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Tag: Oshiomhole

  • Oshiomhole’s pleasant heresies (I)

    “He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils”. –Francis Bacon

    Most Nigerian politicians are more readily ‘conservative’ and or ‘reactionary’ about politics than they are prepared to admit. Quite few are ever prepared to be ‘liberal’ and or ‘progressive’ about it. And yes, although the few liberal-minded ones that we have may also lay claim to ‘progressive’ disposition, yet quite fewer even are practically expressive or demonstrative of their vaunted claim to progressivism. Until the advent of the new chairman of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Adams Aliu Oshiomhole, one would’ve thought that to be ‘radical’ and ‘progressive’ at the same time is an ideological combination completely alien to our debauched kind of democratic clime. But then came Oshiomhole, a radical-progressive fermented, like the amber-hued cognac, by the processes of distillation in labour activism and aging in the oak-cask of party politics. How radically-progressive he was as governor of his home state, Edo for eight years, is not the subject of this piece. But here he is, at last, presiding over the affairs of a ‘progressive’ party, the ruling APC -which many believe has been stuck, these past almost four years, in the mud of reactionary intra-party politics and is now in dire search of a messiah.

    But sometimes troubled and tribulated man rather than avail himself the liberating hand of angelic messiahs from above, prefers to pull the hand of salvation with him into the quagmire of his repeated transgression. And so if Buhari’s advent was the angelic ‘hand of God’ stretched to our drowning but ‘stiff-necked and rebellious’ nation, then the coming of Oshiomhole as chair of the ruling APC seems more  like the veritable descent of God Himself in aid both of ‘angel’ and of man. Nothing can be more ‘radically progressive’ than the bolt of corrective democratic enthusiasm gushing forth from this little man called Oshiomhole as he pulls a virtual lonely furrow to revive long dead party ethos necessary to oxygenate our dying democracy. And in doing so Oshiomhole has brought the brinkmanship of collaborative labour activism (which wins for all) into the treacherous, self-aggrandizing murky terrain of partisan politics (which wins for special interest). I think those who accuse the man of confusing labour activism with partisan politics are only being mischievous.

    And the question may be asked: is Oshiomhole’s progressive activism not far in advance of the progressive inclination of his ‘progressive’ party, the APC? Or just how much of the corrective democratic knight errantry of this petit, impatient new party helmsman, does the APC have capacity -or enthusiasm- to accommodate?  Since this former governor of Edo State replaced what many party members said was a lack-lustre, kill-joy predecessor, Odigie Oyegun, he has hit the ground running in a manner that many within and outside the party do not know whether to worry about his ‘haste’ or to bother about his ‘heresies’. Or both. “It is the customary fate of new truths” the British biologist T.H. Huxley said “to begin as heresies and to end as superstition”. But whether Oshiomhole’s new political innovations will “end as superstition”, only time will tell. But paradoxically, the APC, in spite of its promise for ‘swift change’ has never hidden its penchant for ‘gradualism’ –the ‘rock-change’ theory that political change, like the time-honoured changing forms of fossils- takes place gradually rather than swiftly. President Buhari himself, often in reply to the partisan harangues of mischievous opposition elements for the tardiness of administration, has always ennobled the virtue in the paradox of ‘making haste slowly’, insisting –like America’s Benjamin Franklin had always said- that “great haste makes great waste”. Or like Charles Stoddard would say, that “Rapidity does not always mean progress”.

    No sooner than Oshiomhole came in as the new Sherriff of a determinedly renascent APC than both his ‘hastes’ and his ‘heresies’ stormily begins to overwhelm the party’s old ways of doing things. Oshiomhole has not only radically proposed direct primaries to give a truly fresh breath of democratic air to a suffocated internal party democracy, but even as his rudely-shocked conservative-progressive members were spoiling for a debate over a new-fangled political idea, Oshiomhole was already in Osun State implementing it as a ‘done deal’. By the way, nothing can be more radically reformative of our captive internal party democracy than the idea of direct primaries which seems like an excellent remedy against the familiar vice of a few opportunistic politicians, against the interest of the many, hijacking political parties and -like Ian Smith of a colonial Rhodesia would say- ‘messing up our democracy’. Henceforth it will truly be the sole prerogative of members of the APC to decide who their party throws up for contest –instead of governors, in the guise of indirect primaries, selecting political stooges to be ‘elected’ delegates who in turn ‘elect’ selected stooges as candidates. Nor can other political parties afford not to imbibe this change.

