National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole has given some reasons why he cannot resign or be removed from his position now.
Oshiomhole, who spoke to news men today, January 2 at the presidential Villa, Abuja, described those who are calling for his removal or that he should resign as uninformed.
“My report card is very very clear,” he said, even as he asked the media to help in interrogating the process on how the performance of a National Working Committee of a political part should be evaluates.
“I think the evaluation should start mostly on how many elections did you lose, or lost. Last week, we saw the British Labour Party Leader that he accepts responsibility for the crushing defeat that the Labour Party suffered under his leadership. He offered in principle, having accepted responsibility, not to lead the party in the next election, so he is going to resign because under his leadership, the party was rejected by the British electorate.
“In my own case, and I challenge anyone to say that any of these things are not true: we the executive members of the party were sworn in on the 3rd of June 2018, at about 6 pm. Two weeks later, we went to Ekiti to contest election against a PDP incumbent governor Fayose and we won. And Kayode Fayemi today is the governor of that state.
“Few months later, we went to Osun State, we contested a by-election, we won and we had the Osun State governor elected for his first term.
“Then we went for the national elections, you know all the tensions in the country at the time. The gap between President Buhari and the former candidate of the PDP, Abubakar Atiku was about four million voters. The one between President Buhari and former President Jonathan in 2015 was about three million. So under my leadership this President has more votes than the first runner-up. We would like to claim credit for that because if it went the other way so we would be crucified.
“The National Assembly, you know we had all kinds of contestation, because the opposition was determined to turn APC to a minority in the two chambers of the National Assembly and we had to do what we had to do to persuade the senators to stay. We are still the preferred party of choice and we marketed all those senators We backed them up with logistics. We backed them up financially from the party’s coffer and at the end of the day, I am proud that we won more senate seats and more House of Reps seats. But even more outstanding if you ask me, it’s that, we also had the majority in both chambers of the National Assembly in 2015 but the party didn’t have the capacity to handle the majority and make good use of it. “The result was that you had a senate President that was of APC and a deputy senate president that was of PDP even when APC had clear majority because we could not manage our numbers.
“Last year, you will bear witness to the fact that we did our home work. We carried out extensive consultation, extensive persuasion and negotiations with the members of the National Assembly and the party zeroed on a senate president, a deputy senate President, a speaker and a deputy speaker and we mobilized and worked round so that even with secret ballots, senator Ahmed Lawan and Ovie Omo-Agege emerged as president and deputy while in the senate and in the House of Representatives Hon Femi Gbajabiamila and Wase emerged also as speaker and deputy respectively, all the preferred candidates.
“So a party that couldn’t manage its leadership before, this time we did that and the other principal officers were subsequently elected.
“Letter from the NWC to the senate and the House of Reps was read on the floor of the senate and House of Reps with respect to the other principal officers that are zoned to the ruling party, and we did that without any acrimony.
“Thereafter, we had gone for a by-election in Kogi and of course, we won. “And Kogi election is extremely significant because it is the first time since 1999 that a person, by Nigerian manner of speaking, can be said to be a minority not coming from the major ethnic group in the state, won the election. I think that is something worth celebrating.
“Then we went to the heart of the Ijaw nation and won so convincingly the governorship election in Bayelsa State and as you can see in the newspaper, it’s PDP that are asking themselves ‘how did that happened?’ They are not saying that we rigged them out but that some PDP members did anti-party activities, accusing themselves as to why did they collaborate with APC to win their state. “So how we can get opposition to work with us to deliver APC in the heart of the Ijaw nation under our chairmanship, I want to think that is something that is positive.
“So if the reward for these accomplishments is that one week later some people are saying that they don’t want comrade Oshiomhole, it’s too bad.”
The APC said that such scenario is not strange to him, recalling that while he was in the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as a leader leading protests against government, some people in the same labour were protesting against him.
“That is the way the world works. It must be a strange world to have everybody supporting you. The fact of your accomplishments even you as journalists, when you get a scoop and you write a story that is an award winning, some people will commend you that this is a very seasoned analytical investigative journalist, while some will say am I not also a journalist why am I not also attracting this level of commendation?
“So in every aspect of life, you will have supporters, you would have opponents. “Even God our creator, even those that He created in heaven and earth, haven’t you see people lamenting that how can God give me this little and give this man so much even as we are encouraged not to be jealous.
“So yes, there are people who canvassed those views and there also those who think that yes APC has not done badly. “Of course, we have performed credibly well if you ask me. You must have also read ironically, people say that under the chairmanship of my brother, Secondus, PDP appeared to have been missing every election and that they want him out. I think there was somebody who wrote something in Kano that while APC gives financial support to its candidates, PDP doesn’t give kobo to any of their candidates. But we did it for the first time. We didn’t do it in 2015. I can point to a lot of innovations that we have brought on board. But as they say, the reward for hard work is even more work. “Those who are determine to criticize you, don’t ever deceive yourself that you have done well they will stop. But I think for me that is an incentive to recognize that we must continue to think creatively and see to it that we are able to mange the party.
“I am very confident that our party is stronger today than it was before I became the chairman.”
