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Tag: Oshiomhole

  • Oshiomhole: APC aspirants won’t sell homes to get forms

    Former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has urged elected members of the State Working Committee of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to ensure that persons aspiring to lead do not sell houses to get the nomination forms.

    Oshiomhole, who cautioned against extortion of aspirants, said the new vision was to clean up the system so  those elected would have no excuse about their responsibilities to their constituencies.

    He spoke while addressing elected state executives  in  Edo State.

    Oshiomhole urged them to ensure that the process of electing candidates is not based on ‘cash and carry’ but on competence and ability of the individual to deliver.

    The former governor, who is tipped to replace Chief John Oyegun as national chairman of APC, called on the elected officials to work with their counterpart in the 36 states to return President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

    He said should educate Nigerians on the meaning of the progressives for them to make informed choices.

    According to him, “the last task which I believe that working with you will accomplish is to ensure that the APC continue, working together with other 36 states and FCT to ensure that our President, so far, he is the only one person who has shown interest even though nomination has not closed but I believe that we are all committed to working to ensure that the APC retains the Presidency.

    “That is our inevitable goal. It is our task as party activists across the 192 wards in Edo State to painstakingly explain in our various dialects to our people in our rural areas to understand who dug the holes some of us are still in and the efforts President Mohammadu Buhari is making to gradually pull them out of that holes to the surface and begin to push them upward to that level in which every Nigerian will have the basis to say I am a proud Nigerian”

    “The first is to project a completely new image of the APC to the Nigeria people and to spend some time in the very near future, to deepen our individual understanding of the enhance of the word, progressive because it is not just a name because the All Progressives Congress, the word progressives was to make a distinction of what we represent and what the other party represent.

    “Whereas the PDP are known for share the money our own slogan is APC wok for the people. We must work for the people. We must be pro-people, we must be people driven and we must be people centered political party.”

    “On the basis of social democracy, there are things that other people can do but we must not do and as we move on, we want to get to a level that the average school child, at least by the time he or she gets to the secondary school level, he can understand why APC is different from PDP by deepening their understanding by what we stand for.

     

     

     

  • Oshiomhole frets noisily in the wings

    IF anyone was capable of creating the unusual situation of figuratively and incrementally burying the national chairman of a political party alive, and supplanting him to widespread acclaim, it had to be the spirited former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole. Weeks before he published his 29-paragraph campaign treatise, and many weeks after he received unequivocal public endorsement from President Muhammadu Buhari, the former governor began to act, speak, and breathe like he had already assumed the chairmanship of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). On the other hand, the reigning chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, disembowelled by a fierce gale of opposition from within the party, and particularly from the presidency, had also begun to speak more softly, warily, detachedly and almost totally dispiritedly. It was clear to every political observer that the sceptre of authority had left him, and it was only a shadow of himself that saw to the organisation and execution of the party’s rancorous congresses in the past three weeks or so.

    It will now take the equivalence of a force majeure to deny Mr Oshiomhole the prized position of APC chairman. By June 23, except the earth shifts from its orbit, the former Edo State governor will be crowned chairman. He looks forward to it excitedly; and most APC leaders anxiously wait for that day. They see him as the deus ex machina to fix all of the party’s failings and fault lines. If it requires him defying the force of gravity, Mr Oshiomhole will do so in order to take the position and prove that he can do wonders with it. He has in fact assured many of the party’s querulous members and leaders that once he assumes office, the discord in the party and their complaints will be resolved.

    Mr Oshiomhole had, according to some sources, expected that he would benefit from an anticipated cabinet reshuffle soon after the president returned from his extended medical trip to the United Kingdom last year. What he and others didn’t know is that the president is not only ideologically conservative, he is also conservative about persons around him. The expected cabinet reshuffle has still not taken place, and will probably not take place until after the elections. Mr Oshiomhole is therefore fortunate to have found himself the fitting job of APC chairman. He had rhapsodised the president’s qualities on the sidelines for months, apparently without being prompted, but of course with an eye on the ultimate party prize or a cabinet position; he will now robustly compose his dithyrambs with more verve, legitimacy and freedom. As a born unionist, a quality he continues to remind everyone about, he will doubtless see himself born for this special purpose. He pontificates on the art of dealmaking; he has even now begun to speak of the APC ideologically, a party he says comprises the country’s leading social democrats, complete with definitions of what he means by social democracy.

    For a brief moment two Saturdays ago, it seemed as if the acrimony observed during the party’s congresses would stymie the convention. The chances of that happening now, APC members agree in unison, are not only remote, it is pure heresy. The convention will be held, regardless of any declaration of force majeure, Mr Odigie-Oyegun will kiss the throne goodbye, and Mr Oshiomhole will be crowned. Once the crown settles around his ears, he will leap and prance and pontificate. He will cause excitement inside and outside the party, and woe betide the party’s official spokesman who will not yield ground, for Mr Oshiomhole will speak with flourish, sometimes even didactically, on behalf of the party. Where Mr Odgie-Oyegun kept sepulchral silence on many contentious party issues, Mr Oshiomhole will shout from the rooftops, cocksure of everything. Without doubt, both the APC and the country are in for a swell time.

