The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, is still facing a difficult moment in the party over the opposition to his continued stay in office by some party members.
Apart from some top party officials like the Deputy National Chairman, Senator Lawa Shuaibu, who called for Oshiomhole’s resignation, some other members of the party have joined the call. A good governance advocacy group within the APC, the Rivers Unity House (RUH), has thrown its weight behind calls for the resignation of Oshiomhole, The Nation reports.
The group, through its Convener, Kingsley Wali, in an interactive session with reporters on Friday in Port Harcourt, stated that Oshiomhole was responsible for 96 per cent of the challenges that faced the governing APC during the 2019 general elections.
It said: “It is a natural thing in politics that whenever there are losses, people have to be held accountable for those losses. There is need to identify the people who made it possible for the party to suffer any kind of loss. Just like if the party enjoys a decent measure of victory, it will obviously point out those who made it possible and then compensate them for making it possible. So, those who are responsible for the body blows APC received should be identified and made accountable. So that it will discourage this kind of attitude.
“Oshiomhole is 96 per cent responsible for the problems APC had. It boils down to nothing but somebody feeling that he knows everything and no other person is smarter than him. The reasonable thing to do is for APC as a party to ask Oshiomhole to vacate the seat. If we insist on understanding or characterizing the next level slogan of APC, the kind of attitude that Oshiomhole exhibited cannot be in tandem with President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision for Nigeria.”
RUH also hailed the Deputy National Chairman (North) of APC, Alhaji Lawan Shuaibu, for the courage to tell Oshiomhole to vacate his office.
It said: “Of what significance is a party chairman who does not take any form of criticism. Even if it is a councilor in Karadamuda or Akassa that says something about Oshiomhole, he replies in the same measure. Like the Deputy National Chairman of APC clearly stated, Oshiomhole should immediately resign, because he is running a one-man show. Where APC is heading for may not be too nice. All it takes for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to control the National Assembly is two seats or seven stubborn APC senators.
“In other political climes, once you lead a party and the party did not do well on an election, you have to go. Let us not demean ourselves with the fact that APC won the Presidency. What about the governorship seats? Did we gain more senatorial seats now that we did in 2015? No. So, if you look at it properly, APC lost in the last elections.”
The group further stated that APC was just lucky that the profile and integrity of President Buhari helped to win the presidential election, while stressing that it would have been a disaster.
Oshiomhole has not openly reacted to the calls for his resignation since his deputy Shuaibu made that call through a letter he reportedly wrote.
All eyes are on the ruling party to see how it settles this major issue that is causing controversy in its fold.
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