    When Italy’s fascist leader Benito Mussolini did the needful in 1929 by restoring the sovereignty of Roman Catholic’s Vatican City, it was widely celebrated that he had ‘returned Italy to God and God to Italy’. This in fact is what APC’s Oshiomhole has done to ‘party’ and ‘people’: he has returned the ruling party to the people, and the people to the ruling party. Because this almost singular effort in bringing about a more democrat method of electing party candidates is like bringing about, by default, the system of ‘independent candidature’ which, ironically, state assemblies in the last constitutional amendment proposals, had foolishly voted down. As they have the attempts even to liberate themselves by putting state assemblies on first line charge, or the series of attempts also to liberate local governments from the stranglehold of thieving governors. All these democratic efforts have failed because we have persistently handed our political affairs into the profligate and extravagant hands of unconscionable conservative-reactionaries masquerading as radical-progressives. They are evidently incapable of nursing the democratic will to bring about true and genuine progressive change in the polity. And you wonder why the French Poet and philosopher, Paul Valery said “Liberty is the hardest test that one can inflict on the people”. Because to “know how to be free” he said “is not given equally to all men and all nations”. Any electoral system of internal party democracy that equally subjugates all contestants to the mercy of the ordinary members of the party is virtually as good as allowing independents to stand alone as candidates without the endorsement of a political party.

    Said America’s William Harrison “…the only legitimate right to govern is an EXPRESS grant of power from the governed”. And if it makes sense to suggest that ‘what concerns everyone should be resolved by everyone’, it makes even better sense to insist that all members of a political party –and not just it’s so called self-anointed ‘stakeholders’- should determine who the party throws up for contest.

     

    • To be continued

  • Oshiomhole and APC’s curious dilemma

    THERE is no satisfying Nigerians. Having spent the last three years or more complaining about the lethargy and complaisance of the former All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, dispositions that evidently hurt the ruling party in many ways, there are indications that the same people are now squirming over the hyperactivity of the new party chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, former governor of Edo State. Nigerians can’t have their cake and eat it. Circumstances and politics appear to be compelling APC members to choose between their former do-nothing chairman and their new but increasingly choleric chairman. It is a choice that may gall them, but it is one they probably reconciled themselves to when they elected the boisterous former governor to help them arrest the drift in their party and to challenge the horrifying orthodoxies threatening to sunder the party.

    Since his election as chairman, a position he undoubtedly coveted with every fibre in his being, Mr Oshiomhole has talked nineteen to the dozen. Indeed, even before he was elected, before his predecessor’s tenure ended, the former Edo governor had spoken and acted as if he had been sworn in. It is in his nature to be impatient, and he is naturally unable to quieten down in the face of distressing and pressing political maladies. More, he is restless, hard working and subliminally rebellious. Added to these attributes is his eagerness to call his soul his own, something he takes pride in, but a thing that nonetheless does not bar him at critical junctures from subordinating his entire being and ideas to the dogmas and sometimes caprices of the country’s leader. APC members complained of Mr Odigie-Oyegun’s sepulchral silence in the face of daunting challenges to the party; now they and the party’s top leaders must contend with and manage the shrill and unabating zealousness of Mr Oshiomhole.

    Affirmed APC chairman on June 23 and sworn in hours later, Mr Oshiomhole has not ceased to hug the limelight, speaking, dramatising and pontificating on issues that range from politics to leadership, and economy to ideology. Often he has spoken quite well, imbued as he is with a natural flair for oratory and composure, and courage and zeal, and with an itch to speak on everything and to run everything. His party will struggle to rein him in, filter his statements, and restrain him from provoking everybody. He at first spoke admirably about the querulous and dissatisfied Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom; but when the latter eventually defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the APC chairman was unsparing and scathing, describing the governor as good riddance to bad rubbish. Well, finesse is not among the party chairman’s forte.

    Mr Oshiomhole has not stopped talking since June 24. Nothing will quieten him, not even peace and tranquillity in the APC. Last Monday, he was particularly and characteristically fecund. Turning his gaze to the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), he joined issues with the minister of the supervising Labour and Employment ministry, Chris Ngige, whom he accused of failing to inaugurate the agency’s board of directors. Dr Ngige, no slouch himself, and a combatant of ferocious disposition and temper, defended himself by suggesting that the ongoing probe in the ministry barred the inauguration of the board. Unimpressed and arguing that the probe was inconsequential to the inauguration, Mr Oshiomhole exploded a verbal depth bomb on the minister’s head, with shrapnel lacerating the cool and collected image of President Muhammadu Buhari himself.