    Had he been asked or made to wait for one appointment or the other until after President Buhari probably wins re-election, a prospect only God can determine, Mr Oshiomhole would have had to consent with much trepidation. Now 66 years old, twice elected governor, famous for trade unionism, and eager for a new assignment, the former governor must be glad that he will be busy in the coming months presiding over a contentious party in an election year, and avoiding the damning fate of mummifying in the anonymous vacuum to which many of his former colleague governors are groaning. He has spoken elegantly about resuscitating the party’s data base, “repositioning the party for a united Nigeria” — whatever that means — promoting internal democracy, inspiring party supremacy in the classical sense, and instituting internal conflict management mechanism. In short, Mr Oshiomhole has an impressive manifesto to recommend to party faithful. But even if he does not have, the chairmanship had since late last year been reserved for a man of his peculiar talents.

    But he will need more than a beautiful manifesto in a party whose fault lines have ossified, whose president embraces a narrow form of pragmatism, whose direction is determined by a few shadowy power oligarchs, and which has absolutely no deep and abiding understanding of democracy or the role of the parliament. Perhaps, Mr Oshiomhole is luckier than anyone thinks. The battles in his party are nearing a horrifying and crunching denouement, with many of the party’s combatants, including the president himself against the parliament, Nasir el-Rufai against the state’s senators, Rochas Okorocha against Imo’s inventive and rambunctious rebels, etc. The outcomes may not promote and entrench democracy, but who has really ever heard the party pontificate on democracy or draw a line between private political goals and noble, patriotic sentiments?

  • OSHIOMHOLE: Activist ex-governor back on the beat

    Former governor and trade unionist Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole is no stranger to the mucky waters of politics. Oshiomhole who governed Edo State between November 2008 and November 2016 is very much familiar with the act of negotiation, persuasion, as well as that of building a consensus; attributes that are valuable in politics. His recent declaration for the chairmanship of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been well received so far. If he gets the job, he would be returning to political limelight, which he had left temporarily, after completing his eight-year tenure as governor, writes Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI

    FORMER Governor Adams Oshiomhole may well be on his way to being elected as the new National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s forthcoming national convention on June 23. The former Edo State governor appears to be the bookmakers’ favourite for the job. Observers say it would be in the interest of the ruling party to have a man of Oshiomhole’s deportment leading the onslaught against the opposition, as it prepares for what may turn out to be a tough re-election battle in next year’s general elections. His recent declaration of intention to contest for the chairmanship was widely embraced by various stakeholders in the APC, which is currently threatened by intra-party squabbles, because it is believed that the leadership style of the labour leader-turned politician would impact positively on the party, if he eventually emerges as its chairman. His trademark mass appeal is one of the many reasons that suggest the party is poised for an era of inclusiveness. It is for that reason that the declaration ceremony attracted so much attention; because it was largely perceived as a sign of good things to come for the political platform.

    Oshiomhole’s chances of clinching the job are bright. There is no other serious contender. Besides, his aspiration has the backing of virtually all those that matter in the party. His declaration, which took place at the Transcorp Hotel, Abuja, was a rallying point for party chieftains, who trooped to the venue to identify with his vision. He is also believed to enjoy the backing of President Muhammadu Buhari. Indeed, the former Edo State governor is viewed in the president’s camp as a dogged fighter and a game changer, in contrast to Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the current chairman who has the temperament of a bureaucrat. Oshiomhole who was born on April 4, 1952, at Iyamho, near Auchi, Edo State, appears to have a good grasp of the challenges facing the party and how to tackle them. A former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), he is no stranger to talking his way into the hearts and minds of ordinary people. Indeed, the ability to string words together with ease served him well as a trade unionist. He employs the same skill as a politician to mobilise people at the grassroots.

    As a dogged fighter, he would be a useful ally for a party preparing for a crucial election campaign. This much he indicated during his declaration. His words: “The skill to negotiate, the skill to persuade, the skill to make consensus, the skill to do give-and-take, the skill to talk through a process that will lead to win-win solutions rather than the winners and the losers, those are the tools I have deployed as a branch union leader, becoming the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).” The chairmanship aspirant who was dressed in his trademark khaki shirt and trousers spelt out what he would do, if he gets the job. He said: “It is my hope that if and when elected as National Chairman of the party, we will reposition and re-organise the party based on its philosophy of social democracy, which basically means peopleoriented, membership driven and mass based political organisation.

    “For me, it is fundamental to be able to have a membership driven party grounded at the grassroots. Accordingly, it is important that we must ensure that we have an authentic and verifiable membership register that can be checked and verified by members and even non-members of the party. “It is, therefore, an irreducible minimum obligation on the part of the party to have a credible membership register that cannot be altered at the whims and caprices of any one, including the leadership of the party… It will also create a credible platform for conducting direct primaries which will afford every member of the party to participate in the party primaries at all levels, rather than the current situation of indirect, delegate election which is susceptible to manipulation, abuse and corruption by desperate aspirants at all levels.” Oshiomhole said his leadership will ensure that members of the APC are given a robust sense of ownership and control. He added: “This would enable the party to adopt a policy of bottomup, as opposed to top-down approach to party administration process.

