What I’ll Do If Given Another Opportunity To Be APC Chairman - Oshiomhole

Sacked National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has shed some insight into why he lost his seat as the party’s chief superintendent as well as how he will run the party’s affairs if he gets another opportunity to chair the national ruling party.

While stressing that he has no regrets in returning the party to floor members via direct primaries, Oshiomhole told Arise News on Monday that he stepped on toes of powerful forces in the party, who, in a reprisal, engineered his ouster as APC Chairman.

He vowed to fight the same forces that removed him from office if given a second chance, disclosing that it was President Muhammadu Buhari who invited him to lead the party and seize it from the cabal, which tended to take major decisions, and return it to party members.

AllNews recalls that Oshiomhole was removed as party chairman on June 16 after a Court of Appeal judgment ratified the verdict of an Abuja High Court that affirmed his suspension by his ward in Edo State. His suspension triggered a bitter leadership contest in APC that saw the emergence of three interim national chairmen within 48 hours.

However, Buhari, in conjunction with other party leaders, moved to restore order to the ruling party by summoning a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party where the decision to dissolve the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, headed by Oshiomhole before his suspension, was reached.

On his relationship with APC bigwigs, the former party chairman said he rescued the party from some of them and he had no regrets dismantling the political structures of those who felt they were bigger than the APC.

Oshiomhole said he was invited to cleanse the APC by the president, who he said supported him until his decision to sack the NWC of the party, which he said led to his removal as national chairman.

According to him, “I have no regrets whatsoever on the decision to sack the NWC, which of course put an end to my chairmanship. No regrets. The average Nigerian wants strong leadership; they want things to be done differently.

“You don’t want a situation where a few people control our political destiny. In trying to democratise and return the party to the party members, you have powerful forces, few in number, but have access to resources. Who will resist that?

“Whether anybody appreciates it or not, between President Muhammadu Buhari and myself, we agreed that we must return APC to APC members and that’s why we introduced direct primaries; we produced a membership register.”

Oshiomhole disclosed that Buhari backed the decision to change the pattern of conducting party primaries to direct primaries, noting that the decision, which set him against many state governors, was not unilateral.

He continued, “And of course, there were those opposed to direct primaries, but as a compromise, this is something I couldn’t really speak to, because at the end of the day, some governors said they wanted indirect and some of us, the president inclusive, said we wanted direct.

“That’s why we approved direct primaries for the presidency because indirect primaries, you can’t bribe everybody; but with the use of delegates, you can.

“So, if we were going to return, assuming I was going to return to APC tomorrow as chairman, I will sustain some of the radical measures which some people were not happy about.

“I do not want a tenure that is not eventful. I want to drive changes and the slogan of my party is change. If we thought things were perfect, why did we talk about change?

“We must continue to change the way we do things and continue to improve. Just try and do things better. I do not regret the fact, along with my colleagues in the NWC, to disqualify a serving minister who publicly said arrogantly that he didn’t do NYSC and that being a minister is a greater service than NYSC.

“You know that NYSC is obligatory and to default on it, you cannot hold public office. I am also happy that a governor said to me he is not going to do primaries somewhere in the South-west.

“That he’s going to do his own primaries even when the constitution of APC is so clear that only the NWC can conduct primaries. He went and did his own primaries, we did our own and I insisted that it’s only the one we did in line with the constitution of the APC that will be upheld regardless of the powers behind the other guy.”

The former party chairman maintained that he stepped on powerful toes, which led to his sack, adding that he will fight the same forces if he had the chance to return.

He said: “Of course, I am aware that when you step on powerful toes, they will fight back, but I had no intention that I was going to be a life chairman. No.

“The person who invited me to bid for that office is the president and I thank him for the support he gave me and his standing fast. I am now in history as the only chairman whom eight ward members out of 24 allegedly suspended and that was the basis for removing someone who was elected in a convention of 7,000 people.

“I decided I wasn’t contesting it because of my understanding of loyalty, particularly when you hold the office of trust, whatever has happened belongs to the past and I can’t do things differently.

“I have seen some analysts say, comrade ought to know that so so people are powerful, or some governors are powerful, how can I do that? Are the laws made for the powerless?

“In any case, from the age of 18, I had been fighting power. If power is abused, I have asked God to give me the power to confront and defeat power. Why do I want to survive for survival’s sake?

“I put my job on the line even as a daily paid worker, to fight what I considered to be unjust. But let me assure you that I do not regret anything that we have done because you cannot change Nigeria without offending some powers.”