Despite the crisis rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) with calls for removal of the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, some party leaders have passed a vote of confidence on him and accused those fighting against him as enemies within.
The leaders poured out their minds at an interactive session convened on Sunday evening in Abuja by a chieftain of the party, Blessing Agbomhere.
The session tagged: “our Leader, Adams Oshiomhole’s interactive session with concerned party leaders, members and support groups and the real issue and solution”, was attended by Minister of state, Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, former Minister of Works, Chris Ogiemwonyi, Deputy Leader of the House of Representatives, Peter Akpatason, member of the House of Representatives from Edo, Julius Ihonvbere and a former House member, Abdul Oroh.
Also in attendance were: Abubakar Momoh, Tony Kabaka, Ibrahim Dauda, Secretary, Buhari Campaign Council, Edo factional APC Chairman, David Imuse Zonal Women Leader, North Central, Hassana Abdullahi, Chairman non-NWC members of the party’s National Executive Committee NEC, Nelson Alapa among others.
Declaring the interactive session open, Ogiemwonyi noted that many of those who are up in arms against the Oshiomhole were people who benefited immensely from his benevolence.
“I am here because I believe in the man Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. I spent 34 years in the civil service and all through I saw a man who respects the rule of law, who is prepared to fight for you to have a just cause. All my years, I have admired him as a freedom fighter. He is a man of courage. I think that is what is lacking in Nigeria. The problem is that once you are doing the right thing, you will step on toes. Comrade Oshiomhole is a victim of doing the right thing.
“What is happening today is about 2023. Oshiomhole is trying to build the party to make it more attractive for people but some are not happy. Nobody is complaining that Comrade is incompetent or a tribalist. He is faultless, but there is a gang up about where he is standing on 2023. What pains me much is that those who are backstabbing him today were people he helped, including governors. They have forgotten the ladder they climbed to success but by the grace of God, because of their treachery, that ladder would be removed and they will collapse”, he said.
In his remarks, Akpatason said: “this is a turbulent period in our party. We have issues both at the state and national levels but we thank God that there are good citizens working to ensure the stabilization of the party. It is not unusual for issues like these to come up when you have contestations but what is important is for people to be reasonable enough to quickly resolve such issues.
“The issues we have today have lingered on maybe because of the wrong approaches to handling them or because of deliberate misinformation by those who have access to the media and who would rather change the narrative. One of the greatest gifts to Nigeria is that man called Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole. He is a no nonsense man and so I am not surprised that he has enemies here and there especially as we have individuals who for their selfish reasons would want to pull down an organisation the moment a leader does not do their bidding”.
On his part, Ihonvbere said President Muhammadu Buhari needed to do more for the party so that the crisis must come to an end, emphasizing that: “the president has done a lot for the party but in our individual capacities we need to encourage him to do more. He needs to do more. For a party that is not well funded, any little issue would affect it greatly”.
Alapa in his speech, kicked against Tuesday’s NEC meeting saying the law was not followed in convening it, stressing that: “I am here not to support anyone. We must stand on the path of the law. If Oshiomhole leaves and another person comes in, would that solve the problems of the APC. Oshiomhole does not want to be the president. We cannot allow this party to scatter just because of the interest of one person. What is the issue? The issue started from Edo state. Purported suspension of people. Is it in consonance with the Constitution of the APC? No.
“Convening a NEC meeting is not a problem, but did it meet the provisions of the Constitution? No. Where the chairman is not available, there is a way of convening a NEC meeting. Two third majority of NEC members would meet and sign a document calling for the meeting. Illegality cannot stand. The procedure for convening the NEC meeting did not meet the requirements of the Constitution.
“Our National Chairman is a human being. If you have found him wanting, go through the Constitution in trying to remove him. That is what the president even said. He said in whatever we are doing, we should be democratic”.
Earlier, Convener of the session, Agbomhere noted that the essence of the meeting was to proffer solutions to the numerous challenges facing the APC.
According to him: “the reason why we are here is to join other patriots of this great party, APC, to intervene in the issues in the party. We are here to interact and provide solutions. We want to make our contributions to the unity and progress of our party because we are concerned about the issues in the party”.
James Kwen, Abuja
