The National Chairman of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on Wednesday said the
anti-party activities of Governors Ibikunle Amosun and Rochas Okorocha cannot
stop the APC from winning the governorship and other elections in Ogun and Imo
State next year.
Oshiomhole lashed out at the two
governors, saying they were poor students of their own history who had
forgotten they lost elections before winning on the platform of the APC.
Oshiomhole spoke after receiving
the APC women leaders from Edo State and Abuja, who paid him a solidarity visit
in his office in Aso Drive, Abuja.
Okorocha, Amosun and Governor
Abdul-Aziz Yari of Zamfara State are at loggerheads with the national chairman
for not recognising their preferred governorship candidates.
The preferred candidates in Imo
and Ogun and some aides of the governors had since defected to other political
parties to pursue their ambitions.
Oshiomhole said, “Those who think
our political future is tied to them; they are poor students of their own
political history. Some of these people who talk as if they are invincible,
they have forgotten that they have run elections in the past and lost until
they abandoned their parties and joined us. So if they return back, history
will repeat itself.”
“Whether you are a big or small
man, the rules are not supposed to discriminate. Our popularity in Imo and Ogun
today is much higher. It is not that once you are a governor you have high
electoral value.
“Yes in APC, our governors have
high electoral value but we also a few who are electoral liabilities.”
Punch reports that the former
Nigeria Labour Congress President said Nigeria needed to go back to the era
where institutions were respected and protected and not powerful individuals.
He added that the actions of the
two governors would not affect the fortunes of the party in the elections.
“In Imo state today, APC will win
more votes. My focus is on ordinary Imo voters because on that day, the
governor would have only one vote, his son-in-law would have only one vote
while his Commissioner for Happiness would have only one vote.
“But artisans, traders, teachers
and workers whose salaries are not being paid have the same weight of vote and
they are excited about the renewed possibility of a new government coming with
fresh ideas free of all the encumbrances of the present system. So in Imo I’m
very confident.
“Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is
from Ogun State. The state is one of the most enlightened States in Nigeria.
They have a huge history; they are not in a political kingdom headed by one
person.”
“If they were looking for true
reconciliation, they wouldn’t have done what they did (defection of aides).
That is not how democracy works. Nigeria must grow beyond this syndrome ‘I’m
the governor, I will decide.’ You have only one vote. With due respect, I was
once a governor. Overall APC is much stronger now.
Stating that the party would
review if any of its rules had been breached, Oshiomhole added that the real
sanction was with the electorate.
He, however, said the efforts of
the Peace and Reconciliation Committee were already yielding fruits in some
places while those with negotiable grievances were being sorted out.
Ha ha ha! let the music play on play on play on.................
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