We will crush R-APC rebellion – Oshiomhole

“For me, there is no cause for alarm. Nobody should panic over one Buba Galadima, whose group, I believe cannot define us in the next election in 2019.  Nigerians are wiser; they know that corruption is fighting back, they also know that President Buhari’s resolve to fight corruption must elicit a counter force and that force must find attraction in some people. But like we have rightly said, we should not be distracted and we encourage the president not to be distracted.”

New National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has vowed to crush the rebellion started by veteran politician Alhaji Buba Galadima and his sponsors under the faction it has named the Reformed-APC, R-APC, using superior argument and persuasion.

The APC National Chairman stated this on Friday while receiving some past chairmen of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) at the party’s national secretariat Abuja.

Though Oshiomhole acknowledged that the APC has challenges which he said are being sorted, he also said it can afford to ignore the likes of Buba Galadima, observing that the elder statesman is an agent of confusion.

He said the party is however meeting and addressing genuine grievances of its members, insisting that the APC is not fictionalized.

“We listened to Buba Galadima. It is as if a very hungry bird is dancing at the centre of the road and a disgruntled drummer not far away in the bush is drumming for him.

“But this is not to say that we are not aware that there are challenges here and there. But APC is APC; its much more than the sum total of all the challenges we have in many of the states. And by the special grace of God, we shall overcome them and we are already overcoming them.

“I am very confident that we can afford to ignore Buba Galadima. And like I said yesterday, I’m ready to go to any length to talk to people who mean well and who have genuine grievances arising from communication gaps or misunderstanding or even from the error of judgment on the part of anyone or even from the way we have managed our patronage.

“Protests like these are acknowledged and we are working to resolve them. When we see people who have genuine grievances we are not ashamed to talk to them.

“We recognise that democracy is an equaliser and only people who are humble enough to engage can survive and we have been engaging.”

Oshiomhole said the leadership of the party is making progress in its engagement with aggrieved APC members.

“We have been meeting with various individuals and groups who we believe really have genuine concerns on certain matters and we are making progress.

“But when we see people who don’t mean well; there are a lot of idle people who don’t have any other thing to do and once they don’t have access to national honey pot, then they begin to complain.

“For me, there is no cause for alarm. Nobody should panic over one Buba Galadima, whose group, I believe cannot define us in the next election in 2019.

“Nigerians are wiser; they know that corruption is fighting back, they also know that President Buhari’s resolve to fight corruption must elicit a counter force and that force must find attraction in some people. But like we have rightly said, we should not be distracted and we encourage the president not to be distracted.

“He must remain focused and sustain the fight and I believe the rebellion will be crushed using the superior power of argument, persuading our people not to forget in a hurry where we are coming from.”

Earlier, the leader of the group, Umar Shuiabu, and Chairman of the defunct CPC in Niger State, dissociated himself and the former chairmen from the rAPC.

He said the party is making progress in the promises it made to Nigerians and declared unalloyed support for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Also speaking, a former chairman of CPC in Benue state Noah Mark Dickson, whose name was included in the rAPC national leader said he was never consulted by the group. He equally distanced himself from the attempt to break away from the APC.