    Hear Mr Oshiomhole: “If the minister refused, we will suspend him from the party. You know we must return to internal discipline. For me, it is the height of mischief for any minister. You cannot purport to be a honourable minister and you act dishonourably, and nobody is greater than the party. If the President condones disrespect for his office, I will not condone disrespect for the party. And when we expel the minister we will prevail on the President that he can’t keep in his cabinet people who have neither respect for his own decisions nor have respect for the party without which they would not have been ministers. There are no independent candidates in our system. Nobody, I emphasise, no minister is above the party, and they have taken undue advantage of the President’s fatherly disposition.” It is not clear to what extent the president was miffed by the APC chairman’s abrasive use of language. Nor is it certain whether the chairman has the kind of powers he seemed to have arrogated to himself. But the party and its members may be coming round gradually to the reality of a party leader whose words are often unmeasured and whose statements clearly race ahead of his thoughts and introspection.

    But Mr Oshiomhole was not done. Asked on the same day by State House correspondents in Abuja whether he was losing sleep over the defections convulsing the ruling party, the chairman retorted: “No, I am not losing sleep. I am sleeping very well. I still maintain that I don’t see any man of honour who with his eyes open left the PDP on the account of their gross mismanagement, abuse of the treasury and all of the crimes that the PDP committed; I don’t see them, whatever their irritations, that can be justifications, to return to that house. All we need to do is to play back their own tape about what the PDP represents and why they left. I still hold the view that you cannot vomit in the morning and convert it to lunch in the afternoon, if you have honour. That position still remains the same.” Mr Oshiomhole’s choice of words is unflattering. His logic can also be sometimes quaint. If the PDP did wrong yesterday, could that wrong not be amended sometime later? Mr Oshiomhole does not think so.

    If the APC can by a celestial sleight of hand coax Mr Oshimohole into some sort of verbal and polemical harness, his hyperactivity, oratorical flourish and workaholism can really avail the party of meaningful progress. He has correctly pointed out that the APC lacks ideological clarity and purity, and that once these were sorted out, the party could attract the right kind of politicians who would not be minded to defect at the drop of a hat. True; but the ideological warrior will have to start his ideological crusade with the arch-conservative, President Buhari, whose deeply ingrained conservatism is mitigated only by his infrequent and unconscious resort to pragmatism.

  • Oshiomhole interfering with investigation of suspected killers, Ortom alleges

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has lambasted National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Adams Oshiomhole for alleging his aides are behind killings in the state.

    He accused Oshiomhole of jumping into conclusion over the ongoing investigation of the suspects arrested in connection with the murder of two Catholic priests and 17 worshipers at Mbalom, Gwer East local government area of Benue State.

    In a statement yesterday by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, the governor said: “Our suspicion is that either the investigation into the matter has been compromised or the APC National Chairman is influencing it.

    “Benue people know who their killers are, and the attackers are believed to be sponsored by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and other Miyetti Allah groups.

    “We advise the APC National Chairman to stop his shameful dance on the graves of innocent Benue children, pregnant women and others slaughtered by armed herdsmen.”

    Ortom said Oshiomhole’s unprovoked attacks on him a few days after describing him as a star performer in the APC “has revealed among other things, the true oppressive intentions of the ruling party APC against Nigerians.

    “Oshiomhole appears to be flying a kite of an agenda to intimidate and suppress Nigerians who desire freedom from a party which has clearly failed to secure lives and property, thereby ushering in an orgy of violence never before witnessed in the history of the country.”

    The attacks following his defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last week according to Ortom would further convince “those yet to make up their minds that they are truly in the wrong place.

    “We advise the embattled Chairman to get busy with the job of his office and minimize his divisive and hate-filled statements.”

     

  • Oshiomhole, Ortom clash over Benue killings

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman  Adams Oshiomhole  launched a tirade against  Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State yesterday, claiming that the governor is partly responsible for the security  challenge in the state.

    He also accused the governor of non-performance and aggravating the level of poverty among his people.

    But Ortom, who dumped the APC on Wednesday, fired back immediately.

    He said Oshiomhole appeared to know more about the killings in Benue  and was hiding the truth from Nigerians.

    He threatened to sue the APC chair for disparaging him.

    In firing the first salvo yesterday, Oshiomole had said Ortom’s  exit is a blessing in disguise for  the APC after all.

    He  told reporters in Abuja that contrary to claims by the governor about the killings and general  security situation in the  state, Ortom  was partly responsible for the problem.

    “Governor Ortom has complicated,  by his own actions and poor judgement, the security situation in the state,” he said , citing reports by APC leaders in Benue State.

    “They drew our attention to the fact that some of those that have been arrested as a result of the killings are people who have been associated with him, including people in his employment, especially a guy known to have been involved with Boko Haram, whom he recruited to manage what they called forest guards.

    “These people have been arrested and are in police custody. If an appointee of a governor is involved in a heinous crime, including killing, that will be enough for a governor to worry about.

    “Instead, he played up the ethnic dimension of criminality, even though some of those killed were killed not by Muslims but Christians of Benue State origin, including those he employed.