    The beauty of this is that members of our party will own the party and will be ready to work to ensure the success of the party at all levels and at all times.” He also promised to promote internal democracy, so that it would be seen to operate on the basis of its constitution and other laws of the federation, as they relate to the formation and administration of political parties. Stressing the need to make the party more formidable and closer to the people, the chairmanship aspirant said his leadership will ensure that conventions are held regularly to discuss development, governance and policy issues. He said: “The overall objective will be to create platforms for setting national development agenda that will focus on the issues that affect the people of Nigeria on the front burner. In my view, the absence of such credible and organised platforms to interrogate and debate matters of national importance has created a void for ethnic champions, religious bigots and other elements with different motives, and idle individuals to promote hate speeches and even in some cases beat the drums of disunity.”

    Edo State APC Chairman, Mr. Anslem Ojezua, captured what qualifies Oshiomhole very succinctly at a caucus meeting in Benin City, the Edo State capital, recently to endorse the former governor’s chairmanship bid. Speaking at the meeting, which was presided over by Governor Godwin Obaseki, Ojezua said the party needs his strong leadership qualities at this point in time. His words: “At this critical time of the development of our party we needed to have a very strong party leadership that will lead us to victory. As you know, at this point in time, we require a leadership that the people of Nigeria can relate to. A leadership that people trust; a leadership that can represent Mr. President in his presence and on his behalf and a leadership that is strong enough to instill confidence and discipline among the rank and file. “We think that there is no other person at this time that can provide all these qualities than Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

    We believe he is eminently qualified and to underscore that fact, the motion was carried unanimously; there is no one dissenting voice. I believe in the next few days there will be more of such as we move on emanating from Edo State. “Let me also be a bit more specific. I think we are going to have a more efficient party administration in terms of the services they render and in terms of financial transparency. I think that with the political sagacity by which we ran the last election here, we need to have that kind of experience and leadership at the national level in the forthcoming election which you and I agree will certainly not be easy.

    “It is very easy to criticise when you are in opposition, but when you have been in government for a period then you need a party leadership that can also be a spokesman; that can speak to the issues in a manner that people can understand.” Indeed, former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has acknowledged that the emergence of Oshiomhole as APC National Chairman would be a boost for the party. Fani-Kayode who served as the Director of Media and Publicity for the Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation in the last general elections described the purported endorsement of the former Edo State governor for the job as formidable. His words: “I sincerely hope that my colleagues in the opposition will appreciate the implications if Adams Oshiomole is elected National Chairman of the APC at their coming convention. Oshiomhole is no soft touch. I know him well: he is a formidable and dangerous adversary.

    “With Lai Mohammed, Femi Adesina, Shehu Garba, Bolaji Abdullahi, Rotimi Amaechi and now Festus Keyamo speaking for Buhari in 2019, the election will be a vicious and dirty fight. This is a strong line up. We must get our acts together and be ready to fight them fire for fire.” But, as many observers argue, Oshiomhole is not a magician and his emergence would not solve all the problems of the APC. For instance, his relationship with governors elected on the party’s platform is likely to determine, to a large extent, how far he would go in his bid to sanitise the running of the party, if he eventually gets the job. In this regard, Oshiomhole is not going to work alone; he would require the cooperation and support of other members of the National Working Committee (NWC), who are likely to be nominated by their state governors. It is believed, however, that the activist ex-governor has the deftness to maintain the required balance and rally critical support.

  • Reps APC caucus endorses Oshiomhole for party chairmanship

    •nPDP ultimatum ‘ll be addressed, says ex-governor

    MEMBERS of Caucus of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives have endorsed  former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s bid  to be the party’s chairman.

    House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila, while answering questions from reporters after a two-hour closed door meeting with Oshiomhole yesterday, said members were satisfied that the former governor has the capacity to steer the ship of the party successfully.

    His words: “We came, he discussed with us for over two hours, and when we sit together for over two hours, a lot of things must have been accomplished.

    “He comes with a rich pedigree in administration and governance and he has laid some of his programmes on the table for us.

    “We had a very serious heart-to-heart discussion and we were all on the same page.

    “Like he said he came to solicit for our support and the result of that solicitation is, as a caucus of APC in the House of Representatives, we believe in him and according to what we call in political lingo, we more or less have endorsed him  for the position of the chairman of the party.”

    On his own part, the party chairmanship candidate said he had crafted strategies to take the party to the next level.

    He said having met with the leadership and members of the APC, Oshiomhole explained that he shared his intention to contest for the office of the chairman and to solicit for their support.

    “As you know, our party is democratic and the chairmanship office is not by appointment but by election and members of the House caucus are automatic delegates of the Congress, where the election will take place.

    “I also shared with them my vision and thoughts on variety of issues and how I hope to address those issues as they affect the running of our party and the relationship between the party and members of the caucus, as it affects the responsibility of the party to interact with the executive elected on the platform of the party at both the national and state levels – that is the National and state Assemblies.

    “Of course, it’s not a secret that there are a couple of issues right now affecting our party in various states. We  exchanged views as to how these issues can be resolved and I have no doubt that once we have a democratic organisation, there is bound to be contestation, agreements and disagreements.

    “I think the challenge of leadership, which I believe I am determined to provide, is to be able to find courage and good heart to listen and to proactively intervene and to help people who have issues to find common ground to coexist.

