Jonathan Replies Oshiomhole, Says He Didn’t Start Vote Buying

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Following the claim by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, that former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, started vote buying in Nigeria, the ex-president has said that Oshiomhole’s fragile psychological state has reached a boiling point.

The Chairman of APC had while featuring on a Channels Television programme, ‘Roadmap’, was quoted to have said: “President Jonathan started this massive vote buying in Nigeria and the media must play back and do proper interview and investigation to discover the origin of vote buying.”

However, while responding through a statement issued by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, titled: ‘Oshiomhole: The burden of blame game and tumultuous leadership’, the former president said Oshiomhole was currently operating under tremendous stress in a bid to steady the already floundering ship of his administration.

Jonathan stressed that as the new leader of his party, he might have got himself entangled in a voyage of tactless desperation.

He stated: “Our attention has been drawn to a media report in which the national Chairman of APC, Oshiomhole, was alleged to have claimed that President Jonathan started vote buying in Nigeria.
“His recent flip flops where he praised Governor Samuel Ortom and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso one day only to denounce them the next day, is enough evidence of his fragile psychological state.

“Not only is he contented on squabbling with members of the opposition, we note the self-destructive tendencies of Oshiomhole who is locked in a feud with members of his own party, including the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, and a host of APC governors. It appears that Oshiomhole’s psychological strain may have reached boiling point.”

Jonathan added that when juxtapose the above statement with Oshiomhole’s current statement, it becomes obvious that the APC chairman is suffering from “multiple personality syndrome and has a Jekyll and Hyde schizophrenia.”

On the vexatious issue of ‘vote-buying’, which has unfortunately found its way into the country’s election lexicon, Jonathan pointed out that it was obvious that the shameful development in the democratic experience became very glaring during the 2016 gubernatorial elections in Edo State, an exercise that took place more than one year after he had left office.

He noted: “It is therefore deceitful for any politician or group to link the former president with the anomaly, no matter how they want to stretch the now-failing blame game.

“While in office as president between 2010 and 2015, Jonathan conducted many elections including the 2011 and 2015 general election, and many off-season gubernatorial and parliamentary elections in some states like Anambra, Ekiti, Ondo and Edo, and not for once did the issue of vote buying come up in the assessment of those elections.”