    “These people have been in police custody; so, his attempt to explain away criminality by playing the ethnic card is unhelpful to what he should do as governor to manage the situation better.

    “After all, those in Benue State have always been there and his predecessors, including Suswam, had found ways to manage these diversities. So, Ortom’s incapacity to manage it and even seeking  to make political capital of the death of Benue people is unfortunate.

    “It is important that Nigerians understand that the condemnable killing  of two Reverend Fathers and some Christians in a church, those who have confessed to these crimes include people who have worked with Gov. Ortom and these killings were done few weeks after one of them was extremely critical during his sermon about the governance of the state and the style of governance of the Governor.

    “His price obviously was to pay with his dear life and not a few thought that the governor would celebrate that. I am not about to suggest that Gov, Ortom might have asked anybody to go and kill anyone, but that some of those involved in these killings are Benue State originated are Christians.

    “That is not to deny that some herdsmen have also been involved in the killings. But the responsibility of any government is not to seek to manipulate this, but to confront it.

    “As a party, we condemn any life that has been wasted by criminals and we accept that government’s  responsibility is to protect life and property. But I condemn anyone of us who seeks to make political capital out of these killings because we have shared responsibility to protect their lives regardless of their religion or location. So, we are relived that Ortom has returned to PDP.

    “When you look at it, he got our ticket on a platter of gold because he was never a participant in the building process of the party. He became a candidate by accident. The lesson to learn is that never again should people become candidates by accident.”

    Oshiomhole also described   Ortom’s  three and a  half years as governor as a waste as he has  no single  project to show for the mandate given him.

    His words: “In spite of the allocation accruing to Benue State, the bailout fund amounting  to over N20 billion and the huge sums of money collected from the Paris Club refund, he was not paying salaries to Benue workers, including teachers, local government employees and civil servants. He is owing some of the as much as 12 months salaries.

    “So, the entire economy of Benue State that survives  on civil servants salaries is  compromised. “Those who live on rents paid by civil servants cannot collect their rents with which to survive, thereby having effect on the commercial life of the people. This explains a vicious circle of poverty in Benue State that has deepened under Gov. Ortom.“There was also the fact that for three and half years that he has been in office, he cannot point to any concrete project that he has carried out. He cannot point to any major project that has been completed.

    “When we asked him these questions and allegations that while  the Vice President and the President had visited other states to commission projects, in Benue  they have only paid condolence visit. It is okay to lament the absence of federal presence, but what is the excuse for the absence of state projects in the state?

    “His argument is that he had diverted a lot of the resources to security issue. That raises the issue. Can you be spending N22 billion on security and the people are increasingly insecure? So if you accept that he spent money on security, it meant that he realized  that he has a responsibility to secure life and not pass the buck.

    “So, I felt scandalized watching him saying he had to leave the APC because he did not feel secure. To be honest, I am relieved as National Chairman and the leadership of our party in Benue State are relieved that he has returned to where he came from.

    “So, we now have a clean platform to search for a credible Benue citizen that can provide the kind of leadership that Benue State deserves and not one who seeks to make political capital out of human graves and celebrating the death of his own people.

    Ortom announced his defection from the APC on Wednesday,a few hours before he was due to attend another round of peace talks at the party’s national secretariat.

     

    Oshiomhole has something to hide, I’ll sue him, says Ortom

    In a swift reaction last night to Oshiomhole’s comment, Ortom  threatened to sue the APC chair  “because  it is clear that there is  something about the killers that he is hiding.”

    “For him to come out with these allegations shows that he has something  he is hiding,” the governor said through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase.

    He said: “Miyetti Allah groups have severally claimed responsibility for the Benue killings ,yet the Federal Government controlled by Oshiomhole’s party has not deemed it necessary to invite them for questioning.”

    He also dismissed allegation on non performance  by the governor.

    “That is double speak.It is laughable,coming from Oshiomhole.

    “Just last week, he eulogized Ortom as one of the stars  of APC, one of the bst performing governors and this week he said the governor has not performed.

    “He is saying one thing in the morning and another in the evening.

    “We advise him to concentrate on his job as party chairman.

    “He is speaking on everything and on anything.

    “The other day he was counseling the president on how to run his government and chastening the ministers.

    “He should desist from delving into issues  not pertaining to his position.”

  • Oshiomhole: Party chair on mission to steady APC’s ship

    HIS credentials are never in doubt as an astute political leader, cerebral activist and prodigious mobiliser. That much has come to light in the short period that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has been in the saddle as the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The immediate past governor of Edo State inherited the seat vacated by his Edo kinsman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, at a time the party was groaning under the yoke of complaints and threats of defection by aggrieved party members who felt that the party had marginalised their interests in one way or the other. But while he has only been in the saddle for barely one month, he has left no one in doubt about his determination to steady the party’s ship.