    On the ultimatum and conditions given the party by the New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) he said it shows that they were still interested in the APC and that the party would work out a modality to accommodate dissenting voices

    He assured party faithful that it was a challenge that would be surmounted by the party, “I don’t think it’s a big issue, some people have expressed discontent over one thing or the other.

    “I think, from my own background, when people wrote to you to say we have issues, we want you to address these issues, it means the issues are negotiable, they are ready to discuss, they have an open mind.

    “If they are not ready to discuss, then there will be no point issuing any so called ultimatum,” he said.

    Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who was at the question and answer session, only moderated without adding to what was said by the two speakers.

     

  • Remembering Akhigbe’s words on Oshiomhole

    Some 32 years ago, my departed friend and Chief of General Staff during the transitional government of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Admiral Okhai Mike Akhigbe sought my help in his crusade to push the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) presidential aspiration of Adams Oshiomhole.

    Akhigbe was a Naval Captain and the military governor of Lagos State at the time.

    The history of trade unionism in Nigeria especially during the military interregnum is replete with constant antagonism between labour and the various military governments of the time. Most of that time, strong arm tactics were employed by the jack-boot khaki men in their repressive measures against trade unionists across the land.

    My curiosity was therefore fired that a soldier could be rooting for any trade unionist to become the arrowhead of trade union movement in Nigeria. Was he assigned to recruit a lily-livered person who would turn a blind-eye to the anti-workers measures of the military high command of General Ibrahim Babangida? Or was he about to carry out an experiment, using labour as a plank? So many thoughts welled up inside me but I remember vividly, as if it were yesterday, that Admiral Akhigbe regaled me with the fine stuff of the academic brilliance and labour activism of the then nationally-unknown guy he affectionately called Oshi-o-mho-le, with an emphasis that borders on fanaticism.

    Akhigbe spoke of Adams Oshiomhole in the superlatives; how focussed and dynamic he was, and how cerebral the young man he was touting was. And how confident he was that Adams would make a difference in the labour movement. Of course because of my intimate knowledge of Mike Akhigbe as himself a focussed and part of the intelligentsia in the military, I found him convincing; which was why it was convenient to talk to our other friends in the media that Oshiomhole was worth investing our media expertise on.

    On his emergence as president of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Adams Oshiomhole lived up to his rating by his proving that he was an undiscovered expert in modern and progressive trade unionism. He was as militant as he was meticulous in driving the new labour movement. And his impeccable command of English language and oratorical skills are an uncommon plus in the history of trade unionism in the modern era.

    When he sought and won election to be governor of Edo State, many dismissed him as more of a critic than a doer but those of us who had encountered him when he was being midwifed by his many friends, one of which was Okhai Akhigbe, knew the guy was primed to achieve exploits. Oshiomhole went into government against formidable foes and odds. For example, Sir Gabriel Igbinedion is a man of means. He is gargantuan in stature as he is in material possessions, much of which he deployed to getting his son elected as a governor of the same Edo State before the emergence of Oshiomhole.

    When he set down to work from his  Benin government house base, his political adversaries bared their fangs and moved to demolish him but diminutive and doughty ‘aluta governor’ unveiled his own wizardry and started uprooting all obstacles in his governance path, be they human,  minerals and vegetable, in his remodelling of Edo State. I never visited Benin city throughout Oshiomhole’s governorship stint but those who did, as well as residents in the state, attested to his achievements in office, and likened his tenure to Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia’s time in the defunct Bendel State.

    I have not read anywhere that Adams Oshiomhole was a fluke in government; instead he was accorded a rousing reception at his exit as governor. The acclaim was deafening and applauded in Edo up to Abuja that I thought he would be a federal minister by now. Signalling now that he wants to succeed a fellow Edo governor before him as national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), I have no doubt that he will make a huge difference.

    How I wish Okhai Mike Akhigbe were alive today. If he’s not in APC, he would have decamped to come and cast his vote for Adams Oshiomhole, the odds-on favourite for the top job, outside of the presidency. I’m staying tuned to seeing the transformation of President (of NLC) to the Chairman (of APC); it promises to be a spectacle!

  • Things can be better, says Oshiomhole

    Former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday joined the race for All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, with a message to party members that he would not be anybody’s poodle.

    Things can be better, Oshiomhole said.

    The former Labour leader, who announced his plan in Abuja, said he was not reluctantly contesting the position because anybody wanted him to do that but he felt that he could add value to the party and to deepening democracy.

    The former Labour leader praised the efforts put into building the party by the founding chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, as well as the current national chairman, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun, saying history will speak positively about them and their contribution to democracy.

    Oshiomhole said: “I want to assure the leaders of the party that I am clear as to what my responsibilities will be, if elected the national chairman of the party. I want to be of help. I want to be of use to those who need it. But I am not capable of being used.

    “There is so much suspicion in our political space. People fight over things they are not even sure what the details are. They are fueled and sustained by suspicion. The way to remove suspicion is to put on the table what is on the table and leave it under the table there until it comes to the top of the table. I want to assure you that I believe that with a new leadership of the APC, and with our president, there will be time to engage in all those contestations.

    “I want to say that what leaders say in gathering like this and the what they do while in office can be explained by the gap that exists between the thought of  the leader or speaker and what the speech writer thinks he should say..

