National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, yesterday, said Nigerians who are non card-carrying members of party were likely to serve as ministers in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Oyegun also said that he was not interested in the office of the Secretary to Government of Federation, SGF, as being speculated in different quarters.
According to APC National chairman, Buhari’s government and APC as a political party were more concerned with assembling technocrats and other competent hands who would key into the vision and objectives of the present government.
Oyegun, who spoke to journalists in Abuja, added that the background of such persons does not matter as long as he was capable to deliver and serve the Nigerian people, even as he explained why the list of ministers was yet to be made public.
He said: “There is absolutely no dispute between the party and the president. We agreed that we shall use all manner of people: politicians, technocrats, all manner of people even if not politicians, who can deliver and who subscribe passionately to the agenda of the president to move this country forward, irrespective of where the people come from; irrespective of whether the person is a card-carrying members of the party.
“What is important is the qualification of the person and the ability of the person to deliver on the ideas of Mr. President. What we are interested is in the ability of the people to bring up the ideas that will help Mr. President achieve the set objectives and the ability to deliver on what the President wants.
“Secondly, this is an executive function and the President has the right to consult as widely as possible. This means he might pick people within the party; people outside the party. It is a prerogative the President should exercise and we cannot question that. We are quite happy about the way he is proceeding.
I am not interested in SGF position
“On this issue of SGF, I will respond to you in case, because I don’t want to offend anybody but I will say this quite definitely. I have not in anyway, in capital letters and underlined, solicited for any position other than the national chairmanship of APC. I think I am clear enough, isn’t it? And nobody has approached me on that saying he is considering me either on that position or another.”
Oyegun also refuted claims that the delays in making the list public was due to incompetence of President Buhari, adding that no one in the party’s hierarchy was holding the president to ransom.
On ministerial list
He said: “We have a very capable president. He is capable as ever. The President is a very careful man. He wants to be sure the kind of people he will appoint are people who are passionate about the country. What is really important is the speed of the delivery of his policies.
“You can see that things are already improving in spite of that fact. You can see in the electricity front, the supply of petroleum, etc. They are not connected. What the president is doing is to conduct a very thorough check on the background of the people he will appoint.
“Like he said, he said he belongs to everybody and he belongs to nobody. They should just be patient. He does not want to make avoidable mistakes. What is important is to see whether on a daily basis your life is improving. Everything that can be done in these few days are being done and the effect is being felt already.
“Let me assure the public that peace is on the way. We had a problem in the family, no doubt about that, but we are moving quickly to resolve it. As you can see, we are working hard to see that the leaders and rank and file don’t start throwing punches.”
On NASS leadership
On the controversy trailing the election of new leaders of the National Assembly in both chambers, Oyegun said that the parties were closing ranks, saying peace was on sight.
He reminded those laughing at APC as a result of the “family crisis” that the setback was only temporal as the party would eventually conquer.
He said: “All the party has decided to do is to re-unify as quickly as possible our members in both chamber of the National Assembly under the existing realities. That is the first priority. Every other thing will follow. All other things will have to wait. This is because, if for instance, the president says he wants to present his list of ministerial nominees to the Senate. We don’t want a situation whereby the Senate will be divided. So, we are trying to sort that out. It is our number one priority. We are happy that we are arriving at amicable settlement of the situation. This one cannot wait for long. It has to be immediately.”
“There was no doubt that when you have problems, your opponent will seize the opportunity to rise up. What is important is how quickly we put our acts together and get all these behind us and move forward strongly. Some of these setbacks, no doubt, will give the other side the opportunity to laugh, but it is temporal and usual wherever you have human beings”, Oyegun said.
Credit: Vanguard
