The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole has cried out over an alleged gang up against him by some unnamed party stakeholders.
He alleged that this group of stakeholders is populated by persons who were uncomfortable with the positive reforms his leadership was bringing to the party.
Oshiomhole said this in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary Simon Ebebgulem, in Abuja, yesterday.
According to him, suggestions in some quarters as voiced by one Alhaji Mumakai Unagha, who aspired for the party’s Presidential ticket that the APC cannot win the 2019 general elections with Adams Oshiomhole as national chairman was far away from the truth.
Also starting for a showdown with the former President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), are some of the governors who felt shortchanged over his handling of the recent primaries that produced the ruling party standard bearers for elective offices ahead of 2019 general elections.
The exercise left some of the governors in the cold as their anointed for certain positions were sidelined.
A party source told our correspondent that the aggrieved governors in league with some of the members of the NWC are waiting in the wings, seeking for the right opportunity to give the embattled Oshiomhole the same unsavoury treatment meted to his predecessor, Chief Odigie Oyegun.
The embittered members of the national working committee have since confessed to the aggrieved governors that decisions on sensitive party matters were taken at Comrade Oshiomhole private office at Aso Drive, Asokoro, Abuja, without recourse to the entire NWC.
Chief Press Secretary to Comrade Oshiomhole, Simon Ebegbulem, in a press statement issued at the weekend confirmed the orchestrated plot to ease his boss out of the APC national secretariat.
Ebegbulem did not mention the governors but pointed fingers of scorn at some stakeholders not comfortable with what he called Comrade Oshiomhole’s vision to build institutional capacity for the APC.
He said: “To be clear, Comrade 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.
“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 leadership at this time for a purpose.
“The purpose has begun to manifest in its vast flourish and ramifications: instilling discipline, ensuring party supremacy, promoting due process, dealing with impunity and executive arrogance wherever they manifest to undermine intra-party electoral processes in the states.”
Comrade Oshiomhole further noted that those not comfortable with his resolve to restore party supremacy were up in arms against his noble agenda for the ruling party.
“From the outset, we never expected that those who cherished and supported the status quo, which Comrade Oshiomhole supplanted, would cave in easily under the magnitude of the current political revival that he spearheads.
“Indeed, while the progressives are enamoured of change, the conservatives find it difficult to embrace it. That is the current reality in the deliberate effort to rebrand the APC.
“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 Comrade Oshiomhole’s adroit management of the strains and pains that accompany the birth of a resuscitated governing party.
“The leadership provided in the recently-held primary elections and the large-scale integrity of the processes are developments that should hence serve as exemplars in the administration of governing parties.
“Indeed, the message therein is very clear that the party, and not pseudo political empires in the states, has the power to superintend the primary elections for the nomination of the party’s candidates in the general election.
“While the party will not surrender its functions, which are constitutionally circumscribed, to any other entities, it will always be ready to moderate the divergent tendencies and mediate the disparate political camps in the interest of party cohesion.
“This is one of the hardnosed truths that the Comrade Oshiomhole-led NWC preaches and practises with an apostolic zeal to the chagrin of some influential stakeholders in the states.
Comrade Oshiomhole envisions an APC that is capacitated to pragmatically build a corpus of leadership and membership that do not only submit to the high ideal of party supremacy but also the credo of party discipline.
These-party supremacy and discipline- are two fundamentals that had been eroded even before the emergence of the Oshiomhole leadership. It is sad that while the national chairman is working round the clock, some stakeholders have thrown selfish political agendas into the mix to threaten the building of institutional capacity for the APC.
“These influential stakeholders, according to the grapevine, have begun to mobilise to pass a no-confidence vote in the leadership of Oshiomhole, having failed to impose their preferred candidates on the party in the nomination process.
“Rather than resort to needless perfidy at the threshold of a general election, we call on them to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship, bolstered by the fact that the Oshiomhole leadership is propelled more by its interest in propriety in which victory for the party could be grounded. The crime committed by Comrade Oshhiomhole’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.
“Overall, Comrade Oshiomhole has not, since stepping in the saddle, taken any unilateral decision in the running of the party affairs. All decisions, so far taken, passed through the mills of NWC deliberative sessions and enjoyed unanimous resolutions. The records are there. History will justify Comrade Oshiomhole and posterity will vindicate him.”
Also starting for a showdown with the former President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), are some of the governors who felt shortchanged over his handling of the recent primaries that produced the ruling party standard bearers for elective offices ahead of 2019 general elections.
The exercise left some of the governors in the cold as their anointed for certain positions were sidelined.
