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NAT’L CHAIRMANSHIP: Battle to impose Oshiomhole, Oyegun splits APC S’South

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NAT’L CHAIRMANSHIP: Battle to impose Oshiomhole, Oyegun splits APC S’South

The ambitions of national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, is tearing the South south chapter of the party apart.

Both men are scheming to take control of the party, and emerge national chairman at the party’s forthcoming national convention

Four out of the six chairmen of the party in the South-South states on Monday night raised the alarm that they are being coerced against their will to dump Oyegun and support Oshiomhole.

While Oyegun is seeking to continue as the chairman of the party, Oshiomhole wants to take the job of the chairmanship of the party from him.

In a press statement earlier on Monday, national vice chairman APC South-South Zone, Ntufam Eta, had claimed that the zone had a meeting of executive members of the party in Benin City and had endorsed Oshiomole as its candidate for the national chairman position of the party.

He claimed that Oyegun was invited for the meeting but did not attend.

However, at a press conference later the same Monday, four out of the six chairmen of the APC in the zone denied endorsing Oshiomhole.

The state chairmen, Davies Ikanya, Rivers; Joseph Fafi, Bayelsa; Etim John, Cross River; and Amadu Attai, Akwa ibom, who stormed out of the meeting where it was claimed Oshiomhole was adopted, alleged that they went for a meeting only to be ambushed to adopt the former Edo State governor.

Ikanya said, “We were here for a meeting only to be ambushed by the national vice chairman of the party to adopt a preconceived candidate.

“Yesterday (Sunday), we held a meeting which he attended, only for him to come and manipulate, sort out every suggestion and he is trying to say he has come out with a resolution. First, I want us to know that the zonal executive committee does not have the power to elect, nominate or to adopt candidates for national offices.

“It is the national convention that can do that. Secondly, there are very senior members in the zone that were shut out of this meeting purposely. Number one, the national chairman of the party who is from this zone and the national vice chairman of the party ought to sought the permission of the national chairman of the party even to convene this meeting because the constitution states that the national vice chairman shall assist the national chairman.

“So, in this zone where we have a sitting chairman and he is not invited to a meeting, you have six ministers, you have former governors, you have very senior citizens of this zone and they were shut out of the meeting only for the national vice chairman to ambush everybody, ignore every motion that was moved, even when somebody moved a motion that he should disqualify himself having shown bias from the beginning in this meeting, he still sat there and he is saying to the public that there was a resolution.

“We want you to know that out of the states of the zone, four states are saying that this was an ambush, it was not acceptable, there was no resolution. We have said that every person is free to run in the election. We stand by the resolution of the national executive committee (NEC) that there is waiver. The national chairman can re-contest if he wants to re-contest, any other person from the zone can re-contest if they want to re-contest. What has happened in this meeting is a farce, is not binding on anybody, it is null and void. Four states are saying no, whereas just two states – Edo and some parts of Delta are the people that are saying that they have a resolution. This is not how democracy should be practiced. Arising from this meeting today, the majority view is that there is no consensus on any candidate.”

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Also speaking Fafi said, “I want to also align myself with my colleagues from other states that they are not aware of what happened here. It is undemocratic, unexpected and a complete fraud and we dissociate ourselves from what has happened here and we believe that the election should be open to any interested candidate from the South-South and the people will decide who to vote for and not the decision of Edo state.”

Since emerging the ruling party three years ago, the forthcoming national convention will be the first APC would hold, and already there are fears that the party may have serious issues to contend with if things go wrong during the event.

 

 

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