    His exploits as a former Edo State governor and erstwhile president of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) combined with his power of oration had commended him to party faithful the moment his name began to surface as Oyegun’s possible successor. It was, therefore, not a surprise that he eventually became the chairman of APC without having to contest an election. Party members were unanimous in their belief that there could hardly be a better unifying force in the face of the centrifugal forces that threatened to tear the party apart.

    Even in the opposition camp, there were jitters as the curtains began to draw on Oyegun’s tenure and Oshiomhole’s name began to prop up. In the People’s Democratic Party, for instance, there were warnings from concerned members that the party’s spokespersons would have to sit up if the party must survive the intellect and oratory prowess of the new APC chair. That probably explains why the PDP headed for court in its desperation to stop Oshiomhole from continuing as APC chair after the opposition party’s failed bid to persuade the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to recognise his endorsement at the APC national convention on June 23.

    At a meeting with PDP leaders from Kogi State at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on June 27, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the former Edo State governor could not be recognised by the electoral umpire because his emergence by affirmation was a violation of the democratic requirements of direct voting by delegates. But INEC responded by saying that it had no power to stop Oshiomhole from leading the APC.

    Oshiomhole, on his part, has since hit the ground running in his bid to fulfill his vow before the popular affirmation that made him the party chairman. In his formal declaration of interest in the seat of the APC chair, Oshiomhole had vowed to reposition and reorganise the crisis-ridden party “based on its philosophy of social democracy, which basically means a people-oriented, membership-driven and mass-based political organisation.”

    He began by appealing to aggrieved members of the party, particularly the members of the nPDP bloc which later metamorphosed to the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC), that their grievances would be addressed. The group had complained of being marginalised and were threatening to quit the party. Oshiomhole’s words of assurance came as a welcome relief to some members of the bloc who said they were persuaded by his utterances to change their minds about leaving the party.

    Although his efforts suffered a major blow on Tuesday with the defection of 13 R-APC senators and 37 members of the House of Representatives to other parties, President Muhammadu Buhari did not fail to acknowledge the efforts of the new party chair.

    Reacting to the defections on his Twitter handle on Tuesday, Buhari noted that the party had done its utmost to stop the defections. He commended Oshiomhole and other leaders of the party for working relentlessly for its unity. “The APC has done its best to stop the defections, and I must commend the party leadership for working tirelessly to unite the party and position it for future victory,” he said.

    But at an earlier meeting with some members of the CPC bloc in the party, Oshiomhole had made it clear that he was not only out to appease aggrieved party members but also get every member of the party to sit up or ship out. Like the biblical Messiah, his winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his granary. But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. In other words, only aggrieved members who by their acts have shown that they deserve to remain in the party would be persuaded to stay. For others not so deserving, it will be good riddance to bad rubbish.

    The foregoing is the context of his current face-off with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, over the latter’s delay in constituting the board of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF). Oshiomhole had issued an ultimatum to Ngige to constitute the board of the agency or get expelled from the party.

    Earlier at a recent meeting with state chairmen of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), one of the parties that joined up to form the All Progressives Congress (APC), Oshiomhole had said his leadership would go to any length to dialogue with all party members with genuine concerns, but would ignore those he called “the Buba Galadimas of this world.”

    He said: “I listened to Buba Galadima (leader of a splinter group in the CPC bloc of APC who recently defected). I see a bird dancing on the pole and a disgruntled drummer not far away in the bush is drumming for him.

    “But this is not to say that we are not aware that there are challenges here and there, but anything about APC is considered much more than the sum total of all the challenges we have in many of the states, and by the special grace of God, we shall overcome them and we are already overcoming them.

    “I am very confident that we can afford to ignore Buba Galadima. And like I said (earlier), I’m ready to go to any length to talk to people who mean well and who have genuine grievances arising from communication gaps or misunderstanding or even from the error of judgment on the part of anyone or even from the way we have managed our patronage.

    “When we see people who have genuine grievances, we are not ashamed to talk to them. We recognise that democracy is an equaliser and only people who are humble enough to engage can survive, and we have been engaging. We have been meeting with various individuals and groups who we believe really have genuine concerns on certain matters, and we are making progress.

    “But when we see people who don’t mean well, there are a lot of idle people who don’t have any other thing to do, and once they don’t have access to national honey pot, they begin to complain. For me, there is no cause for alarm. Nobody should panic over one Buba Galadima whose group I believe cannot define us in the next election in 2019.”

    As the 2019 elections draw nearer, Oshiomhole appears determined to steady the ship of the ruling party. How successfully he pulls this off is a matter to be assessed in the fullness of time.

  • APC cannot be intimidated, says Oshiomhole

    •Sani: I’ve not left my party

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), remains focued, National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole said on Wednesday night in Abuja.

