APC not afraid of planned ‘mega party’ –Oyegun

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie Oyegun, yesterday, assured that despite the current temporary economic hardship in the country, Nigerians will be happy in the near future over the policy decision of the Buhari administration.

“Now we are pushing agriculture and most Nigerians are in the field. We are pushing extractive minerals which, of course, is virtually all over the country; a lot of Nigerians will be involved in that enterprise. We are pushing power generation and distribution because that will also energise the small and medium scale industry. So, we want an economy in which most Nigerians are participants; it is no longer oil which is highly technologically based.

“So, it is a different reality we are trying to build and establish. It involves sacrifices and hard work, but what is necessary today is that we are focused. What is real today is that the government of Buhari is passionate about seeing the thing to its logical conclusion. This nation must change, and the change is so fundamental. There is no question, at all, that a lot of people are going through temporary hardship, but the situation is such that tomorrow, everybody will be glad we pursued this line of development in spite of the problems we are facing currently,” he said.

Chief Oyagun, who spoke to newsmen in Benin City yesterday, also declared that the APC does not feel threatened at all with the much talked about formation of a “mega party” ahead of 2019 general elections, saying  those behind it should be encouraged so as to have a formidable opposition to the ruling APC.

He absolved the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar from the rumoured formation of a new party and said he had met with some of the leaders of the party, including the leadership of the National Assembly and the former vice-president.

“We are waiting for the arrival of Tinubu, so we can also meet with him and have meaningful discussion because he is a well respected leader of this party,” oyegun said.

“We don’t feel threatened at all, no mega party will survive the APC. I don’t know where the name mega party suddenly came from in the lexicon of politics in this country. When two people gather to have a meeting it is a mega meeting. We don’t feel threatened, we will, in fact, encourage a mega party, because with the gradual collapse of PDP, we want a party that can make us sit upright and be on our toes in terms of delivery of services to our people.

“A party that will make us feel challenged, that will make democracy real and offer the people a real choice. We are not threatened at all, we are focused on our mission made difficult by the current economic situation worldwide, which, of course, is compounded with the collapse of the oil market. We are reforming this country, reforming it ethically, morally and economically by building a fresh economic base which will no longer depend on an extractive industry which does not involve the people,” he added.
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