Garrulous Oshiomhole Messed Up APC Not Oyegun, By Dabira Olorunfemi
The ongoing smear campaign against a former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC , Chief John Oyegun instigated by the media and propaganda goons of the garullous incumbent national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole is callous.
How could Oshiomhole and his minders blame Oyegun who left office before the last general elections for the disastrous leadership of the incumbent.
For the records, Oshiomhole inherited a relatively stable and cohesive party from Oyegun. The latter led the party to dislodge the behemoth Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in 2015 which vowed to rule the nation for 60 yeares. He also won many states for the APC.
Oshiomhole frittered away the gains by embarking on personal vendetta running the party like a headmaster in a village primary school. He declared unwarranted war against Saraki who had defected to the PDP and vowed to recover the ‘crown’ belonging to his party.
Oshiomhole who was fighting for a crown when he had already lost the kingdom was stunned when the lawmakers he instigated to flush out Saraki rallied their president in chamber when the Senate resumed plenary.
Thenafter, he declared war against Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige over the composition of a federal agency board. Oshiomhole was more of a toxic liability than asset to the ruling party.
Sadly, Oshiomhole’s supporters see him as hero who united the party and entrenched party supremacy. That is wrong assessment of a leader without tacts. A good leader speaks cautiously and not recklessly. You cannot achieve party supremacy by treating fellow party men as if they were primary school pupils.
Oshiomhole also created a difficult situation for its party through his unguided and provocative utterances that APC will not concede any position to the main opposition PDP in the 9th National Assembly.
A national officer of a party worths his name and a former governor for that matter ought to be conversant with parliamentary politics. You need support across party lines to push through your preferred candidates and agenda in the parliament.
But Oshiomhole who only makes noise and not sense wants to forcefully impose his wills without conceding nothing to the opposition.
Now to the recent calamities in Zamfara and other places that hit the party, Oshiomhole caused the woes and not Oyegun who was faraway in his village in Edo State enjoying himself.
Oshiomhole was the one trading party tickets to highest bidders without recourse to party constitution and extant laws mandating conduct of primaries.
When he did, they were sham primaries like that of Ogun State where Dapo Abiodun emerged winner in a hotel in Ikeja while party members were on queues in Abeokuta, Ijebu, Ilaro and other places in Ogun State.
The sad scenarios of sham primaries also played out in 2018 governorship primary in Osun State. Oshiomhole overnight changed the rules of the game and adopted direct against the traditional indirect primaries 48hrs to the primaries without the ratification of the National Executive Council, NEC of the party.
No guidelines. No rules. It was a chaotic exercise. The disgraceful exercise contributed to the poor outing of the party at the governorahip election.
Moshood Adeoti, a strong grassroot politician from Iwo who served as the Secretary to the Osun State Government decamped to African Democratic Party, ADP over the brazen injustice. Another aspirant, Kunle Adegoke (K-RAD) , a lawyer also dragged the party to court over the charade.
Likewise, the Oshiomhole led-National Working Committee, NWC unilaterally gave the 8th National Assembly senators automatic tickets without primaries. Even when many of them have overstayed their usefulness in the red chamber. Yet, he raked in millions of Naira from aspirants from sales of forms when he knew there won’t be primaries.
Fiery Lawyer, Tunji Abayomi screamed and called out Oshiomhole over the injustice and criminality after he was told to step down for Ajayi Boroffice after purchasing nomination forms.
The aggrieved Ondo North Senatorial aspirant and a committed party man who has weathered the storm over the years from Alliance for Democracy to Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN to APC warned that Oshiomhole will destroy the party.
Yet, Oshiomhole subjected Gbenga Ashafa , a senator representing Lagos East
to fraudulent primaries after he was settled by the bullion van godfather in
Bourdillon.
Why did Oluremi Tinubu and Solomon Adeola (Yayi) get automatic tickets and
Ashafa was excluded? The corrupt and power-drunk national chairman should
respond.
Is anyhow surprised when nemesis started catching up with Oshiomhole now. He dug the grave and buried the ailing party. He lost over five states in a single election! Oyegun with all his imperfections never performed such woefully.
Oyegun may not be garrulous and speaks recklessly like Oshiomhole but he led the party with maturity and right temperament. Things were not bad like this under him. Oshiomhole made everything worse!
He should leave Oyegun out of his predicaments and respond to the indicting open letter written to him by his Deputy National Chairman (North) Senator Lawal Shuaibu.
Shuaibu wrote, “I write this letter with my hands shaking, arising from the realizing of my involvement in a project that is currently seen as failing, even before achieving the ambition of its founding fathers. I never found myself in any failed project.
“In advanced democracies, people who fail to add value or build over and above what they met on assumption of duty show some civilized examples, they honourably bow out.
“In that connection, therefore, I want to advise you to take the path of honour, to step aside and allow the Party to embark on the onerous task of reconstruction and rehabilitation in those States it was weakened by the effect of the last primary election exercises.
“Or even the task of recreating the party where it is on the path of extinction, arising from the loss of a sitting APC Government, for example in Zamfara State, where you directly personally created the problem leading to the painful complete loss of APC’s electoral fortunes. From up to down, all these are uncontestable facts.
“You cannot exonerate yourself from what happened to APC (in) Zamfara State, thereby destroying the hopes and aspirations of 534,541 APC members and supporters.”
Dabira Olorunfemi, a Public Affairs Analyst writes from Lagos
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