APC Govs Storm Abuja Tomorrow, Collect Signatures To Remove Party Chairman Oshiomhole
The National
Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, has hit
back at governors of the party that are reported to be moving against him,
saying he would not succumb to their antics and impunity.
He said
contrary to insinuations by some of them and their allying stakeholders that he
was out to liquidate the party, his mission was to galvanise the APC into a
disciplined and cohesive platform ready to clinch victory at next year’s
general elections.
Oshiomhole’s
fightback coincides with the intensification of efforts by governors to remove
him from office. THISDAY learnt last night that 15 of 21 governors of the
party, being coordinated by one of them from the South-west, are collecting
signatures to force a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting that would
unseat the national chairman.
The
governors, multiple sources told THISDAY, would be converging on Abuja tomorrow
to finalise their objective.
The party
has also explained that it opted for consensus and made some hard choices in a
desperate bid to meet the October 18 deadline set for submission of its
candidates’ list for elections into the National Assembly.
In a
statement yesterday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Simon Ebegbulem, the APC
national chairman said while the party would not surrender its functions, which
are constitutionally circumscribed, to any other entities, it would always
reach out to divergent tendencies and mediate the disparate political camps in
the interest of party cohesion.
According to
Oshiomhole, stakeholders should be assured that the party is in safe hands as
it marches, sure-footedly, to victory in the 2019 general election.
In an
apparent response to criticisms coming from some governors elected on APC’s
platform, Oshiomhole vowed that only the party, and not pseudo political
empires in the states, had the power to superintend the primary elections for
the nomination of its candidates in the general election.
He said, “To
be clear, Oshiomhole did not become national chairman of the governing party to
bring it down a notch from the pedestal of its 2015 electoral victory let alone
to preside over its liquidation.
“Rather, his
single-minded goal, from the outset of his declaration of interest in the
position, was to deploy his capacity in helping to strengthen and reposition
the party as a truly supreme and disciplined political entity.”
Oshiomhole
who blamed those he referred to as “conservative elements” for spearheading a
plot to pass a vote of no confidence against him, said their main grouse was
his insistence on party supremacy and discipline.
He noted
that before his emergence as chairman, the party was wallowing in impunity and
disrespect to laid down rules.
He said he
knew from the onset that those who supported the status quo that he supplanted
would not cave in easily but will fight back.
According to
him, “Although, it might appear fortuitous to some persons that he became
national chairman at the threshold of the 2019 general election, the truth
is that there is no accident in predestination.
“We must
appreciate the fact that it has pleased the Almighty God to place him in the
saddle of APC-led leadership at this time for a purpose.”
Oshiomhole
said the reforms he planned to bring about in the APC had begun to manifest in
its vast flourish and ramifications, through instilling discipline, ensuring
party supremacy, promoting due process, dealing with impunity and executive
arrogance wherever they manifested to undermine intra-party electoral processes
in the states.
“Again, we
were not, in the least, deluded that the process of rebranding or rewriting the
narrative of the four-year old party would be easy.
What we are
witnessing in the APC today is Oshiomhole’s adroit management of the strains
and pains that accompany the birth of a resuscitated governing party,” he said.
Referring to
the party’s handling of the primary election crises, Oshiomhole said the
message was very clear that the party and not pseudo political empires in the
states had the power to superintend the primary elections for the nomination of
the party’s candidates in the general election.
He said the
leadership provided by the party in recent primary elections and the
large-scale integrity of the processes were developments that should hence serve
as exemplars in the administration of parties.
Oshiomhole
also responded to criticism by one of the presidential aspirants on the
platform of the party, Alhaji Mumakai Unagha, who said the APC could not win
under his leadership, describing it as cooked narratives from those who failed
to impose their preferred candidates on the party during the nomination
process.
He said,
“The crime committed by Oshiomhole’s leadership is its disdain for impunity and
circumvention of due process perpetrated in some of the states at the pleasure
of some influential stakeholders.
“These
influential stakeholders, according to grapevine, have begun to mobilise to
pass a no-confidence vote on the leadership of Oshiomhole, having failed to
impose their preferred candidates on the party in the nomination process.”
He said
history would justify his efforts and that posterity would vindicate him as he
and other party leaders moved to achieve the re-election of President Muhammadu
Buhari in the presidential election scheduled for February 16, 2019.
He urged
those who lost out in the party primaries to imbibe the spirit of
sportsmanship, bolstered by the fact that his leadership was propelled more by
its interest in propriety in which victory for the party could be grounded.
N’Assembly
Primary Crisis Resolved by Consensus
Meanwhile,
the APC has stated that it opted for consensus and made some hard choices in a
desperate bid to meet the October 18 deadline set for the submission of
candidates’ list for the 2019 elections into the National Assembly.
The ruling
party, which was faced with an almost intractable dispute in some of its state
chapters over the outcome of the governorship and legislative primary
elections, had to lay back the consensus option that appeared politically
correct at the time.
The APC’s
National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Isa-Onilu, who spoke with THISDAY
yesterday, explained that the party adopted consensus to resolve issues where
there were dispute.
“In many
cases where we had issues with our primary elections, and did not rely on the
outcome of such primaries, we went through the process of consensus. That was
replicated in many places,” he said.
“For the
Zamfara State primary election crisis, he said that the party had to choose
between the available options of direct, indirect and consensus to resolve the
logjam.
According to
the party’s spokesman, “No it is not about resolution, the position of the
party remains the same, that there was a primary election in Zamfara State. We
mentioned the venue and the date.
“The issue
is that there were crisis, even the INEC guidelines provide for the resolution
of such crisis. It happened in other states, including other parties which also
had issues with their primaries.”
He said
there was no particular issue in Zamfara State, to warrant the special attention
being given it.
He said
there was primary election in Zamfara but the fact that the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) wrote that there were no primary election
in the state stirred up issues.
“We have
submitted names of candidates for the legislative seats in Zamfara State and
for all other states,” he maintained.
On the
reported case where the Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun,
threatened not to support the APC’s candidate in next year’s governorship
election due to the failure of his favoured candidate to pick the ticket, the
APC Spokesman said it was mere speculation.
“The
statement was allegedly released by his commissioner, not by him. Even if
it was by him, it is still within what politics allows. The governor has a right
to express his interest and as a leader in APC where there are issues, it can
be resolved through the party mechanism and I am sure that the party will do
that, there is nothing to worry about in this regard,” he said.
However, it
was learnt that the party employed tact in the handling of the matters that
arose from the primaries, especially in the states where there were legal
matters.
As part of
the strategies to prevent possible backlash from the outcome of the primary
election, the party had kept the list of candidates it submitted to INEC
secret.
A source
said the leadership of the party had to rally its legal team to advise it on
the steps to be taken in dealing with the primary election crisis.
Apart from
Zamfara, other states where the APC may have employed the consensus option
include, Rivers, Cross River, Adamawa, Niger, Imo and Nasarawa.
In the case
of Zamfara State, the source told THISDAY that the party relied on legal advice
by the spokesman of the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Festus
Keyamo (SAN), who was asked to draft a reply to the INEC’s letter.
THISDAY
gathered that what APC did to meet the INEC deadline had opened up a new crisis
pitting the leadership against aggrieved aspirants and vested interests who
felt short-changed.
Aggrieved
aspirants have continued to storm the national secretariat of the APC with
their supporters to vent their anger
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