After weeks of fierce political battle to retain his position, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday resumed normal official duties at the party’s national secretariat
Wooing his opponents and other aggrieved members of the party with a call for truce, Oshiomhole pointed out that the scuffle for his office was needless and diversionary at a time the party was expected to engage the government to deliver on its promise.
And to convince his political foes that he was indeed extending the olive branch, he announced the reinstatement of suspended deputy national chairman (North), Senator Lawan Shuaibu and national vice chairman (North West), Mallam Inua Abdulkadir.
Oshiomhole called for cooler-heads to prevail, saying he has great respect for governors and other senior leaders of the party, even as he observed that there should be no suspicion among all factions and blocs that emerged during the crisis.
The Oshiomhole-led NWC also resolved to withdraw all pending cases in the court of law instituted by some national officers.
Oshiomhole also announced the party’s intension to summon the minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, to brief it on the measures put in place to check the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic and why the country has continued to allow flights from foreign countries into Nigeria.
He said, ”Our responsibility as a party now is to engage the government on what to do differently to this reality so that the government elected on our platform delivers our promises to Nigeria people. These are the kinds of things we should spend more time doing; the Nigeria project not becoming chairman. If I am chairman and cannot walk the streets of Nigeria with pride because my party has not done what is expected I cannot be a happy chairman and I don’t think any of you will be a happy member.
“I ask us, in addition to putting what has happened behind us, to find time to have objective conversation on how we can generate ideas to support the government. I want to spend time on something that concerns the Nigerian people. I didn’t come just to be a chairman; I wasn’t unemployed and none of you here was unemployed. What brought us here is the fact that we have a party that we have formed, not to create divisions.
”I want to appreciate our governors elected on the platform of our party who, regardless of whatever anybody feels, I have absolute respect for each and every one of them and I have personal relationships with each and every one of them. But I also recognise that the fact of having personal relationships is not enough not to have personal differences and even suspicion”.
Pointing out that the weapon against suspicion is more dialogue, Oshiomhole said people probably needed to be reassured that he is not capable of being biased by the very background that he comes from.
Noting that one tree can never make a forest, the APC chairman said, “I am a believer in conversation. I am a believer in contestation and I am also a believer in conflict resolution. I believed God will give us the grace over our meeting today as he has presided over the affairs of our party over the years. And those who are thinking we are coming here to box, I wear no boxing gloves. I wanted to wear complete white to send a message of peace. And, I think everybody came here with a good heart and may God see us through this moment. We are going to bounce back stronger and better.
”So, today we have come here to remind people, members nationwide, that this NWC is not divided. It is true we have had arguments. It is true some tempers may have been high. It is true some people may have been provoked to try to approach the court, but it is also true that deep in our hearts no one of us wants to destroy our party. No any of us who spends three hours nonstop and even those who are not here that we call midnight by 2am to say ‘tomorrow we are sending you to so, so state’, please don’t say no.
“Let me also say that I am the first to admit that I am not the best chairman in the world and I will never be. But no one can fault the sincerity of my purpose. My style can only be my style. But, I recognise that I must reconcile my style to others so that we can meet in the middle of the road.
“It is the hallmark of democracy. The capacity to transform our divergent views and even you might say conflicting orientation sometimes but no conflicting interest, mission and ambition. So, I want to thank all my colleagues who are here and those who are not.
“I want to appreciate our president. With all the challenges he faces, he has time to listen to those who approach him with a view to ensuring that our party remains on course.”
Edo APC Faction Backs Suspension of NEC Meeting
Meanwhile, Edo state faction of the APC loyal to Governor Godwin Obaseki yesterday backed the indefinite suspension of the National Executive Committee meeting earlier slated for Tuesday, March 17, 2020 by the national leadership of the party.
The state working committee, in a statement signed by the factional state publicity secretary, Pastor Joseph Osagiede, also urged the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole to put his house in order.
The party said the step to suspend the national executive committee meeting was the right thing to do considering the fact that the party was heading towards a possible implosion in view of the conflicting positions of the various interest groups within the party.
The statement noted: ”We express the gratitude of the Edo state chapter of the APC to the President Muhammadu Buhari and the progressive governor’s forum for this initiatives and we hope that all those saddled with the responsibility to resolve the issues confronting the party will do so in a manner that will guarantee justice to all the aggrieved parties such that fray nerves will be calm.
”We also urge the national chairman to take this final opportunity to put his house in order because the problem confronting that party across the Country remains real and visible.
”They will require the right attitude and appropriate disposition on dealing with them such that all parties involved will be put in proper frame of mind to accept the outcome on good faith”.
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