prominent members of APC targeted by Bola Tinubu such as Alhaji Atahiru

Bafarawa, Sen Ali Modu Sherriff and myself are former NRC members or those

perceived as Conservatives.
17. Since after the 13th of June APC Convention and after my post

convention statement, a few leaders of the APC have come to see me on

their individual personal basis to plead with me not to abandon the party.

I have received quite a number of telephone calls as well, conveying

similar views to me. None of these persons could disagree with my very

strong views against the turn of events regarding the mismanagement of the

party nor of the grave injustice that has been perpetrated against me

through an unprecedented level of conspiracy and bad faith. All they are

saying to me is that I should not abandon what I had helped so much to

build. It is truly amazing that all who have spoken to me privately

without exception agree with me that the image of the APC as is a Tinubu

Party has severely damaged the party but each time I openly raise issues

that challenge the consequences everyone keeps quiet. It is common

knowledge that the vote against the very popular candidate Sen Chris Ngige

in the Anambra Governorship election and recently against one of the most

successful Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State was indeed a vote

against Tinubu. Tinubu's obsessive calculation of South West/North West

votes is unproven and untested. It is in pursuit of a very selfish

ambition that has seriously alienated block zones, such as South East,

South South, North East and most of North Central from the party. The

Party has collapsed in very many states such as Adamawa, it is in distress

in Edo, Ogun, Oyo. Lagos, Nasarawa.
18. In consideration of all the above I have come to the following

conclusions:
(i) I have lived to see one of my major political yearnings in place. Now

there are two major Political Parties in my Country – The People's

Democratic Party (PDP) and The All Progressives Congress (APC). I am

satisfied that I have played an important and historic role in ensuring

the emergence of an alternative platform to the party in office. There are

many now claiming leadership of the APC who were very skeptical when we

embarked on the merger project who openly dismissed the idea that it would

never work. Yes, some of them tried several times in the past to unify

some parties in order to achieve bigger platforms but in an atmosphere of

prevailing dishonesty, greed, unbridled ambition, uncompromising and

undiplomatic approaches to such delicate negotiations, their efforts

yielded resounding failure. For my part I enjoyed the respect of all the

89 delegates who met with me for about six months because they were very

confident I had no personal agenda not even taking sides to protect

positions of the ACN my own party then. But immediately we established

what they had considered impossible to do,I became a prime target, as they

believed that they could only control and manipulate the affairs of the

party if I was not there. By my credentials in Political Party Leadership

my claim to the top table in any party to which I belong is well earned!

In the present atmosphere of envy, plots and gossip the long-term

satisfaction of a political comradeship and brotherhood anchored on shared

principles and ideology, of honor, trust and confidence in pursuit of a

common goal remain elusive.
(ii) I understand they claim that I possess a strong and independent

personality as well as a mind of my own which cannot be bent and so I am

said to be one that could not be controlled. On a rather mischievous note,

my foremost assailant in that party, peddles in one breadth a smear

campaign that if I were to be in charge, I would sell the party while in

another fowl breadth that I am an enemy as I had served in the Abacha

Government. My so called strong and independent personality sometimes

misconstrued as an arrogant mien is merely the creation of nature and I

have never ever been harmful at all to anyone around me but as for an

independent and firm mind I believe it is an asset and an attribute which

indeed is so direly needed for good and fair leadership in our society

today and I apologize to no one for being so created. It is really ironic

that I was not accused of going to sell the party over the past 13 years

or so that I struggled in different recorded ways to make notable

contributions in creating and building it up in its various forms but that

i was now to sell the party after working successfully to achieve its

present mega format. Who by the way is the buyer? Is it the PDP Government

that opened its doors once more recently to one of the APC foremost

boastful and noisy leader to consummate a mega oil deal on the eve of that

controversial APC convention? Who then is really selling and who is indeed

buying? Who sold Mallam Nuhu Ribadu's ACN Presidential candidature in

2011? Was it Chief Tom Ikimi? My tenure as Foreign Affairs Minister during

the Abacha Regime has turned out to be a befitting reference in patriotic

diplomatic Service in our country for which I am extremely proud! Why am I

targeted for being that Foreign Minister that brought peace to Liberia,

restored democratic Government in Sierra Leone, maintained the leadership

of Nigeria in the OAU, ECOWAS and the UN, the first to turn to China with

a trade delegation that opened up massive opportunities for our country

but they fail to point even a feeble finger at others in their midst who

benefitted immensely from the Abacha Government, some who ran the most

lucrative agencies during that tenure, some others who made away with

giant oil fields or are we blind not to see the giant, fancy lucrative

projects currently being executed in partnership with well known Abacha

foreign friends!
(iii). The recent mass exodus from the Party has effectively put the

