*Says he was biggest threat to APC, needed to be removed as Chairman
*Recalls APC under Oshiomhole conducted one of worst primaries in history of Nigeria’s contemporary politics
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
Amosun berated Oshiomhole for feeding the public with lies, adding that his utterances represented some “inherent inadequacies.”
Barely 24-hours after pointing accusing finger at Senator Ibikunle Amosun as being behind his removal as National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Adams Oshiomhole was on Wednesday replied by the former Ogun State Governor.
While admonishing the erstwhile Governor of Edo State to desist from denigrating former President Muhammadu Buhari to please the current administration of President Bola Tinubu, Amosun described Oshiomhole, who is currently the senator representing Edo North at the Nigerian Senate, as the ‘biggest destructive threat’ to existence of the APC during his tenure and, therefore, that there was no option for him except to be removed from the party’s highest office.
Oshiomhole was the APC National Chairman between 2018 and 2020 when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was touted as the National Leader of the party although Muhammadu Buhari was President at the time.
The DEFENDER recalls that in the buildup to the 2019 elections, former Governors Rochas Okorocha (Imo) and Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) were among several party leaders, who were aggrieved over the APC’s primary elections presided over and conducted by Adams Oshiomhole, who was believed to be working for Tinubu to remove all Buhari’s allies from relevance in the party hierarchy across the states.
Over four years after, Oshiomhole chose the presentation of “APC and Transition Politics”, a book authored by Salihu Lukman, immediate past Vice Chairman of the APC in North West Nigeria, on Tuesday, as an avenue to rewrite a recent history, many believe cannot be wished away in hurry, and attempted to launch an accusation against the author, Lukman, as well as former Governor of Ekiti, Kayode Fayemi and former Governor of Ogun State saying they were the architects that worked for his ouster from office as APC national chairman.
However, in a statement on Wednesday, Amosun in his reply berated Oshiomhole for feeding the public with lies, adding that his utterances represented some “inherent inadequacies”.
He described Oshiomhole’s comment as mere ‘tales by the moonlight,” saying members of the public cannot afford to take to the bank anything from Oshiomhole, given his penchant for careless talk and unverified public statements.
“It’s been a struggle since yesterday on what to make of the ‘tales by moonlight’ that Senator Adams Oshiomhole treated the audience of Dr. Salihu Lukman, to at his book launch, “APC and Transition Politics,”” Amosun said.
He continued that, “This apparent struggle was not for want of a proportional response to his deliberate drivel, but because not only was his story fraught with lies but also because he did not boast the requisite integrity to say the truth.
“Besides, it is not in my character to join issues with people I consider qualified enough to be referred to as both Leaders of our party, APC, and of this great country, Nigeria, to which I believe Senator Oshiomhole belongs.
“However, given his antecedents and penchant for careless and most times, baseless and unverified public statements, and also considering my duty to the country and the public in particular, it will be uncharitable if I fail to put the records straight.
“What Senator Oshiomhole was alleged to have said, apart from being far from the truth, is a calculated attempt to present water while drinking wine. The Yoruba adage says ‘if you let a mad man bury his mum the way he pleases him, he could roast her for a meal.’ At that point, the community is to blame for his choice.
“Indeed, listening to him yesterday, his utterances represent some inherent inadequacy, which he vented, not just at inauspicious times, but without basis and predicated only on lies to hoodwink the unsuspecting.”
Apparently sad at what he viewed as the Oshiomhole’s misrepresentation of facts, Amosun further revealed things that the former party chairman did but which he has now unsuccessfully tried to cover up and which he (Amosun) would not let him to achieve, adding that APC, under him as party chairman, conducted one of worst primary elections in Nigeria’s history of contemporary politics.
He said, “It is not in doubt that I have participated fully in the formation and sustenance of our party, the APC, and I can boldly say that the party under Adams Oshiomhole conducted one of the worst primaries in the history of Nigeria’s contemporary politics and ended up shopping for his own enemies, leading to his eventual removal as Chairman of our party.
“Nigerians should not be in a hurry to forget the allegations that preceded the conduct of those primaries and his eventual invitation by the Department of State Service to clarify certain grave allegations.
“If he wanted to insult our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, he could have come out boldly to do so. But his subtle attempt to pass snide remarks at him failed the simple test of loyalty because the former President also moved from his own party to merge with other like-minds to form the APC.
“Also, if he is seeking favour from the Presidency, why not come out and do so? But to tell barefaced lies that, ‘You are working for your paymaster in Lagos, paymaster in Bourdillon,’ is cheap but typical of an individual, who suddenly found himself where he never dreamt of, despite his obvious limitations – education and exposure. This is why I have consistently brushed aside and intentionally scoffed at his tongue-in-cheek apology, which he had extended to me several times. I am now convinced it was not genuine.”
“If anyone was in doubt that Senator Oshiomhole posed the biggest and most destructive threat to the existence of the APC at that time, and the party’s best bet was to dispose of a canon fodder that he was and unfortunately still is, his utterances and grandstanding yesterday at an occasion to find solutions to our democratic and party challenges, would have cleared such mindset.”
