There may be temporal respite for the embattled national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, as the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba and other stakeholders, majorly from Edo State, on Sunday passed a vote of confidence on the suspended ruling party boss.
The stakeholders, loyal to the chairman, rose from several hours meeting in Abuja, describing those fighting against the former Edo State governor as elements working for the opposition.
The interactive session convened by a chieftain of the party, Blessing Agbomhere, tagged: “Our Leader, Adams Oshiomhole’s interactive session with concerned party leaders, members, support groups and the real issue and solution,” had in attendance: Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, former Minister of Works, Chris Ogiemwonyi; Deputy Leader of the House of Representatives, Peter Akpatason; member of the House of Representatives, 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, Col. David Imuse (retd); Zonal Women Leader, North Central, Hajia Hassana Abdullahi and Chairman non-NWC members of the party’s National Executive Committee NEC, Nelson Alapa among others.
In his opening speech, Ogiemwonyi noted that many of those who are up in arms against the chairman were people who benefited immensely from his benevolence. “I am here because I believe in the man Comrade 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 prayed.
Akpatason, who also spoke at the session, 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,” he quipped.
Similarly, Ihonvbere said: “President Muhammadu Buhari needed to do more for the party if the crisis must come to an end. “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.”
Also speaking, Alapa again kicked against Tuesday’s NEC meeting, stressing that the law was not followed in convening it. “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,” he added.
Agbomhere, the convener earlier explained that the essence of the meeting was to proffer solutions to the numerous challenges facing the APC.
“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,” he said.