    He told State House correspondents at the end of a meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and APC Senators at the Presidential Villathat the meeting was at the instance of the senators, to show their solidarity for the President and his administration.

    He said: “The senators have come in large  number to prove that the APC remains the party with the largest number of senators as well as members in the House of Representatives. Also to prove that we still have what it takes to continue to provide good governance for Nigeria.

    “We have agreed that going forward, the APC cannot be intimidated, the government will not be intimidated or distracted. We remain focused and committed to addressing the critical challenges that confront our country, namely security, economy and fight against corruption.

    “On all three, the President is consistent and determined and the senators have come to reassure him of their full backing on these three core commitments which we have made to the Nigerian people and for me as party Chairman, we are very excited,” he said.

    He described the senators that defected on Tuesday as victims of misinformation, expressing confidence that

    some of them will retrace their steps and return to the party.

    Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan, who led the APC Senators to the Presidential Villa, said they were there to give Buhari the detail of what transpired in the Senate on Tuesday.

    He said: “We have come to pay a courtesy call on our leader, the President of this country and inform him about what happened yesterday (Tuesday) in the Senate and indeed the National Assembly; the defection by some of our colleagues from the APC to the Peples Democratic Party, the PDP and other parties. We informed the President of how we stand in the Senate.

    “As at today, the APC caucus in the Senate is 53 in number, followed by the largest minority party the PDP with 48 Senators and then the ADC with two Senators, APGA has two Senators. We have two vacant seats which were occupied by APC senators who are late now.

    “By the grace of God there will be election into those two seats on August 11 and hopefully the APC will clinch both and our number of senators will swell to 55,” he said.

    Lawan also said the APC Senators were consulting widely and some of the defected Senators would come back to the APC.

    Forty two of the 53 APC senators were at the meeting.

    Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) reaffirmed his position as a member of the APC caucus in the Senate, adding that he was pleased with the measures taken by the party’s leadership to address the challenges confronting the party.

    He said “I’m here as a member of the APC caucus in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and my presence here does not mean that my issues have been solved 100 percent but I am of the believe that we have a leader in the party who is doing everything possible to see that the problems that we have that led to a situation of revolt against the system of iniquity and injustice are resolved.

    “So I am here because I believe in the leadership of the party and I believe also in the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari and I’m also of the believe that there is no issue that we cannot solve as human beings, as men of conscience and conviction,” he said.

    Also speaking yesterday at the APC secretariat after a meeting with Oshiomhole, Sani: .“We are confident that the new leadership of the party has the capacity to address these injustices.

    “In the words of Frantz Fanon, ‘We revolt because we cannot breathe’. So we revolted against the party because it is suffocating us. Now we have a new surgeon who is doing everything possible to put it back on track.

    “That is why we give him the benefit of doubt that the problem can be solved.

    Asked if he was still in the APC, Sani said said“If I am here, I am an APC member. If I am not an APC member, you will not see me at the party’s national secretariat”

  • APC will remain focused – Oshiomhole

    Despite the crisis that engulfed the All Progressives Congress (APC) earlier in the week, the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, said on Wednesday night the party would remain focused on the task of providing good governance to Nigerians.

    At least 14 senators had on Tuesday decamped from the APC to other political parties.

    Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of a meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and APC Senators at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Oshiomhole said the meeting was held at the instance of the senators, who wanted to show their solidarity for the President and his administration.

    He said: “The senators have come in huge numbers to prove that the APC remains the party with the largest number of senators as well as members in the House of Representatives. Also to prove that we still have what it takes to continue to provide good governance for Nigeria.

    “We have agreed that going forward, the APC cannot be intimidated, the government will not be intimidated or distracted. We remain focused and committed to addressing the critical challenges that confront our country, namely security, economy and fight against corruption.

    “On all three, the President is consistent and determined and the senators have come to reassure him of their full backing on these three core commitments which we have made to the Nigerian people and for me as party Chairman, we are very excited.”

    According to him, the legislators that defected on Tuesday were victims of misinformation.

    He said some of them would retrace their steps and come back to the APC.

    The Majority Leader in the Senate, Ahmed Lawan,  who led the APC Senators to the Presidential Villa, said they were in the State House to pay courtesy call on President Buhari and also give him details of what transpired at the Senate on Tuesday.

    He said: “We have come to pay a courtesy call on our leader, the President of this country and then inform him about what happened yesterday (Tuesday) in the Senate and indeed the National Assembly; the defection by some of our colleagues from the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party and various political parties. We informed the President on how we stand in the Senate.

     

    “As at today, the APC caucus in the Senate is 53 in number, followed by the largest minority party the PDP with 48 Senators and then the ADC with two Senators, APGA has two Senators. We have two vacant seats which were occupied by APC Senators who are late now.”