    “My task here today is very simple and that is to announce formally my intention to contest, by the special grace of God, the office of the national chairman of the governing party in Nigeria today, the All Progressives Congress. I thought it is important that I make this formal announcement even though this is just one of those public secrets.

    “Somehow, my candidate has been discussed both in the print and electronic media, in beer parlors and business houses. I guess in every gathering of men and women who are concerned about our democracy, my possible candidature had become an issue for conversation. This is because of the way this whole project has evolved.

    “This is not to suggest that I am a reluctant candidate because I am not. I am going for it because I think I can add values. I think, as President Obama said, you don’t seek changes because things are bad. You do so because anything you do can just be better. Whoever and however we can make things better, I think it is worth the while.

    “It is on that basis that I offer myself to contest the office of the national chairman of our great party.

    “I want to appreciate the efforts and laudable struggle that was invested in this party by the founding leaders of the party. I acknowledge the solid foundation that was laid by the first interim chairman of this party, Chief Bisi Akande and his team who worked tirelessly against all obstacle, including those deliberately placed on our ways by the former government who did everything possible to ensure that the historic merger did not succeed.

    “For the first time in the history of our country, four and half political parties came together to form party to contest election at all levels, including the Presidential election and by the grace of God and the Nigerian people, my party won the election.

    “I  want to also appreciate the efforts of the  current leadership under the leadership of Chief John Odigie Oyegun. I want to place on record my gratitude for the leadership he has provided. No matter what anybody wants to say, he chaired the party to victory in the 2015 election and history will record that for him along side other laudable things he has done to keep our party afloat until this time.

    “Having acknowledge that we have a sitting chairman, why am I seeking to contest the same office? I am seeking to contest the same office based on the principle that in a digital world, every thing and anything can get better.

    “I am contesting not because I think there is a leadership failure. I am contesting because as it is written in our constitution, democracy work better, when from time to time, new blood, new ideas and new people hungry to make a difference  are given the opportunity to build on the foundation that those in office has laid.

    “Our party was registered on the 13th July, 2013 and we have moved on and made substantial progress since then. The progressives in the APC was not chosen as a mere name. It was consciously chosen to have a party that is different from the other political parties especially the PDP.

    “It was founded on the basis of social democracy as a party that is committed to deepening democracy, driven by its members and committed to providing the platform for a style of government that is pro people. It seek to depart from the old order to a new order. That is why our motto was consciously chosen as Change.

    “Having committed ourselves to building a party, there are a couple of things that I believe we must continue to pay attention to as members of the APC.”

    He said as a party, the APC tried to build a data base of members which was unfortunately destroyed by the Jonathan administration through the agents of government in November 2014.

    He said his task was not to lament the destruction of the data centre, because even though they destroyed the membership data, they failed to destroy the will and determination of the Nigerian people and the leaders of the APC to chase the Jonathan government out of office.

    According to him, the challenge of the new leadership of the APC is to rebuild a credible membership register and sustain the tradition of continuously registering members into the fold of the party and integrating them into the party.

    “Politics is not just about election. It is about ensuring that those elected keep faith with the promise that we made as a party to the electorate and I believe that we must create a platform for party members to interrogate and interact with those they have elected. This includes creating a platform for those elected on the platform of our party to engage the party leadership on what he is doing with the mandate.

    “We have a duty as a political party to remind those elected on our party platform to keep faith with our party manifesto, the ideology that binds us together and encourage the culture and tradition of healthy debate and even contestation in case of policy choices and options.

    “In this country and elsewhere, people talk about party supremacy. I believe that the fact that we submit ourselves as members of a political party means that we have agreed subject to our rules to do business in a manner agreed to by all. But we cannot speak of party supremacy when party organs are not functioning.

    “For the purpose of clarity, I want to say that if, by the grace of God, using the leaders of our party  to elect me as the next chairman of the party, people must be able to distinguish between my views on issues and the position of the party.

    He said further that when people are called for a meeting and things are agreed upon, every member of the party should be able to obey such a decision because they are the views of the party agreed upon by all.

    “When we talk about dividends of democracy, we talk as if dictators don’t have dividends. Dictators can build bridges. The third mainland bridge was not built by politicians, but the thing that distinguishes the two is that in the affairs of men, to do the right thing is important and who is involved in the decision of what is right is much more important.

    “It is that sense of inclusiveness and participation that makes democracy separate from dictatorship. Therefore, if elected, I will like to be able to encourage every member and leaders of the party  to imbibe the spirit of debate, contestation and all the choices available to us because there is always more than one way to get things done. So that whatever is done, there is a sense of collective ownership. If we sustain this culture of debate, then issues of party supremacy will not be a contestation and nobody will then issue himself as being above the party.

    Imo state Governor Rochas Okorocha said: “Oshiomole’s coming in as national chairman of APC is bad news to other political parties. Adams Oshiomole is a dogged fighter ,a man who can face challenges and i have no doubt that you will strengthen APC when elected.

    “Today, our party is going through some challenges and I must commend those who helped fight for this party even before this time, they have done well but the fight ahead, the challenges ahead are greater and we need great men like Adams Oshiomole t do this job.  For me particularly, Adams will strengthen APC in soiuth south and south east.

    “Buhari is not just a president,Buhari is a leader. All why we are supporting Adams Oshiomole, is to see that strong party chairman that will be behind him.

