Imo State Governor , Rochas Okorocha, and Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, on Thursday renewed their attacks on
Adams Oshiomhole, the national chairman of their party, the All Progressives
Congress.
While
Okorocha claimed the fortunes of the APC had witnessed a downturn since Adams
Oshiomhole took over as national chairman, Amosun alleged that the party
chairman and his cohorts were working towards handing over Ogun to “a gang of
expansionists.”
Amosun’s
attack is contained in a statement written on his behalf by the state
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Otunba Adedayo Adeneye, a copy of
which was made available to our correspondent.
Amosun, who
was reacting to Oshiomhole’s defence on the crisis rocking the APC following
its recent primaries, noted that Oshiomhole had visited injustice on Ogun State
by not allowing the wishes of the people of the state to stand.
The governor
had reiterated that the only authentic governorship primary in the state was
the one that produced Adekunle Akinlade.
While he
accused Oshiomhole of not abiding by the rules and guidelines of the party, he
said his attempts to hide under “false claims about conscience and integrity
are cheap.”
The
statement read partly, “Oshiomhole knows that there were no other gubernatorial
primaries held in Ogun State other than
the one that produced Adekunle Akinlade as candidate.
“He knows
that the primaries into national and legislative offices were won 100 per cent
by those declared winners by the panel he sent to Ogun State to oversee the
exercise.
“He knows
that the shenanigans of unknown court injunctions, unknown appeal panels and
all sorts unleashed on the process by him and his cohorts are premeditated
schemes executed to deny the members of the APC their true choice of candidates
in the elections.”
He added,
“Oshiomhole knows, as we know, that in the instance of the last primaries in
Ogun State, he has fallen short of the minimum standards of justice, equity and
fairness. Our consolation lies in the fact that in the fullness of time, what
remains unknown to the public will become bare and everyone will see Oshiomhole
and his co-travellers for who they are.
“In his
conduct, Oshiomhole has exhibited disdain for the interest of the APC and that of the National Leader of the
party, President Muhammadu Buhari.”
On
Oshiomhole’s claim that only three state governors were aggrieved about the
conduct of the primaries, Amosun dismissed it as untrue, citing a nationwide
outcry that greeted the exercise.
He, however,
said that the majority of members of the APC in Ogun State remained unshaken in
their rejection of the “gangsterism” that had been visited on them in the
conduct of the primaries.
He said,
“They remain resolved that the attempt to hand over their state and their
patrimony to a rapacious gang of expansionists in the South-West will be
resisted, not only by members of the APC
but by the entire people of Ogun State
who are too enlightened to tolerate such abomination.”
On the other
hand, Okorocha expressed his anger while speaking to reporters after a meeting
with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He claimed
the party was losing about five million voters due to Oshiomhole’s
highhandedness.
Okorocha,
who is also the chairman of the All Progressives Governors’ Forum, is one of those calling for Oshiomhole’s
removal after the party primaries.
He said he
had since discovered that the party chairman acted without the backing of the
President, adding that investigation had shown that there was no directive from
the President for the party chairman to act illegally as witnessed in some
states.
Okorocha said he had also discovered that
Oshiomhole was not under any instruction to replace candidates who won primary
elections with others who did not win.
He urged the party chairman to learn to
respect the rule of law and obey court orders where they apply.
“This issue
of treating court orders as tissue papers must stop. It doesn’t reflect the
image of our party.
“Oshiomhole
must act quickly to fix the integrity of this party because his coming in ought
to have brought joy into the party and not sadness,” Okorocha said.
Despite his allegations against the party
chairman, however, the governor said the party would not disintegrate as long
as the President remained the leader of the party.
He added, “APC will not disintegrate for as
long as the person, Muhammadu Buhari, is still the President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria and remains the leader of this party.
“We cannot
give that credit to the chairman. He cannot disintegrate this party; the party
is still intact, just that many people are hurt.
“Since his
inception and after these primaries, we are losing almost five million voters
because of anger, protest everywhere and he needs to be cautioned.
He has to respect the rule of law, respect
court orders and do the right thing – obey court orders where applicable and
not turn himself into INEC.”
Okorocha
said it was not possible for the party to replace his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu,
with Senator Hope Uzodinma as the party’s governorship candidate in the state.
“He cannot
be standing on Hope Uzodinma because that man did not win election. You cannot
compare somebody who won 265,000 votes with somebody who won 7,000 votes.
“He (Hope
Uzodinma) never won election and you cannot impose a candidate who is
unacceptable to the people on the people. That is how serious the matter is
now.
“So, he
(Oshiomhole) should do the right thing and I have advised him many times to do
the right thing before he creates more disaffection in our party,” he said.