     

  • Defections from APC good riddance, says Oshiomhole

    All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman Adams Oshiomhole said that the defection of some Senators and House of Representatives members from the party was better for it.

    He spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, the defectors do not believe in the ideals of the APC.

    Besides, said the chairman, he would like to build a solid party, which is not just a vehicle for acquiring political office or personal gain.

    Oshiomhole pointed out that the defectors have no electoral value, stressing that Buhari scored more votes than them in their own constituencies.

    Oshiomhole said: “Well, my attitude is, like I have told you before, as the National Chairman, I am committed to listening to very legitimate grievances and engaging all those who are aggrieved that we can see through their grievances. But I insist that I will not miss  sleep one minute over mercenary activities.

    “I had said and I want to repeat, this business of governance must be driven by men and women of honour. If the only motivation is personal interest, what is in it for me, what I have gained, how many people I have done xyz for, if that is the basis, the earlier those in this business of personal gains, the earlier they return to where they belong the better.

    “This party that I am privileged to chair is not worried at all; we are not disturbed. I am not going to miss my sleep and we will go into the campaign. Check the electoral results, you will find that a lot claimed to have decamped on a good day the vote they got that made them members of the Senate, our president got much more votes in their constituency. So, we are not fooled at all.

    “The thing going on is that you have a lot of so called big masquerades with very little and no electoral value. I have tried my best which I think I needed to do to give people comfort, those who claimed to be aggrieved. But those who have other hidden agenda that are not negotiable, I am not going to be able to appease anyone who expects x-level of return and the system is not delivering it, in terms of personal return. I can’t solve that.

    “But those who felt that in terms of within the management of the party they have issues, those ones are on the table it can be dealt with. But those who have issues under the table they are beyond me.”

    The party chief went on:

    “But let me assure you, I am so happy  that over time that water will find its level. Because, if you remember what I said the day I formally declared my interest to contest, I had said, to be a progressive party means we must be clear that it cannot be a party for everyone. We have to be sure that you subscribe to the values and ideals of a progressive party.  If indeed you belong to the extreme right, and you mistakenly find yourself in a progressive party, obviously that is not where you belong.

    “As soon as you realise that you can’t adjust to the requirement of progressive, which is people driven, people based, people oriented and you choose to return to the right wing where you know what the name of the game was, share the money, it is your choice.

    “But, I need to remind you, I am not a poor student of struggle. I am not a professor of struggle; I am a product of struggle, I know what I am talking about. Very soon Nigerians will go to the polls and we will see who will deliver what in his constituency.”

    On the implication of the defection, he said: “No no no. The business of the Senate or the National Assembly is not to legislate for the good governance of APC; it is to legislate for the good governance of Nigeria.

    “If people have chosen that it is more politically convenient to suspend the process of legislation ahead of time because it is not convenient for their political interests and choose to insubordinate the Nigerian national interest for that purpose, it is their choice. If there are implications, it is for the a Nigerian nation, not for APC.

    Speaking on the siege to the residences of Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, Oshiomhole said it was a security matter that he could not comment on.

    He said: “When you are dealing with law and order issues, I am not going to stand here and make comment on the basis of your own speculations. I need to have the details.

    “I am not into security apparatus, I do not understand how they operate but you also don’t want to accuse me of obstruction of justice, which a democracy require.

    “So I am going to limit myself to my brief, namely issues that affect membership and the running of the APC. Just to reassure you, I am happy. I have made this point long ago that with time, Nigerians will really have to be able to say, this is what this party stands for, this is what the other party stands for.”

     

    “This is a thing that in the morning you will have breakfast with me, in the afternoon you are having lunch with python and in the evening you are having sugarcane with some other forces, I think in the interest of our nation we need to simplify these issues before the electorate. Because, the confusion is that you have coalition of people whose ideas are not compatible.”

    Oshiomhole added: “To be very honest with you, it is better you formalise where you belong and be properly identified by your father’s name than purporting to bear my name and you are working for my opponent.

    “Every observer, particularly the elite core of the Nigerian media that is represented in the State House, you know that if there has been opposition to this APC government, that opposition has come within he ranks of members of the APC, some in the National Assembly.

    “I mean, how can we be in majority, for example, and we use that majority to elect opposition to take the number two slot in our own party. How could we have been in the majority and the President makes nominations and those nominations are lying on the floor of the Senate and the Senate will not confirm those nominations.  Even if that Senate was formally led by opposition, the issue will be much more clearer but there have become much more complicated when those refusing to confirm the nominees purport to be members of our party. The earlier everybody properly identified where he belongs, in my view, this is it.”