A party source told newsmen that the aggrieved governors in league with some of the members of the NWC are waiting in the wings, seeking for the right opportunity to give the embattled Oshiomhole the same unsavoury treatment meted to his predecessor, Chief Odigie Oyegun.
The embittered members of the national working committee have since confessed to the aggrieved governors that decisions on sensitive party matters were taken at Comrade Oshiomhole private office at Aso Drive, Asokoro, Abuja, without recourse to the entire NWC.
Chief Press Secretary to Comrade Oshiomhole, Simon Ebegbulem, in a press statement issued at the weekend confirmed the orchestrated plot to ease his boss out of the APC national secretariat.
Ebegbulem did not mention the governors but pointed fingers of scorn at some stakeholders not comfortable with what he called Comrade Oshiomhole’s vision to build institutional capacity for the APC.
He said: “To be clear, Comrade 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.
“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 leadership at this time for a purpose.
“The purpose has begun to manifest in its vast flourish and ramifications: instilling discipline, ensuring party supremacy, promoting due process, dealing with impunity and executive arrogance wherever they manifest to undermine intra-party electoral processes in the states.”
Comrade Oshiomhole further noted that those not comfortable with his resolve to restore party supremacy were up in arms against his noble agenda for the ruling party.
“From the outset, we never expected that those who cherished and supported the status quo, which Comrade Oshiomhole supplanted, would cave in easily under the magnitude of the current political revival that he spearheads.
“Indeed, while the progressives are enamoured of change, the conservatives find it difficult to embrace it. That is the current reality in the deliberate effort to rebrand the APC.
“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 Comrade Oshiomhole’s adroit management of the strains and pains that accompany the birth of a resuscitated governing party.
“The leadership provided in the recently-held primary elections and the large-scale integrity of the processes are developments that should hence serve as exemplars in the administration of governing parties.
“Indeed, the message therein is very clear that the party, and not pseudo political empires in the states, has the power to superintend the primary elections for the nomination of the party’s candidates in the general elections.
“While the party will not surrender its functions, which are constitutionally circumscribed, to any other entities, it will always be ready to moderate the divergent tendencies and mediate the disparate political camps in the interest of party cohesion.
“This is one of the hardnosed truths that the Comrade Oshiomhole-led NWC preaches and practises with an apostolic zeal to the chagrin of some influential stakeholders in the states.
Comrade Oshiomhole envisions an APC that is capacitated to pragmatically build a corpus of leadership and membership that do not only submit to the high ideal of party supremacy but also the credo of party discipline.
These-party supremacy and discipline- are two fundamentals that had been eroded even before the emergence of the Oshiomhole leadership. It is sad that while the national chairman is working round the clock, some stakeholders have thrown selfish political agendas into the mix to threaten the building of institutional capacity for the APC. “
“These influential stakeholders, according to the grapevine, have begun to mobilise to pass a no-confidence vote in the leadership of Oshiomhole, having failed to impose their preferred candidates on the party in the nomination process.
“Rather than resort to needless perfidy at the threshold of a general election, we call on them to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship, bolstered by the fact that the Oshiomhole leadership is propelled more by its interest in propriety in which victory for the party could be grounded. The crime committed by Comrade Oshhiomhole’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.
“Overall, Comrade Oshiomhole has not, since stepping in the saddle, taken any unilateral decision in the running of the party affairs. All decisions, so far taken, passed through the mills of NWC deliberative sessions and enjoyed unanimous resolutions. The records are there. History will justify Comrade Oshiomhole and posterity will vindicate him.”
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State has expelled a former Secretary to the State Government, Chief Onyemauche Nnamani, over alleged misconduct.
Nnamani’s expulsion was announced by the chairman of the APC in Enugu State, Dr. Ben Nwoye, on Sunday.
According to Nwoye, Nnamani, who served as SSG in Enugu during the administration of former governor Chimaraoke Nnamani, was expelled for taking the APC to court “without first ventilating his grievances through internal mechanisms provided in the party’s constitution”.
The development contravened provisions of Article 21 of the APC constitution, which deals with ‘discipline of members’, Nwoye said.
Nnamani contested for the position of APC National Vice Chairman, South-East, during the party’s national convention.
However, the election was eventually won by the incumbent, Chief Emma Eneukwu.
Like Nnamani, Eneukwu is also from Enugu State.
Nwoye disclosed that a petition filed by Nnamani against the outcome of the election was dismissed by the national convention appeal committee.
The Enugu APC chairman added that Nnamani went ahead to drag the party and Eneukwu to court over the same matter.
