12 founding members of APC list Oshiomhole’s sins, blame Tinubu. Is a rebellion brewing?

At least 12 founding members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) on Thursday accused the party’s National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of subtly supporting the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, in his feud with the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.

Oshiomhole and Obaseki have been embroiled in a protracted feud over control of the party’s machinery in Edo State.

The duo have rebuffed several attempts by concerned APC officials and other stakeholders to reconcile them in the interest of the party.

The 12 founding party members, in a statement, expressed surprise that the ex-Lagos State governor was silent on what they deemed Oshiomhole’s violation of the party’s constitution.

They said: “There not be a reconciliation in an atmosphere of impunity perpetrated by the National Chairman of APC, which could not have been possible without the tacit green light from the National leader himself.

“We find it bewildering that just within a space of one month, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole had serially and violently violated the APC Constitution; that the silence of Asiwaju, the National Leader is disconcerting.

READ ALSO: Edo govt lists Oshiomhole’s ‘sins’, says he’s disrupting peace in state to massage his ego

“Could it be that now we should forget about constitutionalism and due process in the affairs of APC? First, Adams Oshiomhole has constituted himself as a one-person National Working Committee of APC. It is distasteful and undemocratic that Adams Oshiomhole has subordinated the entire NWC to his whims and caprices such that the team spirit and canon of collective responsibility envisaged by the APC Constitution are no longer there.

“Who gave Comrade Adams Oshiomhole the power to convey the decision of the NWC to INEC as critical as that of the mode of primaries for governorship election three bright days before the meeting of the NWC on the matter? The implication of this illegal, nay irresponsible action is that the NWC did not meet to approve such a decision. At best, the NWC was convened to rubber-stamp his illegalities.

“Also, the APC National Chairman wrote a letter to INEC to change the official address of the Edo State chapter of APC contrary to Article 8 (page 6) of the APC Constitution, which also requires the approval of NEC.

“In the same vein, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole drafted a PDP loyalist into APC, a person that is being prosecuted by EFCC as we speak, a person that fiercely fought against the election of President Buhari in February 2019 elections in Edo State using the stolen arms money President Buhari is currently retrieving, a person with no clear allegiance to President Buhari and the APC, and unilaterally gave such person a waiver to contest governorship primaries without NEC approval.

“Now, if this had been the practice, then we can say that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has not only emasculated the NWC but put the NEC in one corner. Thus, by refusing to convene the meeting of the National Executive Committee of APC to consider critical decisions, Comrade Oshiomhole has murdered democracy in the APC.”

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