I fight the opposition, not my party members – Oshiomhole

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, said on Saturday he was never involved in any fight with members of the party and would never insult anyone.

The ex-Edo State governor insisted that he dissipates his energy in fighting the opposition and not his party members.

He was reacting to the reported threat by the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, to suspend him from the APC at state level over alleged anti-party activities.

Oshiomhole, who spoke with journalists in Edo North after some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defected to APC, said he would not fight his party members because he is interested in the unity of the party.

According to Oshiomhole, he dissipates his energy in fighting the opposition and not his party members.

He said: “The good thing about entertainment is that you choose the kind of entertainment you want but when it comes to rules, they are rigid and they are even enforceable. So, I think that sooner than later everybody in the APC family will see the futility of fighting one another.

“I have never dissipated energy fighting within the party, I was never involved and will never be involved in intra-party fighting. Rather, I reserve my energy for the opposition and once they ring the bell for the contest, I deploy that reserve energy.

“I have not publicly or privately fought or abused any APC leader or member, any ACN leader or member, any AC leader or member.

“That does not mean that a couple of people didn’t do what I didn’t like but I also recognized that that is why we are humans and my responsibility as a leader is to identify those people, bring them, persuade them, caution them where necessary and guide them on how to go forward.”

He, however, admitted that there was an internal quarrel within the party.

READ ALSO: Eight Zamfara council chiefs dump APC for PDP

He recalled how some members of the party burnt cars at Benin airport in a bid to prevent his aircraft from landing.

He added: “There must be disagreement, there must be contests, there must be legitimate divergent views about how to arrive at a destination.

“You know we had an incident like that in Benin when some people just chose to go and buy disused vehicles, put them on the road, burnt the asphalt on airport road just because they didn’t want me to land in Benin. What was the purpose of my coming? To receive more people into our party.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now