    At he ceremony were Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, his Deputy Phillip Shuaibu, Edo State APC Chairman Anslem Ojezia, National Vice Chairman, Southsouth  APC Hilliard Eta, former Bayelsa State Governor Timiprieye Silva,  Edo State House Speaker Kabiru Adjoto, Senate Deputy Whip Francis Alimikhena, Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters Senator Ita Enang, Senator Magnus Abe, John Apkanuduedehe, Hon. James Faleke, NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, former Edo State Deputy Governor Lucky Imasuen, NDDCManaging Director Nsima Ekere, Senator Domingo Obende, former Minister of Labour Emeka Wogu, Chief Great Ogboru, Parry Iriase, Gen. Lawrence Onoja, Senator Ovie Ojo-Agege, Saidu Njidah, Eseme Eyibo, Bassey Essien, Bello Kumo, Louis Odion, Briamoh Abbas, Ortega Emehor, Cairo Ojuogoh, Senator Uche Ekwenife, Ostia Okechukwu, Prof. Julius Ihonvhare, Comrade Issa Aremu, Hon, Uchena Ekwe, Comrade Frank Kokori, Hon. Johnson Oghuma, Pius Etokhana, Hon, Gabriel Kolawole, Chief Francis Inegbenekhi, Usman Shagadi, Senator Abba Aji, Senator Jonathan Zwingina and Senator Abubakar Gada.

  • Oshiomhole declares for APC chair

    Former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, on Thursday joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmanship race with a message to party members that he would not be used by anybody to fulfill political agenda.

    Oshiomhole, who made a formal declaration for the chairmanship seat in Abuja, said he would add value to the party and help deepen the nation’s democracy.

    He commended the efforts put into building the party by its founding chairman, Chief Bisi Akande and the current national chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, saying history would be very kind to them and their contribution to the nation’s democracy.

    The ex-governor said: “I want to assure the leaders of the party that I am clear as to what my responsibilities will be if elected the national chairman of the party. I want to be of help. I want to be of use to those who need it. But I am not capable of being used.

    “There is so much suspicion in our political space. People fight over things they are not even sure what the details are. They are fueled and sustained by suspicion. The way to remove suspicion is to put on the table what is on the table and leave it under the table there until it comes to the top of the table. I want to assure you that I believe that with a new leadership of the APC and with our president, there will be time to engage in all those contestations.

    “My task here today is very simple and that is to announce formally my intention to contest by the special grace of God, the office of the national chairman of the governing party in Nigeria today, the All Progressives Congress. I thought it is important that I make this formal announcement even though this is just one of those public secrets.

    “Somehow, my candidate has been discussed both in the print and electronic media, in beer parlors and business houses. I guess in every gathering of men and women who are concerned about our democracy, my possible candidature had become an issue for conversation. This is because of the way the whole project has evolved.”

     

  • Odigie-Oyegun, Oshiomhole and APC’s future

    BY the time he was through riding the emotional roller coaster of the past few weeks, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun, had all but perished the idea of cobbling up a formidable coalition to retain his position as party boss. The deciding factor was President Muhammadu Buhari’s definitive statement indicating support for the younger and more agile former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole. Between January and March, it had seemed like it would take a herculean effort to unhorse the adamant party chairman. He had the support and encouragement of most of the party’s governors, many of whom seethed in revolt against what they termed the obtruding influence of some national leaders of the APC. Party executives at all levels also appeared to vote for continuity, arguing with engaging self-centeredness that stability was paramount in what to them is an election year. The ding-dong battle of wills and wits, much of it based on legal cum electoral sophistry, continued in favour of Mr Odigie-Oyegun until the vacillating president finally put his foot down.

    Now, with Mr Oshiomhole certain to enjoy coronation at the party’s national convention, probably sometime in June, Mr Odigie-Oyegun’s fate seems sealed, except he can make the heavens fall. But neither he nor any of the voluble governors who had sworn to stand by him through thick and thin has the appetite to take on the president. They had all hoped to sway the president by the massive support shown their nervous chairman, and had even made a show of opposing the president by citing many constitutional and legal provisions in support of their stand. As persuasive as the provisions were, and as copious and convincing as the pro-Odigie-Oyegun forces were, they all came a cropper once the president took a stand.

    In fact, when the ding-dong was still going on, the party chairman had made cynical allusions to the futility of the media campaign engineered against his person, obviously referring to this newspaper. But the smug was soon wiped off his face when the president, weighing his chances in the coming polls, and perhaps convinced that the legal ground on which the discordant options the party was inclined to embrace was wafer thin, found it enormously attractive to repudiate Mr Odigie-Oyegun and promote Mr Oshiomhole’s candidature. Given the age of the chairman, not to say his ineffectiveness in partisan politics at the local level and his inability to offer the party the inspiring leadership needed to overwhelm the opposition, he will probably retire into the background once this is all over. He fought a bold and courageous tenure elongation fight to retain his office for an extended period — or at least till after the next general elections — but in the end, the cards were heavily stacked against him.