When told that the National Working Committee
of the APC had submitted Uzodinma’s name to the Independent National Electoral
Commission, Okorocha said it was not possible.
He said, “He (Oshiomhole) can’t! I don’t think
the National Working Committee will do that because in the first place, the
National Working Committee sent a 13-man delegation that conducted election and
12 of them signed, proved that Uche Nwosu won the election with 265,000 votes
as against Hope Uzodinma who got less than 7,000 votes. So, they can’t do that.
“And there
is a letter to that effect from the National Working Committee saying Uche
Nwosu won, there is a Certificate of Return given to Uche Nwosu, there is a
police report saying Uche Nwosu, there is INEC report saying Uche Nwosu.
“So nobody
can do that and if they do that, that must be the worst imposition in the history
of Nigeria.”
Okorocha
said the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, must have been
misinformed before declaring support for Oshiomhole.
“Maybe he
(Tinubu) is being misinformed. If he is properly informed, he will not say what
Oshiomhole is doing is the right thing,” the governor said.
He also denied reports insinuating that he was
planning to defect from the APC to the Social Democratic Party.
“SDP? How
can I build a house and leave it for someone else? I am in the APC. I founded
the APC. I gave the name APC and so this is our party and we must continue with
the party and build the party for victory,” he said.
When
contacted, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Lanre
Issa-Onilu, said the party would not want to take issue with its leaders on the
pages of newspapers.
He said, “We
will not be engaging our leaders in the open, we won’t be taking issue with our
leaders, we have internal mechanisms of dealing with our issues.”
Watch your
tongue, PDP tells Tinubu
Meanwhile,
the Peoples Democratic Party has cautioned Tinubu not to join in the smear
campaign and alleged unsavoury comments against its presidential candidate,
Atiku Abubakar.
The
opposition party said Tinubu, as an elder statesman, should not reduce his
pedigree by engaging in what it called indecorous utterances which it said had
become the trademark of his party, the All Progressives Congress.
The National
Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said this in a statement in
Abuja on Thursday.
He was
reacting to statements credited to Tinubu, who reportedly boasted that the APC
would defeat the PDP and its presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential
election.
Tinubu had
said the country would not return the PDP which he alleged ran the country
badly while in power for 16 years (1999-2015).
He had said
whichever venue Atiku chose to meet with his team, whether in “Dubai or in the
jungle,” the APC would come out triumphantly.
Tinubu had
said, “We don’t fear, whether he is meeting in the jungle, in Dubai or in Abu
Dhabi. People are free to meet and strategise in any way they feel, but we are
not going back to the illusion of the PDP. It is not possible, Nigerians will
not do that.
“We can’t go
back to the pit that we inherited for 16 years. They can strategise from
anywhere, but a leopard cannot change its skin.”
But the PDP
spokesperson said it was regrettable that someone like Tinubu could resort to
the use of what he called “indecent language.”
Ologbondiyan
said, “It is also instructive to state that a person of Asiwaju status can
conduct his political activities without recourse to indecent language that is
lacking in respect for a personality such as Atiku, whom Nigerians, across the
board, have generally resolved to be their next President.
“For the
avoidance of doubt, despite the ludicrous disposition of the APC and its
leaders towards the 2019 election campaign, the repositioned PDP and our
presidential candidate remain committed to our promise to focus on solutions to
the myriad of problems facing our people and transform their lives for the
better.
“The PDP
therefore cautions Asiwaju Tinubu to redirect the discourse of his party to
productive issues instead of this unbridled resort to lies, deception,
beguilement, propaganda, smear campaign and uncouth language, which Nigerians
now resent.”
Similarly, a
former presidential spokesperson of the PDP, Dr
Doyin Okupe, has predicted that the PDP will “retire” Tinubu from
politics in 2019.
Okupe was
also reacting to the comments made by Tinubu concerning Atiku .
Okupe, said
Tinubu’s statement was extremely presumptuous.
He said, “I
assure Asiwaju that he does not and will not have any serious influence on who
will emerge as president after the 2019 elections. He had such opportunity in
2015 but it was wasted on a moribund, unproductive and lacklustre presidency.
“It is a
fact that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had a tremendous influence and did play a
significant role in the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. This
was due to the fact that he and the APC were able to successfully hoodwink the
Nigerian electorate into wrongly believing that the incumbent at that time was
weak, inept and clueless.
“The
prevailing feeling in Nigeria then was that a change was necessary to “save”
the country. However, things are quite different now. Without prompting,
propaganda or mass-brainwashing, Nigerians have come to realise that a victory
for Buhari in 2019 is an existential threat not only to the peaceful
coexistence of the nation, but also to individual well-being and survival of
families, breadwinners and jobs across the country.”
Comments