    “It is not in anybody’s interest, certainly not in the National interest that we continue to patch this democracy in a way that birds that are incompatible find itself. The point I have been trying to make is that we need to build a political that goes beyond the platform for election. So if you find that you can’t win because there is body in your constituency in the same party then you jump to other party so that you can win. And once the election is over we wait for the next four years.

    “It will not be worth my while to preside over a national party that is simply an electoral platform.” he said

    On the President’s reaction to the new development, Oshiomhole said: “Ah! You know the President’s spokespersons, talk to them.”

  • Group urges Oshiomhole to sanction erring party members

    The Kwara Change Initiative (KCI) has urged National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adams Oshiomhole to sanction erring members.

    The group admonished Oshiomhole to live up to the expectation of his followers and admirers by being a man of little words but more action.

    The group spoke in Ilorin after assessing the political developments in Kwara State, expressing surprise with “the way the APC leadership has been looking away on issues of discipline and loyalty to the party”.

    The Organising Secretary, Olayemi Mohammed, argued that political parties have a great role to play as Nigeria marches to consolidate its democracy and respect for democratic tenets in recourse to the Constitution.

    He said: “The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, is bringing with him a credential that presents him as a man ready for the job. He needs to convince Nigerians that he is ready to match words with action. As the man presiding over a ruling party, his stance on discipline will go a long way to whip erring members to line.

    “Oshiomhole must have been told that Kawu Baraje, a member of his party about a fortnight ago, attended a meeting of coalition of political parties, there and then he announced his return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    “The APC chairman must have watched the video where Isiaka Oniwa, an APC chairman in Kwara State announced the party’s funeral and called out a crowd to mourn. This was done after the three Senatorial chairmen requested their leader, Senator Bukola Saraki, to “kindly evacuate them from your sinking party” and the trio have traversed Kwara informing members that they have left APC.

    “With this plethora of sins hanging on Bukola Saraki and his followers, Oshiomhole must check Article 21 of the party’s constitution to refresh himself of what constitutes an offence in their midst and the prescribed discipline.”

    Mohammed added that it is when Oshiomhole has sufficiently dealt with those individuals that have openly disobeyed the party that he can descend on the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige.

    He insisted that there are more issues with direct bearing on the position of his party on party discipline and supremacy than that of the labour minister which are deliberately carried out to demarket the party.

  • Ngige to Oshiomhole: be guided in your utterances

    •’Don’t misinform Nigerians’

    MINISTER of Labour and Employment Senator Chris Ngige has asked All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole to be versed “in little basic issues” that guide public governance.

    According to the minister, this would enable Oshiomhole to be properly guided in his utterances to avoid unnecessary character assassination and misinformation of the public.

    Ngige, in a statement, said the reports that he appropriated the powers of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) Board in the award of contracts leading to the delay in inaugurating the board of the agency was false and misleading.

    The minister, who was reacting to a widely publicised statement by the APC National Chairman, said neither the minister nor the board of the agency has the power to award contracts since they were not part of the Tenders Board.

    He insisted that the monumental fraud in the agency accounts for why the board of the agency has not been inaugurated.

    The statement reads: “The attention of the Minister of Labour and Employment has been drawn to media reports that his office appropriated the powers of the NSITF Board in the award of contracts, hence the delay in inaugurating the board of the agency.

    “Such a blatant falsehood is either on account of fertile ignorance or outright mischief or both by the originator as well as the peddlers.  It is therefore imperative that the provisions of the Procurement Act 2010, which is clear and unambiguous on the process for the award of contracts be re-emphasised.

    “For clarity purpose, the Ministerial Tenders Board (MTB) for the award of contracts in any ministry is made up of the Permanent Secretary as chairman and his directors, while in the parastatals, the Parastatals Tenders Board consists of the Chief Executive Officer (Director General or Managing Director) and his directors.

    “The minister is not a member and, therefore, does not award contracts. Similarly, members of Board of Directors being not members of the Tenders Board of the parastatals do not also award contracts.”

    It added: “It is, therefore, a stunningly crass ignorance for anyone to claim that part of the reasons for the delay in the inauguration of the board of the NSITF or any parastatal was to enable the minister usurp the role of the board as regards the award of contracts.

    “When the threshold of the award is above a parastatal, such contracts are referred to the MTB for final approval. Such also is the case with the Ministerial Tenders Board threshold which is referred to the Bureau for Public Procurement and from there, to the Council of Ministers called the Federal Executive Council for treatment and ratification.

    “So, in effect, the Federal Executive Council is not a contract awarding body and hence ministers do not award contracts stricto sensu.

    “It is our humble view, therefore, that those in authority should be versed in little basic issues that guide public governance so as to be properly guided in their utterances to avoid unnecessary character assassination and unfortunate misinformation of  the general public.”