Akeredolu blast APC chairman, Oshiomole, over party primaries

Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, narrates the incompetency of All Progressive Congress (APC) chairman, Adam Oshiomole, describing the recent primaries conducted by the ruling party as a charade.

The governor made the reaction following the allegation that three governors under his leadership are planning on sabotaging the party.

During a protest in the party's Secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, Akeredolu was listed among leaders of conservatives bent on removing Oshiomole as leader of the ruling party.

Akeredolu described the protesters as opportunists. He also denied the allegation, saying he found it laughable and distracting.

According to a statement issued by his senior special adviser on special duties and strategy, Doyin Odebowale, the governor justified his opposition to Oshiomhole’s choice as party chairman, adding that those who feel aggrieved reserve the right to demand justice, including calling for Oshiomhole’s removal.

He, however, stated that he was committed to President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election.

Read the statement below:

“The governor had expressed preference for someone else during the contest for the office of the Chairman of the party.

“He did not hide his opposition to Mr Oshiomole’s aspiration for the simple reason that the leadership of a party, especially the one just emerging from a merger, should distance itself from egregious and inherently destructive narcissism;

“Recent events seem to justify this position as prescient. Only sycophants will fail to see the obvious. Mr President would not have expressed worries over the crises in the Party if everything had gone on smoothly.

“The handlers of the mob strive in vain to set the President against certain government functionaries considered antagonistic to their pernicious scheme for dominance.

“Their devious plot to outsmart those perceived as opposing their expansionist tendency compelled them to take desperate measures. Anyone endowed with an attitude of sobriety should have seen the need for calm.

“Rather than retrace their steps and display genuine contrition, their desperation pushes them to embrace measures capable of not only hurting the Party, but, regrettably, the President, whom they pretend to love so much.

“Those who collected varying and humongous amounts as fees from aspirants during the last grandiose charade called primaries and submitted names dictated to them by a cabal, notorious for capturing political power for unbridled pillage, should be bold to explain their real motives to the people. They should be honest enough to deal with the issues,".