Former governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun yesterday joined issues with the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole over some issues both agreed serenaded the existence of the ruling party in the country.
Amosun, yesterday, faulted the claim by the former National APC chair Oshiomhole that he, alongside governors of the party, was opposed to internal democracy in the party.
The former Ogun State helmsman, in a statement, insisted that Oshiomhole lacks the moral right to point accusing fingers at him over the conduct of party primaries ahead of the 2019 poll.
According to Amosun, party stakeholders were left with no option but to get rid of Oshiomhole due to his alleged destructive conduct in the party.
Oshiomhole had on Tuesday during the launch of a book entitled, ‘APC and Transition Politics’, held in Abuja, claimed that Amosun not only threatened to dump the APC but joined other governors in resisting the attempt to ensure the conduct of a free and fair primary acceptable to stakeholders of the party.
Oshiomhole particularly accused Amosun and his peers in the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) of insisting on imposing their preferred choices as their successors in breach of the party’s guidelines for the conduct of primaries.
In what was termed a ‘gripping revelation’, former President of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and one-time governor of Edo State, Oshiomhole, speaking at the launch of former APC national vice-chairman for the North-West zone, Salihu Lukman’s book at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, shed light on the tumultuous events he submitted led to his removal from office.
Oshiomhole’s 54-minute expose t highlighted a bitter battle with the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF), a group led by influential figures like former Ekiti State governor, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun.
Oshiomhole alleged that the governors, along with Lukman, orchestrated an ‘illegal’ campaign to oust him from office, deploying various underhanded tactics to undermine his leadership and promote their agenda.
Oshiomhole also recalled Lukman’s dismissal of his leadership “through letters without any direct communication” and accused Lukman and the governors (Amosun inclusive), of attempting to dictate party affairs.
The ex-national chair emphasised the ‘undemocratic appointment’ of Lukman as the PGF’s director-general.
He equally recounted the tense atmosphere of a meeting with the governors, likening it to a military barrack, and revealed his defiant response to their attempts to lecture him on power dynamics.
Oshiomhole pointed fingers at specific governors, including Fayemi and Amosun, criticising their loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari, and labeling their actions as opportunistic.
Remarkably, Oshiomhole disclosed that President Buhari did not intervene to halt the governors’ onslaught against him, offering a forewarning to current national chairman Abdullahi Ganduje that he could face similar challenges without presidential intervention.
Yesterday’s spat between the duo is not new. Such tendency is deeply buried in the animosity triggered by the Edo South senator, Oshiomhole when he was fingered by the Amosun camp of being behind moves to truncate some party primaries in the Ogun State chapter of the APC when the labour militant was chairing the ruling party’s headquarters in Abuja.
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Far back in 2018, ahead of a presidential election, Amosun did not give Oshiomhole any breather, accusing the party’s national chair of falsehood and of “attempting to help hijack the state government”.
Yesterday, the pattern followed another trajectory, with the ex-Ogun State governor, among others, reacting to the claim, retorted: “It’s been a struggle since yesterday on what to make of the ‘Tales by Moonlight’ that Senator Adams Oshiomhole treated the audience of Dr. Salihu Lukman, to at his book launch, ‘APC and Transition Politics’, in Abuja.
“This apparent struggle was not for want of a proportional response to his deliberate drivel, but because not only was his story fraught with lies but also because he did not boast the requisite integrity to say the truth.”
Amosun added, “Besides, it is not in my character to join issues with people I consider qualified enough to be referred to as both Leaders of our party, APC and of this great country, Nigeria, to which I believe Senator Oshiomhole belongs.
“However, given his antecedents and penchant for careless and most times, baseless and unverified public statements, and also considering my duty to the country and the public in particular, it will be uncharitable if I fail to put the records straight.
According to Amosun, “What Senator Oshiomhole was alleged to have said, apart from being far from the truth, is a calculated attempt to present water while drinking wine. The Yoruba adage says “if you let a mad man bury his mum the way it pleases him, he could roast her for a meal.” At that point, the community is to blame for his choice.
“Indeed, listening to him yesterday, his utterances represent some inherent inadequacy, which he vented, not just at inauspicious times, but without basis and predicated only on lies to hoodwink the unsuspecting.
“It is not in doubt that I have participated fully in the formation and sustenance of our party, the APC, and I can boldly say that the party under Adams Oshiomhole conducted one of the worst primaries in the history of Nigeria’s contemporary politics and ended up shopping for his enemies, leading to his eventual removal as Chairman of our party.
“Nigerians should not be in a hurry to forget the allegations that preceded the conduct of those primaries and his eventual invitation by the Department of State Service, DSS, to clarify certain grave allegations.”
He added, “If anyone was in doubt that Senator Oshiomhole posed the biggest and most destructive threat to the existence of the APC at that time, and the party’s best bet was to dispose of a canon folder that he was and unfortunately still is, his utterances and grandstanding yesterday at an occasion to find solutions to our democratic and party challenges, would have cleared such mindset.
“If he wanted to insult our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, he could have come out boldly to do so. But his subtle attempt to pass snide remarks at him failed the simple test of loyalty because the former president also moved from his party to merge with other like-minds to form the APC.
“Also, if he is seeking favour from the presidency, why not come out and do so? But to tell barefaced lies that, “You are working for your paymaster in Lagos, paymaster in Bourdillon,” is cheap but typical of an individual, who suddenly found himself where he never dreamt of, despite his obvious limitations – education and exposure.”
Amosun spoke further: “If the public will remember, soon after Senator Oshiomhole was sworn in as a Senator, he allegedly said members of the 9th Senate had vandalized their offices before leaving, only for him to eat the humble pie and made to apologise later when it was obvious that the allegations were baseless.
“My honest advice to him is to carefully and soberly sit down to take stock of his past so that it will continue to serve as a guide for him in his future public utterances rather than dragging the names of innocent people into a needless controversy because in Africa, age and leadership are associated with wisdom.
“This is also why I have consistently brushed aside and intentionally scoffed at his tongue-in-cheek apology, which he had extended to me several times. I am now convinced it was not genuine. In the final analysis, background matters!”
On November 2, 2018, in a usual diatribe, Amosun replied to Oshiomhole with some allegations, accusing him of aiding a plot to hijack the Ogun State Government when he was the governor.
Referring to what he termed ‘offshore rigging’ against Amosun, the two APC chieftains fought a dirty media war.
