Tension In APC As Oshiomole And Obaseki Divide Party In Two

There were indications on Wednesday that the national leaders of the All Progressives Congress are divided over the crisis in Edo State.

This indication emerged shortly after the Director-General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Salihu Lukman, called for the resignation of the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

Lukman, in a statement in Abuja, said Oshiomhole should either convene the party’s National Executive Council meeting or resign.

In a swift reaction, the APC National Vice Chairman (South-South), Hilliard Eta, in an interview with The PUNCH, dismissed Lukman’s statement, saying the DG was speaking for himself.

But the Deputy National Chairman (North) of the APC, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, and the embattled National Vice Chairman (North-West), Inuwa Abdulkadir, backed the DG.

Our Correspondents gathered that the organs of the party were not united on the issue of Edo State crisis.

A chieftain of the party who confided in The PUNCH, said, “The problem we have is that while some of our leaders are supporting Oshiomhole, others are against him.”

Lukman, in his statement, said the inability of the national chairman to call superior organs of the party to a meeting was causing increasing organisational challenges.

The APC is currently being rocked by a crisis in Edo State, where two factions of the party have emerged, with one led by the national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole; and another headed by Governor Godwin Obaseki.

The crisis worsened on Tuesday when a faction of the APC suspended the state chairman of the party, Anslem Ojezua, who was loyal to Obaseki.

A few hours later, another faction suspended the state secretary of the party, Lawerence Okah, and Oshiomhole. The crisis is coming ahead of the 2020 governorship election in the state.

Besides Edo, the party is also confronting a crisis in Ondo State, where some chieftains are at war with Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.

The APC is also facing challenges in Anambra; as well as in Bayelsa, where a court on Tuesday disqualified its deputy governorship candidate for  Saturday’s election, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo.

Lukman said nothing short of a NEC or a caucus meeting could address the challenges facing the party.

He stated, “In the current circumstances, nothing short of a NEC or national caucus meeting of the party can resolve all our increasing organisational challenges.

“It is either Oshiomhole respect the provisions of the party constitution and convene superior organ meeting to deliberate on all our challenges, or he should just accept his inability to manage the party and resign.”

He asked the national leaders to rise to the challenge facing the party and take all necessary measures to convene superior organ meetings to begin to resolve all challenges as a party, saying “the current public disgrace must end!”

Lukman said the call was heightened by the information coming from Edo State indicating that members of the state executive council of the APC had passed a vote of no confidence in Oshiomhole.

“In so many respect, it could be argued, it is a natural outcome of unfolding power play between Oshiomhole and Governor Godwin Obaseki since June 2019, with the contentious inauguration of the Edo State House of Assembly.

“Possible retaliatory response from both Oshiomhole and groups such as Edo Peoples Movement who are loyal to Oshiomhole should be expected. In other words, there could be counter-pronouncement suspending Governor Obaseki.

“Side by side with the news of the ‘vote of no confidence’ was also the discomforting report of the Federal High Court judgment in Abuja disqualifying Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo as our Deputy governorship candidate for the November 16, 2019 Bayelsa election.

“While expecting that every necessary step will be taken to vacate the judgment, it is very depressing for every committed party member to be subjected to such ignominious reality, which only reminds us of our reckless conduct in states like Zamfara, Rivers, Bauchi and Adamawa, which chiefly gave away electoral victories to the PDP.

“Instead of focusing on working to win elections, we are busy undermining ourselves. All these are ominous signs that we are about to re-enact the Zamfara, Rivers, Bauchi and Adamawa experiences in Bayelsa.

“It is Bayelsa State today, Anambra, Edo and Ondo are being set up for similar experiences. Unfortunately, the NEC of the party, which is the organ vested with the statutory responsibility of responding to all these challenges, appears to be suspended.

“The last time it met was in August 2018. In its place, the National Working Committee, which is an administrative organ with the responsibility of implementing decisions of NEC and other higher organs, seems to have usurped the powers of NEC.

“Sadly, even the NWC, as of today, is a shadow of itself, as it has lost many members either on account of appointments into government or controversial suspension.

“For instance, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Deputy National Chairman (South) is today a Minister of the Federal Republic. Senator Lawal Shuaibu, Deputy National Chairman (North) is allegedly suspended. Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, National Vice Chairman (North-West) is similarly suspended.”

Lukman recalled that the NWC had, in June,  allegedly suspended Akeredolu as well as former governors Rochas Okorocha (Imo) and Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) for alleged anti-party activities.

He said, “Whether all these actions are permissible by provisions of the APC’s constitution is highly contestable. Why should all these be allowed to happen? Why is it impossible to convene a NEC or even National Caucus meeting, which is supposed to hold every quarter to resolve all these issues?

“Why should the NWC under Oshiomhole continue to imagine that it can conduct affairs of the party without mandatory meetings of party organs? What legacy is Oshiomhole hoping to achieve as a national chairman by running the party in a way that suggests almost zero commitment to issues of party development?

“It is very painful for many of us who have had the privilege of being mentored by Oshiomhole to see him being devalued to a local factional leader from a very high pedestal of an illustrious national leader. As National Chairman, Oshiomhole hardly appreciates that he now has a national constituency and not just a state constituency, which may have been responsible for his apparent intemperance in the handling of matters affecting Edo State.

“I wish he paid similar attention to the handling of issues affecting Rivers and Zamfara States during the 2019 elections,” he added.