Bola Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), has finally opened up on the ouster of Adams Oshiomhole, the
party’s former national chairman and his loyalist.
In a 1858-word statement on Saturday, Tinubu detailed how
the crisis which saw the dissolution of the party’s national working committee
(NWC) could have been averted.
He admitted there were mistakes which Oshiomhole must own up
to, and also spoke about speculations that he ended up a loser in the aftermath
of the crisis regarding his reported presidential ambition.
Here are seven key things the former governor of Lagos state
said:
‘OSHIOMHOLE MADE MISTAKES’
Tinubu said though Oshiomhole “tried his best” while
overseeing the affairs of the party for two years, he acted “too little too
late” in addressing some urgent issues that arose.
He also said the erstwhile national chairman must own up to
mistakes made during his tenure.
“Some members went against their chairman in a bid to
forcefully oust him. In hindsight, his fence-mending attempts were perhaps too
little too late,” Tinubu said.
“I believed and continue to believe that Comrade Oshiomhole
tried his best. Mistakes were made and he must own them. Yet, we must remember
also that he was an able and enthusiastic campaigner during the 2019 election.
He is a man of considerable ability as are the rest of you who constituted the
NWC.”
‘PEOPLE THOUGHT APC WILL DISINTEGRATE’
Tinubu, a founding leader of the APC, added that some people
had predicted “the total disintegration of our party” following the crisis.
“Most such dire predictions were from critics whose
forecasts said more about their ill will than they revealed about our party’s
objective condition,” he said.
Although he described the predictions as premature, he added
that “an honest person must admit the party had entered a space where it had no
good reason to be”.
‘NO DECISION ON 2023 PRESIDENTIAL RACE’
The APC leader also took a jab at those who said the outcome
of President Muhammadu Buhari’s intervention in the crisis shattered his
presidential ambition.
He described the claims as “distasteful”, saying he has made
no decision regarding the next presidential election.
He said: “I am but a mere mortal who does not enjoy the
length of foresight or political wisdom you profess to have. Already, you have
assigned colourful epitaphs to the 2023 death of an alleged political ambition
that is not yet even born.
“At this extenuating moment with COVID-19 and its economic
fallout hounding us, I cannot see as far into the distance as you. I have made
no decision regarding 2023 for the concerns of this hour are momentous enough.
“During this period, I have not busied myself with
politicking regarding 2023. I find that a bit distasteful and somewhat uncaring
particularly when so many of our people have been unbalanced by the twin public
health and economic crises we face.”
‘NWC EXHIBITED BEHAVIOUR OF A FIGHT CLUB’
Tinubu tackled the former members of the dissolved NWC who
he said failed to use the party mechanisms to address their grievances.
He said these party leaders had wanted to “use the power of
executive authority to bury each other,” thus exhibiting “the behaviour of a
fight club (which is) not the culture of a progressive political party”.
“The National Working Committee, itself, became riven by
unnecessary conflict. Those who disagreed with one another stopped trying to
find common ground,” he said.
“Order, party discipline and mutual respect went out of the
window. Members instituted all manner of court cases, most of them destructive,
some of them frivolous, none of them necessary. In the process, a dense fog
fell upon our party.”
‘BUHARI’S DECISION MUST BE ACCEPTED’
Tinubu commended Buhari’s intervention, saying the president
“cares about the condition of the party as any parent would care for its
offspring”.
“With lawsuits so numerous one needed a spread sheet to keep
track, President Buhari has reasonably decided that he has seen enough. I do
not lament his intervention or its outcome. I lament that the situation
degenerated to the point where he felt compelled to intervene,” he said.
He said what is worrisome was that “so many trusted people
acted in such a way as to force the president to put aside the issues of
statecraft in order to address these problems”.
“The President has spoken and his decision has been
accepted. It is now beholden on all of us, as members of the APC, to recommit
ourselves to the ideals and principles on which our party was founded,” he
added.
‘EX-NWC MEMBERS SHOULD SHEATHE THEIR SWORDS’
The APC leader appealed to former members of the party’s NWC
to sheathe their swords and “look to the larger picture”.
He said members must “subordinate their ambitions to health
and well-being of the party” against all odds.
“Never should our party be defined by one person’s interests
or even the amalgam of all members’ individual interests, he said adding that
“a successful party must be greater than the sum of its parts”.
EDO, ONDO GUBER POLLS UP NEXT
He added that the party must unite to win the governorship
elections in Edo — where the incumbent defected to the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) and emerged its candidate — and Ondo states.
“We have governorship elections around the corner in Edo and
a primary and elections in Ondo. On these important events we must concentrate
our immediate energies,” he said.
“In Edo, we must rally round our candidate Pastor Osagie Ize
Iyamu. In this, Comrade Oshiomhole has a crucial role to play. I congratulate
him for his equanimity and loyalty to the party and our President in accepting
the dissolution of the NWC. I encourage him, now, to return to Edo State to
energise the campaign for the election of Pastor Ize-Iyamu.”
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