    If Mr Odigie-Oyegun can somehow manage to efficiently organise the May-June party congresses and convention with the aplomb he claims to possess, the party might experience some lift, some renewal, some energy, even some added cohesion. But nothing is cast in granite. Many safe assumptions can still go wrong if the president does not continue to put his foot down as severely as he has done lately. The chairman’s supporters may have been cajoled into repudiating their previous objectives of either temporary tenure elongation or even four additional years for the party’s executives, but nothing suggests that their bitterness has abated, or that they have become resigned to admitting defeat or supporting the new officials who will be elected at the coming congresses and convention. In fact, they will now probably be more determined to ensure that the tendency represented by Mr Odigi-Oyegun should fill vacant positions and influence the thinking of the party in the foreseeable future. They know by instinct that as powerful as the president may be, there is a limit to how widely and how long he can ride roughshod over their feelings or the party.

    The party may at last have been coaxed into some form of peaceful resolution of the crisis ravaging their ranks, a kind of unity they are unaccustomed to, a unity they dare not hope is real or even achievable. However, that peace is unlikely to be more than tentative for reasons party leaders know all too well. The APC, despite its grandstanding and ideals, never seemed structured right from its foundations to unite or to operate as a formidable and enduring party. It is an agglomeration of strange bedfellows, competing ideologies, and frantic and quarrelsome leaders. That they won the last general elections was, among other factors, probably because the former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), expired under its own weight of contradictions and lethargy. Since the APC could not invest itself with the energy and vision needed to crown its electoral effort with permanence and strength, it led to muted but bitter factionalism within the party, a division that is now vented through the fissures among party leaders, cracks which the president has now spread a thin veneer of normality.

    If the APC should assume its problems would be resolved by the exit of the disputatious Mr Odigie-Oyegun and the entry of the frenetic Mr Oshiomhole, they cannot be more mistaken. The current chairman is simply a manifestation of the lack of order and clear structure in the party. It is probably true that had he possessed the neutrality and political acumen needed to anchor the party firmly, both operationally and ideologically, he would have built the party into a formidable machine for electoral conquests as well as provided the balance the party’s ideological vacuum has made frustratingly slow in coming. Ordinarily, a president under the Nigerian constitution has tremendous influence in shaping the integrity and direction of the party. But the reluctance of President Buhari to help shape that direction and integrity in the last three years has partly led to the disarray in the party as APC leaders fight to fill the vacuum.

    Apart from the dissension among party leaders, the young APC needed to make a commanding ideological statement as well as undergird its operations with unambiguous and solid philosophical frameworks. Since the president has remained a proud conservative, and since he has shunned the complexities of envisioning a transcendental philosophical direction for the party, the APC was left without a soul, not to talk of a soul it could call its own. To some extent, the country could tell what the president stands for, as confusing and simplistic and contradictory as these sometimes are, but no one can tell what the party really stands for or is prepared to even die for. Perhaps the 2019 campaigns would help the party forge that identity.

    It is against these yawning partisan lacunae that Mr Oshiomhole is sold by the president and many party leaders and faithful as the deus ex machina to vivify party organisation and activism, a redeemer to extricate the party from the confusion stultifying its vision and identity. There is some sense in sharing this partisan delusion. Mr Oshiomhole has a vibrant labour union background, once ruled Edo State with a fair degree of success, largely has a mind of his own, and possesses the instinct of an accomplished negotiator and dealmaker. But his unionism is mistaken for an ideology, for the former governor is really nothing more than an enthusiastic proponent of pragmatism, a pragmatism the party apparently hopes to profit from when it should really flourish more by the former governor’s inexistent but distinguishing progressivism.

    Though he is more likely to run the party much more firmly and perhaps far better than Mr Odigie-Oyegun, there is, however, nothing in Mr Oshiomhole’s background to indicate that he has the depth and vision required to recast the party’s wobbly foundation. The fundamental problem facing the party is not just its lack of a lofty and sturdy foundation, but the inability of the president himself to imbue the party with anything properly resembling a concise and coherent body of ideas, and his refusal to conceive a leitmotif around which the party’s competing factions could coalesce and draw breath. Given his aggressiveness and can-do spirit, Mr Oshiomhole should be able to make a dent on the problems confronting the party. But he is unlikely to fashion the APC into the inspiring and revolutionary organ needed to make it run as a disciplined political organisation, let alone one that can impose discipline and exert influence on its elected officials.

    Above all, by enabling the president to virtually singlehandedly determine who would be the party’s chairman, the APC may have inadvertently conferred on the president dictatorial powers certain to undermine the party in the long run. The PDP fell on that obsolete sword. If the APC will not discipline itself to find the right balance between its governors, party leaders and the presidency in electing and selecting its officials, especially given the almost total lack of ideological flavour and depth in the party, it is a question of time before they experience the withering rejection that is still causing the PDP so much distress.

  • Buhari, APC governors shop for team to work with Oshiomhole

    •How Buhari sent governors to Oyegun to drop ambition

    The process of assembling a credible and formidable National Working Committee (NWC)  to work with ex-Governor Adams Oshiomhole as the new National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is gathering steam, according to indications yesterday.

    Actively involved in the process are President Muhammadu Buhari, governors elected on the platform of the party and other leaders.

    Buhari, it was gathered, had on Tuesday night sent APC governors to the current Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to prevail on  him  to drop his planned return for a second term.

    The presidency had been jolted by the incident at the South-South APC meeting in Benin where Oyegun loyalists had tried to fight back.

