Apparently miffed by the verbal barrage targeted at his person, a former Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has descended on a former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Adams Oshiomhole.
Amosun admonished Oshiomhole “to carefully and soberly seat down to take stock of his past so that it will continue to serve as a guide for him in his future public utterances rather than dragging the names of innocent people into a needless controversy because in Africa, age and leadership are associated with wisdom.”
The former Ogun State helmsman and immediate past Senator representing Ogun Central District, was reacting to statements made against him on Tuesday by Senator Oshiomhole at the launch of a book “APC and Transition Politics”, authored by Salihu Lukman, in Abuja.
Oshiomhole had recounted how the author alongside some governors spearheaded the campaign that led to his “illegal” removal from office.
He alleged that the governors deployed all manner of illegal means to remove him following his moves to enshrine party supremacy.
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Part of the reaction from Amosun reads: “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 it 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.
“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, DSS, to clarify certain grave allegations.
“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 folder 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.
“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.
“If the public will remember, soon after Senator Oshiomhole was sworn in as a Senator, he allegedly said members of the 9th Senate had vandalized their offices before leaving, only for him to eat the humble pie and made to apologise later when it was obvious that the allegations were baseless.
“My honest advice to him is to carefully and soberly seat down to take stock of his past so that it will continue to serve as a guide for him in his future public utterances rather than dragging the names of innocent people into a needless controversy because in Africa, age and leadership are associated with wisdom.
“This is also 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.
“In the final analysis, BACKGROUND MATTERS!.”
While speaking at the book presentation on Tuesday, Oshiomhole revealed how former Governors of Ekiti and Ogun States, Kayode Fayemi, Ibikunle Amosun, respectively and Salihu Lukman, a former national vice chairman, North-west, of the party, plotted his removal from office as the ruling party’s chair.
Oshiomhole spoke specifically on his battle with the governors elected on the platform of the ruling party.
He alleged that the governors deployed all manner of illegal means to remove him following his moves to enshrine party supremacy.
“Lukman wrote several letters, dismissing my leadership without calling me. When you ride on the back of a tiger, there is only one destination.
“Lukman was appointed undemocratically by the governors’ forum. I was not consulted— I was a governor. We were told this is the new DG of the APC governors’ forum.
“I wrote to the governors for a meeting. The governors said no, I should come to Imo House, not the APC office. He (Lukman) was there (where they were holding the meeting). He did not see anything wrong with that,” Oshiomhole said.
“It felt as though I was in a military barrack,” Oshiomhole said while recalling the atmosphere at the meeting with the governors.
He said following the diatribes from the governors, he responded “None of you can lecture me about the power of a governor because I have been governor twice. Eight years uninterrupted.
“At one point, I told Fayemi, ‘You did a resit. You were elected and by the second term, you lost. That means you failed’. I did not do a resit, and you are lecturing me about power. I can mention some of them.
“The man in Ogun State, he told me if not for the president, he would have left the party. Some of them told me ‘You are working for your paymaster in Lagos. Your paymaster in Bourdillon.’”
