TELL Magazine

In spite of the many battles he is fighting at home and at the national level such that threaten his position, the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole says he’s not losing sleep, but calls on his loyalists to uphold him in prayers. Addressing hundreds of party faithful, including notable political leaders, at his Iyamho country home as part of the Christmas celebrations, Oshiomhole says he remains calm and committed to continue to move the APC to greater heights and urgeds his supporters to remain focused and continue to support President Muhammadu Buhari.
  

Oshiomhole who had been locked in a fierce political war with his erstwhile trusted aide and incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki, told his supporters and other well-wishers that “you must have read a lot of stories about my person. I sleep well because my heart is at peace. But let me ask you to always please remember me in your prayers. I believe when God says yes, no man can say no. I believe when we work with our good heart, we might even seem to be persecuted even for the good that we are doing; but this season is the best season to remember that the purity of our heart does not free us from people throwing stones at us. Don’t say I am doing my best because even that best is the reason somebody will fight you”.

Notable amongst APC chieftains who thronged Oshiomhole’s country home to identify with him were two former two deputy governors namely, Peter Obadan and Pius Odubu, former deputy chief whip of the House Representatives, Pally Iriase, acting state chairman of the party, David Imuse, a retired army colonel, many new members who just returned to, or defected to the APC led by Osagie Ize-Iyamu, pastor of the Redeemed Church of God, RCCG, and Jaret Tenebe. Others included former Defence Attaché to the United Kingdom, Cecil Esekhaigbe, a retired major-general, and several others from the six local government areas that make up Edo North Senatorial District.

Speaking against the backdrop of the vicious verbal assault against him by the governor his aides, and supporters, the immediate past governor of the state said, “I have no enemies, I have brothers and I have sisters. Some may be happy with me today, some may not be happy with me tomorrow, but that is right. We have quality minds because the governance of our country and the quality of politics must reflect the quality of the people who are in it. So, we are not just celebrating good people today, we are celebrating quality re-union with my brothers and my sisters. I ask all of you to do the same thing in your various wards. Please work hard to re-integrate all those who have re-united with us in all your wards, in all the local governments and of course at the state level”.

 According to Oshiomhole, “our President, in our last NEC meeting reminded us that the strength of our party should be at the grassroots – at the unit level. You must properly get yourself re-integrated; and he believes that if we are not on ground at the unit level, how can you have the wards? He said we must listen to the ordinary members of the party and we will try the best we can to run our party transparently. The ordinary members are as important as all because, without them, we cannot win elections”.
Oshiomhole, therefore, urged all members to ensure they integrated all the members who had “reintegrated” into the party.

Apparently reacting to the calls for his resignation and plots to remove him as national chairman amidst allegations that he had failed, Oshiomhole believed he deserved accolades for his achievements so far instead of vilification. In his words, “there are facts of history nobody can change. I became chairman precisely on the 24^th of June 2018. The first election – Ekiti election, by the special grace of God, we won; the next election which was Osun State election, and by the special grace of God, APC won. The next election was presidential and National Assembly election; by the special grace of God we won the presidency and our president was re-elected for the final second term. And we won more seats in the senate and in the House of Representatives”. He noted that unlike in 2015, “this time, we managed our victory more creatively. Memory fails fast that is why I am saying this because in 2015, we had majority yet APC produced Senate President and PDP produced Deputy Senate President and it was a riotous National Assembly permanently fighting against the president. This time, we managed our victory more creatively, more smartly, and we conducted peaceful secret ballot and our party won all the principal offices that were there to be contested. This time there was no grafting of APC and PDP”.
  

The embattled national chairman also recalled how the party won the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections, noting that by February, the new Bayelsa State governor would be sworn-in “and the number of APC governors will increase. So, I am proud to say that under my chairmanship, we won one more state in the South-South; and it is not just another state, it is a very special state – the state that produced the immediate past president”.
 

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