A former Governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, has resigned his appointment as the chairman of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
Oyinlola, in a resignation letter dated May 9, and addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, said he resigned his appointment to attend to a greater political engagement.
The letter, which was signed by Oyinlola in Osogbo, yesterday reads: “Sir, I write to resign my appointment as the chairman of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) with effect from today, 9th May, 2018.
“Your Excellency, I must put on record my very deep sense of appreciation for the special privilege and consideration you gave me to serve our fatherland in that capacity.
“As I stated in my appreciation letter to you shortly after the appointment, the offer was a clear call to service.
“I gave the job the dedication it deserved and would have loved to continue but I regret to inform Your Excellency that I have a new, greater political engagement that will make that difficult and even impolitic.
“Sir, as one of my bosses in the Army, I believe you would understand my stand given recent political developments.
“The training I got as a decorated officer and gentleman precluded me from engaging in any act that could amount to disloyalty and conflict of interest.
“I am moving on to chart a new course in my politics outside the ruling party, and this thus, demands my dropping the NIMC chairmanship.
“I thank you, sir, once again for the great honour and confidence reposed in me.
“However, there is time to take a job and another time to leave it and move on.
“For me, the time to work on something else in the interest and service of our people is now.
“I wish Your Excellency good luck while praying that you will finish well and strong in the service of our country.”
Oyinlola was appointed as NIMC chairman by President Buhari in September, 2017.
Meanwhile, former members of the People’s Democratic Party in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), appear to be spoiling for a fight as they have issued a seven-day ultimatum, asking the party to address their complaints of marginalization.
Their letter, which was addressed to the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, was signed by former national chairman of the former PDP bloc, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, and the group’s former national secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
Both signatories are known to be lukewarm to the alliance put together in 2014, with Oyinlola openly rejecting a board appointment and teaming up with Olusegun Obasanjo’s national coalition movement and Baraje being accused by APC members in Kwara State of being anti-Buhari.
With the tone of the letter, the political bloc may just be preparing the ground to break away.
The group accused the ruling APC of marginalising its members in cabinet positions, board appointments and working to block the emergence of Yakubu Dogara and Bukola Saraki as speaker and senate president in 2015.
The group also listed five other sins committed against them by the APC, among them the lack of consultation of their members in decision making and the harassment of their members, which was not substantiated.
They thus gave Oyegun, seven days to respond and arrange a meeting.
“Given the constraining factor of available time and in the interest of our great party, it is strongly advised that the said urgent meeting be held not later than seven days from the date of the receipt of this letter,” they read.
The letter reads, “We, the members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who moved over from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to form the APC before the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria are desirous of strengthening our party especially now that new party congresses have commenced and the convention and another round of General Elections are imminent. Obviously, this cannot be achieved without addressing fundamental issues which we wish to raise in this letter.
“We, therefore, wish, with due respect, to re-state our expectation then and now that the APC we all laboured to build would be one united, inclusive, cohesive and progressive party devoid of divisions, factions, cleavages and tendencies. We envisioned a political party promoting equal rights for all Nigerians and ensuring rapid and even development across the country. Of course there is no gainsaying the fact that the lofty ideals enumerated above cannot be attained without ensuring justice for party faithful and citizens.
“Kindly indulge us to offer a brief reminder of the history of events that led to the victory of the APC in the 2015 General Elections and the presidential election in particular. It is an undeniable historical fact that the movement of the former new PDP block to form the APC contributed immensely to the victory of the APC in the elections. The former new PDP included five sitting governors of Sokoto, Kano, Kwara, Adamawa and Rivers states and former governors of Kebbi, Gombe, Osun, former vice president of Nigeria, former acting national chairman of PDP, sitting Speaker of the House of Representatives, many serving members of the National Assembly and many renowned politicians and PDP elders. It was a watershed moment in Nigeria’s political history.
“Most of these leaders not only delivered their states to the APC at the elections, some of the governors were also assigned specific responsibilities to ensure that other states were also delivered to the APC in the 2015 elections. The then governor of Sokoto took charge of Kebbi and the then governor of Kano State took responsibility for Kano, Kaduna and Jigawa states just to mention a few examples. There were also unprecedented efforts by many stakeholders such as Senator Bukola Saraki, in concert with others, to deliver the entire North Central to the APC.
“These efforts, contributions and sacrifice were made in spite of the fact that the presidential ticket was taken by the erstwhile Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) blocs of the party. It is a matter for grave concern that His Excellency, Mr President, Muhammadu Buhari, has never publicly acknowledged our efforts in the face of clear evidence that the total number of votes scored by the APC in states where leaders and members of the then new PDP bloc held sway made the difference.