The National Chairman of the ruling APC, Com. Adams Oshiomhole, has said the party is now stronger in Ogun and Imo states despite the tacit support Governors Ibikunle Amosun and Rochas Okorocha have given to their preferred governorship candidates to run on the platforms of other political parties.
Com. Oshiomhole, who yesterday played host to APC women leaders from Edo State and Abuja who paid him a solidarity visit in his office, said the two governors were poor students of political history.
Oshiomhole said, “Those who think our political future is tied to them; they are poor students of their own political histories. Some of these people who talk as if they are invincible; they have forgotten that they have run elections in the past and lost until they abandoned their parties and joined us. So, if they return, history will repeat itself.
“In Imo State today, APC will win more votes. My focus is on ordinary Imo voters, because on that day, the governor would have only one vote, his son-in-law would have only one vote, while his Commissioner for Happiness would have only one vote.
“But artisans, traders, teachers and workers whose salaries are not being paid have the same weight of vote and they are excited about the renewed possibility of a new government coming with fresh ideas free of all the encumbrances of the present system. So in Imo, I’m very confident.”
Apparently referring to Amosun, Oshiomhole said, “Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is from Ogun State. The state is one of the most enlightened states in Nigeria. They have a huge history; they are not in a political kingdom headed by one person.
“If they were looking for true reconciliation, they wouldn’t have done what they did (defection of aides). That is not how democracy works. Nigeria must grow beyond this syndrome, ‘I’m the governor, I will decide.’ You have only one vote. With due respect, I was once a governor. Overall, APC is much stronger now,” he said.
Oshiomhole, who said they would look into the action taken by Amosun and Okorocha to determine whether APC’s rules had been breached, stressed that the electorate had the real sanction against them.
He expressed happiness over the positive outcome of the effort of the APC peace and reconciliation committee in some places.
On the presidential election, Oshiomhole said since ethnic and religious sentiments that characterised the 2015 election would not be factors in 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari would defeat Atiku Abubakar.
Oshiomhole added that both Obasanjo and Atiku would be divinely punished at the polls in February, and that Atiku’s political infidelity would be his albatross.
He upbraided Atiku and the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, for calling on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, and the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to resign.