In the suit, Nnamani reportedly averred that Eneukwu did not obtain any waiver that would allow him to contest for the position during the convention.
But, insisting that the APC national vice chairman, South-East, Eneukwu, actually obtained a waiver, like other national officers of the party, to contest positions during the convention, Nwoye said Nnamani violated provisions of the party’s constitution by going to court.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Eneukwu got a waiver – that waiver was transmitted by myself to the then national chairman, Chief John Oyegun, who approved it.
“The lawsuit filed by Nnamani was designed to distract Enugu State APC, and to pave the way for his friends and relatives in PDP to win again.
“We are invoking relevant constitutional provisions, Article 21 deals with discipline of party members.
“Nnamani has failed to comply with the provision. He filed a petition before the national convention appeal panel but on the day the case was called he was absent, he only sent a lawyer.
“The matter was dismissed, he did not appeal the dismissal, the right to appeal is not forever, the matter died and now he has gone to court over the same issue.
“Onyemauche Nnamani, by his own conduct of violating the constitution, has expelled himself, so we want the whole world to know that he is expelled from the party,” Nwoye said.
Also, President Muhammadu Buhari’s son-in-law, Malam Abubakar Isma’ila Isa has kicked against the outcome of the just concluded All Progressive Congress (APC) party primaries in Katsina State that saw Governor Aminu Bello Masari clinching the return ticket of the party in the state.
Isa’s rejection of the primaries outcome was coming as Masari’s name have been forwarded by the party to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as it governorship candidate in the race.
Isa was reportedly said to have in a copy filed to the Secretary of the Electoral Committee to register his grievance, faulted the adoption of indirect primaries leading to the emergency of Masari while also crying out for a foul play.
“As stakeholders in the election, we ought to be consulted in whatever decision that may be arrived at, but we were neither consulted nor informed on the decision to go in for Indirect primaries.
“Consequently, no notice to that effect was served on us therefore our delegates and agents could not trace the venue for accreditation and election.
“You and your committee arrived in Katsina in the night of 29/09/2018 on a charted flight allegedly provided for by the state governor, you went straight into the government house, met with the governor who is one of the aspirant and members of his government, you did not invite us to the usual stakeholders and did not meet us until yesterday 30/09/2018 by 12.30pm.
“At the meeting you informed us that you have finished screening of delegates and we’re to start voting. All sets of facts cast serious doubts on the impartiality of your committee.”
Isa, in another statement issued while addressing a press conference shortly before the gubernatorial primaries in the state said, “we wholeheartedly align ourselves with the position of President Muhammadu Buhari in deepening and entrenching internal democracy in our party by openly supporting direct primaries as a mode of electing those who will carry the party’s flag in the forthcoming general elections.
“However, we are sad to report that the national secretariat of our party closed its eyes to the inherent dangers in conducting indirect primaries in Katsina State.
“This trend if not checked will throw the party into chaos and may further factionalize the party and affect its fortunes in the forthcoming general elections in 2019.
“We have lost confidence in the ability of the executives of the party in the state and the state government to conduct free, fair and transparent primaries.
“We are solidly behind the President and the National Working Committee (NWC) in supporting direct primaries in choosing candidates who will carry the party’s flag in the 2019 elections more so as direct primaries remain the most transparent and credible process of selecting popular and acceptable candidates for the party.
“The so-called executive members of the party at all levels in Katsina State were illegally elected in a phantom congress of the party and therefore ineligible to take decisions on behalf of the party and its members and we call on all those concerned to intervene and save the party from the merchants of manipulation and disunity.
“There was never a stakeholders’ meeting of the party where it was agreed that the party in Katsina State should go contrary to the well known views of our dear President who is an advocate of direct primaries for the part and that we hold the view that as a mark of respect for our President, we will never shame him by going contrary to his views.”
He continued when he said, “It is pertinent to note that as at today, there are not less than 7 suits pending before the various High Courts challenging the illegality of the present set of executives at the wards, LGA’s and state level of the party in Katsina.
“These suits are challenging the constitutional legitimacy of the present executive, who constitute the delegates for indirect election at the primaries, these suits are still pending before High Courts, Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
“We are by this drawing your attention to these breaches of the guidelines and the APC constitution and urging you to take immediate steps to rectify them before it is too late,” Isa stated.
Meanwhile, the electoral committee from the party’s National headquarters headed by Dr. Isah Adamu had declared Masari winner after polling 5,562 votes against the duo of Abubakar Samaila Isa, 8 votes and Garba Sani Dankani with 1 vote.