Adams Oshiomhole, a former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has revealed some of the events that led to his removal from office.
He spoke specifically on his battle with the party’s governors.
Mr Oshiomhole served as the APC chairman from 2018 to 2020. He was removed following a turbulent relationship with the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) and his battle with his former protege, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State.
The former chairman, currently the senator for Edo North, spoke at the launch of a book “APC and Transition Politics”, authored by Salihu Lukman, a former national vice chairman (North-west) of the party, at the Shehu Yar’Adua Center in Abuja on Tuesday.
Salihu Lukman’s book launch at Yar’Adua Center in Abuja
Mr Lukman, a former director general of the PGF, played a leading role in the campaign that led to the removal of Mr Oshiomhole and two other national chairmen of the party; Mai Mala Buni and Abdullahi Adamu.
The author also openly opposed the emergence of the current national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje. He accused the former Kano State governor of having moral and corruption baggage that makes him unfit to occupy the party’s top seat.
Despite the history between the two, Mr Ganduje was present at the event and even donated N10 million to buy some copies of the book.
In his goodwill remarks, Mr Oshiomhole, a former Edo State, who spoke for 54 minutes, disclosed all the behind-the-scenes events in the days leading to his removal as head of the party and the role of the governors.
Mr Oshiomhole said the author alongside some governors spearheaded the campaign that led to his “illegal” removal from office.
He specifically fingered former governors of Ekiti and Ogun State, Kayode Fayemi and Ibikunle Amosun, respectively for instigating his removal. He alleged that the governors deployed all manner of illegal means to remove him following his moves to enshrine party supremacy.
Mr Fayemi, who was at the time chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF), was seated while Mr Oshiomhole was making the allegations.
The former Edo governor said the governors wanted to dictate to him how to run the affairs of the party.
“Lukman wrote several letters, dismissing my leadership without calling me. When you ride on the back of a tiger, there is only one destination. Lukman was appointed undemocratically by the governors’ forum. I was not consulted—I was a governor. We were told this is the new DG of the APC governors forum.
“Lukman was there when I wrote a letter, inviting the governors for a meeting to discuss the guidelines for conducting primaries, let me know the thinking of the various interest groups. I have discussed it with the president, and I needed to discuss it with the governors—so that once the guidelines are out, the party can claim ownership of it because it has been debated.
“I wrote to the governors for a meeting. The governors said no, I should come to Imo House, not the APC office. He (Lukman) was in the there (where they were holding the meeting). He did not see anything wrong with that,” Mr Oshiomhole said.
Speaking on the atmosphere at the meeting with the governors, Mr Oshiomhole said “It felt as though I was in a military barrack.”
He said following the diatribes from the governors, he responded “None of you can lecture me about the power of a governor. Because I have been governor twice. Eight years uninterrupted. At a point, I told Fayemi, ‘You did a resit. You were elected and by the second term, you lost. That means you failed’. I did not do a resit, and you are lecturing me about power. I can mention some of them.
“The man in Ogun State, he told me if not for the president, he have would left the party. Some of them told me “You are working for your paymaster in Lagos. Your paymaster in Bourdillon.
“I told the Ogun State governor, not the current one, the former one. I said “You are not loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari. Because if you are, when Buhari lost the election, you ported to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in search of a political greener pasture. You begged Asiwaju to beg Segun Osoba to accept you when you lost in the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). And today, you are coming to say that you are loyal, what manner of loyalty is that? This is what you call opportunism,” Mr Oshiomhole said.
The former chairman also disclosed that Mr Buhari did not intervene to stop the onslaught from the governors. He, therefore, warned Mr Ganduje to be prepared because, according to him, the governors are going to play the same card against him.
“Chairman sir, if you have not faced it already, you will face it. The only difference is if the president decides to intervene and moderate. In my own case, we have a president who was not ready to intervene,” he said.
Mr Oshiomhole’s speech was delivered with humour and was periodically interrupted by applause from the audience.
No money for party
He also disclosed that under his watch, the APC did not receive money from the governors, but rather funded campaigns across the country.
According to him, the party gifted Kwara State N800 million to support the “O to ge” movement that led to the victory of the party in the state.
Speaking on the book, Mr Oshiomhole, a former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said the author’s fixation on ills and deliberate disregard of the good done by others is a thing of concern.
I disagree with the content of your book – Ganduje
In his goodwill message, Mr Ganduje said he strongly disagreed with some of the claims in the book.
He said the party as an institution has multiple functions that require careful balance.
“I read the book, and I found issues, issues and counter issues but I am not the reviewer of the book so I cannot go into that,” he said.
The former Kano governor went on to explain his desire for the party and the future of the APC.
“It is important in order to document issues. APC as a political party and as a ruling party for that matter is an institution. If well structured can serve a two-way traffic. First, as an institution that is in charge of recruitment of the elected and appointed positions.
Salihu Lukman’s book launch at Yar’Adua Center in Abuja
“Also, it is an institution that is concerned with the manifesto—implementation of the manifesto of the party. That is from the local to state and national level It is an institution that must harness the demands of the people in order to be transmitted to the ruling government for implementation at the same time it is an institution that explains and enlightens about the achievements of the ruling party,” Mr Ganduje said.
APC should tell Tinubu the feelings of Nigerians – Fayemi
In his remarks, Mr Fayemi said the ruling party should be the proper channel for feedback and not allow the president to rely on the presidential villa mechanism.
“This party leader should be the one that tells our president that this is the feedback from the communities and constituency out there not what he is hearing in the villa where he is locked out. All of us who hold public offices we know how it can be,” the former governor said.
Mr Fayemi reiterated that the author deeply cares about the party, and he should be seen as the conscience of the party.
“He is an individual of his own conviction. Why do you think he has to listen to me or Nasir El Rufai in order to form an opinion? As a matter of fact, he criticises both of us more than you know because he feels that we are too quiet, and we don’t fight the way we should fight.
“Every progressive party always have people like him and the only way to give credit to such people is to continue to regard them as the conscience of our party.
“If there is anybody who can be described as the conscience of the All Progressives Congress and progressive politics in Nigeria today, more than any of us is Salihu Mohammed Lukman,” he said.
Book to stimulate debate on APC
In his brief remarks, Mr Lukman said the book was written to stimulate debate on the future of the party.
Some of the people at the event include the former Interim National Chairman of the APC, Bisi Akande, who was the chairman of the event, the National Secretary of the APC, Ajibola Bashiru, who reviewed the book and others.
Share this:
Support PREMIUM TIMES’ journalism of integrity and credibility
Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.
By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.
Donate
[embedded content]
TEXT AD: Call Willie – +2348098788999
Source: