Adams Oshimhole, national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, is at war with some state governors over results of primaries held in their states

By Anayo Ezugwu

Despite the outcry in the All Progressives Congress, APC, over the outcome of the recent party primaries, Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the party, claimed that he only has problems with three governors. He listed Governor Rocha’s Okorocha of Imo State, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and Governor Abdul’aziz Yari of Zamfara State as those fighting him.

Speaking on Wednesday, October 31 after having a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Oshiomhole dismissed rumours that some governors were mobilising to unseat him. According to him, he knows that the job is not a pensionable job as he will leave it one day; hence he will do the job according to the rules and his conscience.

He said out of the 23 APC governors, only three were not pleased with the outcome of the primaries in their states. Oshiomhole said no one could begrudge the governors for not being happy if a particular outcome did not coincide with their expectations. He said that he neither had the power to appoint nor the power to change anything particularly when things had been properly done.

The governors are fighting Oshiomhole over his refusal to accept their governorship candidates as the flagbearer of the party in their respective states ahead of the 2019 general elections. For instance, report in the media has it that the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party had adopted Hope Uzodinma as the governorship candidate of the party in Imo State ahead of Uche Nwosu, son-in-law of Okorocha.

Likewise, the NWC rejected Dapo Abiodun, anointed candidate of Amosun for Ogun governorship race. The party also picked Dauda Lawal as the governorship candidate for Zamfara State. Accordingly, the party has concluded all arrangements to send the names of the approved candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, ahead of the November 2 deadline for the submission of governorship candidates.

Apart from these three governors, there are other gubernatorial, national and state assembly aspirants who failed to secure the party’s tickets that want Oshiomhole to resign as the national chairman of the party. They accused the national chairman of not playing fair thereby creating the room for the divisions in the party.

But in the face of this seemingly challenges, Oshiomhole said it is only three governors that are unhappy with him. He said the issues would be resolved as internal family issues as the three governors are still his friends. He said in a moment of distress, he believed that the friendship is enough to help them to build reconciliation.

According to him, he respects and appreciates the governors for the fact that,but for their support, he would not become APC chairman. “So, all I have tried is to find some courage to enforce the rules and I think an overwhelming majority of the governors appreciate that I have done the best because change is not easy.

“We all want change but the process of change can be quite traumatising; because it is not painless. People have been used to a particular way of doing things; to encourage them to do them differently can be a challenge. So, here I am as national chairman conducting primaries, the outcome of which some very powerful people did not see their preferred candidates emerging.

“Let me say that if there is a choice between my consciences – what I believe is right – and mortgaging that conscience in order to keep the job, I will have no difficulty resolving it in favour of my conscience. And those who know me know that at my age, I cannot learn new tricks; I am absolutely committed to justice; fairness; I’m a stickler to enforcement of rules; because the source of relevance is derived from rules. I have lived my life fighting for justice and fairness.

“And you do not go stepping on toes of those who helped you to get into position. But however, I thought I was clear and I remain clear that helping me to get to the position, it was to help APC to return to its core values of progressive politics, of fairness, of justice, of adherence to rule of law and total submission to the extant provisions of our party constitution.

“In doing that, you do not look at power; you look at what is; what is just. I think that, with time, we will reconcile all these; Amosun is my good friend; we have known each other for a very long time; we exchange personal visits in addition to official visits; Zamfara governor has been the Chairman of NGF and I was an active member of that forum; we have wonderful time together and I believe in the future, we are still going to have wonderful time together.

“Governor Rocha’s Okorocha was one of those who had issues with my predecessor and I did my best to try and resolve those issues in a way that has been given him a new platform. And I am happy that God used us to do that not by cheating in his favour but by doing what is right; it is just that once you stick to the goal, sometimes, you either get caught on the right side or the wrong side,” he said.

Apart from Oshiomhole, Buhari is also meeting with the aggrieved members that lost out during the recently concluded party primary elections. According to a statement by Femi Adesina, special adviser on Media and Publicity, to the president, Buhari advised to members not to leave the party.

Buhari, according to the statement, told the aspirants that the primary motivation for election contest should be the desire to improve situations in the country, and not for pecuniary reasons. It also said the president urged the aspirants to remain faithful to the country and uphold the tenets of integrity, pleading that there will yet be more opportunities for them to serve along the way.

Adesina also said Buhari, who told the aspirants that “those who mismanaged the resources of the country are still very much around, with incredible wealth,” warned them to be vigilant and circumspect in making choices, adding that the future will only be salvaged by those who love the country.

“I spoke with the APC party chairman almost every other day, at least for an hour during the primaries. And sometimes, we met for two and half hours on ensuring internal democracy during the primaries,’’ the president was quoted as saying.

– Nov. 2, 2018 @ 15:12 GMT |