Oshiomhole meets Buhari, asks for increased security in Edo at poll, denies plotting a comeback as APC national chairman

Sacked National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House Abuja, on Tuesday.

During the meeting, he called for the deployment of more security agents in Edo State for the September 19 governorship election.

He also dismissed the allegation that he was plotting a comeback as national chairman of the governing party and wondered why he would seek to return to the office at the age of 68.

He described those accusing him of plotting his return as empty brains and cowards who lack the courage to reveal their identities.

Tuesday’s visit was the first time Oshiomhole would come to the State House since June 16 when the Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, upheld his suspension and replaced him with Chief Victor Giadom as Acting National Chairman of the APC that eventually showed the path to peace in the party.

Oshiomhole, while answering questions from State House correspondents after the meeting with Presudent Buhari, said he came to renew his loyalty to the president and also update him on efforts being made to reclaim Edo State from Governor Godwin Obaseki, whose defection to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has now handed the state to opposition.

He added that during the meeting, he implored the President to deploy more security forces in the state to avert violence as the September 19 poll draws nearer.

He said given the support the APC had so far received for its campaign, it was sure of winning the election.

On his alleged plans to reclaim the APC national chairmanship, Oshiomhole said he would not dignify his accuser, Dr. Salihu Lukman, the Director General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF), with a response.

He said he would not engage in a pig fight with Lukman, whom he said was allegedly imposed on the PGF by the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

Lukman, in a recent statement, had alleged that some unscrupulous forces within the ruling APC had been strategising to ensure the return of Oshiomhole to the party’s national chairmanship.

According to him, such forces are seeking to deploy every power within their reach to manoeuvre and manipulate the system to pave the way for Oshiomhole to stand for election at the forthcoming national convention of the party and foist him on the party.

He had said: “In other words, everything is being done to ensure that the internal politics of the party is manipulated to create situations whereby Oshiomhole is forcefully made a contender for the position of the national chairman at the extraordinary APC national convention.”

But Oshiomhole dismissed the allegation Tuesday, wondering why he would seek to return to the office at the age of 68.

He wondered if the essence of such a return bid would be to resit an examination.

Apparently accusing some governors of APC of being Lukman’s sponsors, Oshiomhole described such highly placed individuals as cowards who are afraid of coming out to attack him.

He stated that asking him to respond to what he described as “the noise” being made by Lukman and his principals was dragging him into a pig fight.

He added that he would not descend so low because he has a pedigree, which transcends being the national chairman of APC.

He also described Lukman as a failed politician, adding that taking issue with him will amount to descending to his level.

Oshiomhole said: “You want me to engage in a fight with a pig? If you engage in a fight with a pig, the pig already is stained by its nature and you will wear your white garment, and in my own case, khaki to go and wrestle with a pig? I will not.

“When I was removed as national chairman, Edo was APC. So, do I have to win Edo to become the chairman? Do I look so unemployed?

“I’m 68. So, what they don’t understand is that it is not the office of chairman that made me who I am. It is my pedigree from my days as a labourer in the textile industry to becoming the general secretary of textile workers all over Nigeria and becoming the president of NLC.

“There is no village I go to that people do not know me and it is this that I used to override the godfathers in Edo State for two consecutive terms and even became governor through elections – no violence before becoming the national chairman.

“So, if you remove the office…is like our president now, though I cannot compare myself to him. But it is like President Muhammadu Buhari by 2023, when his tenure would have lapsed as president, but those who believe in him, in 2024 and beyond, each time they see him, that trust they have in him will always be there.

“He bonds with the people. That bond was not created by the fact that he is the president. In fact, he became the president because of that bond. So, it takes an empty brain to suggest that I only want to stage a comeback to become the national chairman. For what? To go and do a resit?

“So, my attitude is not to reply to the noise and it is coming from somebody who says he is an employee and appointee of Progressive Governors’ Forum. He is just like the cowards that are using him that are not able to come out. Otherwise, you should ask this guy who is now an election expert.

“He contested for Senate against (Senator Ahmed) Makarfi. He lost. He even contested against Governor (Nasir) el-Rufai during the primaries and he lost before Fayemi unilaterally appointed him the DG.

“So, if he is now the spokesman, abusing me and all of that, you want to drag me to his level? No! A gentleman does not wrestle with a pig. If you do, you will always be stained and I don’t want to get into that,” he said.