movement of the APC firmly in reverse gear. Those who have left include

notables such as Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State, Alhaji Atahiru

Bafarawa of Sokoto State, Alhaji Ali Modu Sherriff of Bornu State, Brg Gen

Buba Marwa of Adamawa State, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of Adamawa State, Senator

Ani Okonkwo of Anambra State, Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu of Edo State. I

understand Chief Olusegun Osoba of Ogun State is on his way out too. The

very weak National Leadership appointed for the Party in the last

Convention is definitely incapable of restoring any positive movement to

the party. The prevailing hostile atmosphere in the party does not present

the opportunity for any intervention from me at this time at National,

Zonal or State Level as I have done in the past.
(iv). I led the process of change in Edo State politics in 2006 when as

National Leader of the Action Congress (AC) I brought the new party to the

state. I worked with dedicated and courageous colleagues to establish the

party in Edo State and we recorded a resounding success in the 2007

General Elections – our very first outing in the State. AC and eventually

ACN has therefore been the Government in power in Edo State from 2008 to

date and I am proud of the quality of peaceful, respectable and dignified

leadership that I was able to provide to the party through these years.

Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole who joined us in the middle of our

preparation for the 2007 General Elections met me in firm control of the

Party and its Leadership in the State at the time. We welcomed him warmly

and with our support he was lucky to emerge victorious in the State

Governorship election and I have over the years enjoyed an excellent

working relationship with the Comrade. Now as he is the APC Governor of

Edo State, I wish him good luck, good health and God's guidance as he

proceeds to conclude his second term in office. But during the past seven

years of performing my role as leader of the party in Edo State, my

personal experiences of the relationship between the political party, the

legislature and the Executive at State level has instilled in me very

useful lessons that would be immensely helpful in any future roles.

(v). I have no current or perceivable ambition to contest for executive

power. My quest for an alternative political platform in the country is

basically in pursuit of a credible political structure that would

guarantee the vital checks and balances in the system so that our people

may enjoy the benefits of alternative choices of National Government from

time to time. It is certainly not for the creation of a vengeful ravaging

army of flatterers and favor-seekers at the command of a desperate upstart

with the hideous mission of stampeding an illusory enemy. While I have

always regarded the entire country as my constituency, I am not oblivious

of the reality of my circumstance as a South Southerner, a Christian from

a so called minority stock who will continue to align with the forces of

change that would guarantee justice, prosperity, peace and happiness for

all our peoples. The forces that have now seized the APC in a stranglehold

are on a mission very much against my conscience and indeed my very being.

(vi). I have always viewed a political party as a congregation of

like-minded persons who become welded together in a close-knit brotherhood

in a manner beyond mere friendship. In a Nation of two dominant political

parties or even diverse political parties the members, across party lines,

who are all in politics need not be sworn enemies. After all they are

citizens of the same Nation with I suppose a mission of service to their

people. Therefore their hold to power has to be at the discretion of the

people.
(vii). I am at the stage of currently critically re-examining the two

dominant political parties in our country, which are the APC and the PDP,

in both of which I have had close working knowledge. I have not ignored

the other political parties but in the light of the foregoing I must now

search to really ascertain where indeed my true political friends exist. I

need to be, at this time of my life where I have friends who share a

common vision with me and where my freedom, respect, honor and dignity

would be guaranteed. Notwithstanding my enormous contributions over the

past 12 years or so to building the alternative platform, after very deep

thought and the widest consultations I have made the decision to withdraw

my membership from the All Progressives Congress (APC) from today,

Wednesday 27th August 2014.
The post Tom Ikimi's Missiles and Resignation Letter To The APC appeared first on Pointblank News .