    Well placed party sources said the return of Oyegun for a second term was already foreclosed by Buhari and his strategists.

    Although some governors and members of Buhari’s cabinet who preferred Oyegun had tried to prevail on the President to have a rethink, security reports available to the presidency were described as “overwhelming.”

    The reports were said to have painted the party to be in a “bad state” and would need a fresh breath of life.

    It was gathered that the management of party funds, including difficulty in paying staff salaries and alleged payment of curious rent allowance of between N15million and N8million each to NWC members, was part of the security reports.

    “The President, most APC governors and some leaders of the party have actually foreclosed the return of Oyegun based on some security reports and the need to reshape the party for 2019 poll,” a top source said.

    The structure of the party, he said, is weak at present and unless it is re-energized, it might not be able to tackle the opposition parties and other forces like the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM).

    Besides, the party is detached from most members, leading to crises in many states, he added.

    “What Buhari and these leaders are doing at present is to shop for a good team which will work with Oshiomhole to return APC to the dream of its founding fathers.

    “These leaders are of the opinion that some NWC members should not come back to office because they did not add value in any manner whatsoever to the party, “ he said.

    Consultations are going on between the President and some leaders of the party, especially governors, on how to reshape APC for better, another source said.

    “The President has expressed his preference for Oshiomhole; it is now left to him to sell the candidate to party leaders. I think this is what he is doing at present.

    “So far, the President and other leaders may build consensus on Oshiomhole who appears prepared for the task ahead,” the source, a Presidential Villa insider, said.

    Responding to a question, the source added: “The President has no personal grudges with Oyegun or NWC members but security reports have indicated that the party is in a bad state.

    “We have a party that cannot pay its own bills, including salaries of staff in spite of the resources at its disposal.

    “The state of finance of APC leaves much to be desired if you consider what it generated between 2015 and 2018. There were cases of payment of all manners of allowances including annual rent or accommodation allowance to NWC members ranging from N8million to N15million.”

    The Nation also gathered that Oyegun knew the game was up following Buhari’s pronouncement of his preference for Oshiomhole as the next National Chairman of APC.

    An NWC member who craves anonymity said: “The President went ahead on Tuesday night to send APC governors to Oyegun to drop his second term ambition if he had any.

    “As matter of fact, the rejection of Oshiomhole by the South-South caucus of APC had boosted the re-election aspiration of Oyegun.

    “But when Buhari’s message came, he became more tactical by telling us that he had ‘no intention’ to seek re-election. It is like eating the humble pie.”

    Asked why Oyegun could not brave the odds, the source added: “Do you expect Oyegun to confront the President of the country? It will amount to political suicide.

    “You can even see the governors formerly backing Oyegun singing different tunes based on the mood of Buhari.”

  • Be wary of Oshiomhole, APC chieftain tells Tinubu

    …Oshiomhole is our answer, ex-lawmaker

     

    A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress in Edo State, Mr. Blessing Edigin, has urged Chief Bola Tinubu to be wary of what he termed antics of former Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

    Mr. Edigin said Oshiomhole is capable of dumping his benefactor after assuming power.

    But a member of the zonal Executive Committee of the APC in the South South, Mr Ernest Irieka, said Oshiomhole is the answer to problems of APC

    Edigin who spoke in an interview in Benin City urged Oshiomhole to stop unnecessary plot against Chief John Oyegun.

    He urged the party members to ensure true democracy prevails and Chief Oyegun is returned as national chairman of the party.

    Edigin opined that Oyegun is the best option to sustain peace that is prevalent in the polity.

    His words, “I am not a stranger to Oshiomhole. I was in the forefront of his campaign team in 2007 when he finished his tenure as national president of the Nigerian Labour Congress(NLC) and was gunning for the governorship position in Edo State.

    “He also had the support of many top personalities of the state extraction like the former governor of the state, Chief Lucky Igbinedion; High Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu and several others.

    “As soon as he got into office it was this set of people, his benefactors, that he pounced on first, insulting them at every available opportunity for no just cause.

    “Chief Bola Tinubu should be wary of Oshiomhole he is such a crafty chap that can do anything to dump his benefactors if the need be.

    On his part, Irieka said the South South party leaders jettisoned Chief Oyegun not because of sentiment but the interest of the future of the party which he said was in danger.

    “So I believe that we have a man who has the track record, we know how this man fought the god fathers in Edo. And godfatherism is the problem with Nigerian politics and that is how Edo became strong. Somebody was telling me how N25billion was saved by Oshiomhole while he was governor and that was how the roads in Benin were built. If he was not prudent with money he would not have built it.

    “Now we have such a man and you expect us to waste his talent? No way. And I know that Oshiomhole will not insist that only Edo state remains under the APC, he will want to extend it beyond that, a few of our leaders in the South South have the same desire but the terrain is difficult. The South South is a very difficult region but Oshiomhole fought the PDP cabal which some people who are claiming to be APC leaders in the South South have failed to do in their state.

    “If we don’t now manage the problems here well we are going to run into trouble and that is why we came together to say Oshiomhole is the answer. We are in the government at the Federal level, even some governors in the South South from the opposition party who have seen the need to join us but if they see we are not serious they will not come. So we need a man who is firm, honest, dogged, fearless to lead us to the promise land in the South South and that man is Oshiomhole” he stated.