APC moves to reconcile with Ikimi, others

July 3, 2014

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi

The All Progressives Congress on Wednesday said it had made progress in its bid to reconcile aggrieved members of the party, including Chief Tom Ikimi, who claimed he was prevented from contesting the national chairmanship of the party at its national convention in Abuja.

Ikimi, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had boycotted APC’s first national convention, accused the leaders of the party of selecting Chief John Odigie-Oyegun as the national chairman before the convention.

Some other stalwarts of the party including a former Ogun State Governor, Olusegun Osoba, and a former Borno State Governor, Modu Sheriff, have also had conflicts with the leadership of the APC, sparking off speculations that they were planning to defect from the party.

However, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, told our correspondent that the party was making efforts to reconcile all aggrieved members with its leadership.

Mohammed said the APC National Chairman, Odigie-Oyegun, and some other leaders of the party had reached out to Ikimi, Sheriff and some other aggrieved members individually.

He said, “The chairman has reached out individually to all these members. And more specifically, he has reached out to Tom Ikimi; he has reached out to Sheriff and some other members of the party have done so.

“And I know that a committee has been set up to reconcile all aggrieved members. It’s an ongoing matter and the committee will not give up until total reconciliation is established.”

Apart from settling conflicts within its fold, Mohammed said the APC was actively wooing politicians in other parties, including the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.

“We are also reaching out to new friends. Politics is about winning more and more people to your side. There is a deliberate drive to reach out to more and more people, even from their (the PDP’s) camp,” he said.