Amosun: Oshiomhole Represented Destructive Threat to APC Before His Ouster

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

A former governor of Ogun state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has said a former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Adams Oshiomhole, posed the biggest and most destructive threat to the existence of the party at the time he was removed from office.

Amosun stated this in a statement yesterday while responding to Oshiomhole’s outburst at the the public presentation of a book titled, “APC and Transition Politics”, authored  by a former National Vice Chairman, North-west, of the party, Dr. Salihu Lukman.

Oshiomhole had described Amosun as disloyal to the party and one of the problems of the APC at the time, who sought to control him as party chairman.

The former governor, however, described the statement credited to Oshiomhole at the event as ‘tales by moonlight’.

Amosun stressed that his apparent struggle was not for want of a proportional response to Oshiomhole’s deliberate drivel, but because not only was his story fraught with lies, but also because he did not boast the requisite integrity to say the truth.

Aside from that, he said it was not in his character to join issues with people he considered qualified enough to be referred to as both leaders of the party and Nigeria, to which he believed Oshiomhole belongs.

“However, given his antecedents and penchant for careless and most times, baseless and unverified public statements, and also considering my duty to the country and the public in particular, it will be uncharitable if I fail to put the records straight.

“What Senator Oshiomhole was alleged to have said, apart from being far from the truth, is a calculated attempt to present water while drinking wine. The Yoruba adage says, ‘If you let a mad man bury his mum the way it pleases him, he could roast her for a meal.’ At that point, the community is to blame for his choice.

“Indeed, listening to him yesterday (Tuesday), his utterances represent some inherent inadequacy, which he vented, not just at inauspicious times, but without basis and predicated only on lies to hoodwink the unsuspecting,” he said.

Amosun emphasised that it was not in doubt that he had participated fully in the formation and sustenance of the ruling party, he could boldly say that the party under Oshiomhole conducted one of the worst primaries in the history of Nigeria’s contemporary politics.

He said his leadership and ended up shopping for his own enemies, which led to his eventual removal as Chairman of APC.

Also, who was also a senator, said  Nigerians should not be in a hurry to forget the allegations that preceded the conduct of those primaries and Oshiomhole’s eventual invitation by the Department of State Service (DSS) to clarify certain grave allegations.

According to him, “If anyone was in doubt that Senator Oshiomhole posed the biggest and most destructive threat to the existence of the APC at that time, and the party’s best bet was to dispose of a canon folder that he was and unfortunately still is, his utterances and grandstanding yesterday at an occasion to find solutions to our democratic and party challenges, would have cleared such mindset.

“If he wanted to insult our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, he could have come out boldly to do so. But his subtle attempt to pass snide remarks at him failed the simple test of loyalty because the former president also moved from his own party to merge with other like-minds to form the APC.

“Also, if he is seeking favour from the presidency, why not come out and do so? But to tell barefaced lies that, ‘You are working for your paymaster in Lagos, paymaster in Bourdillon,’ is cheap but typical of an individual, who suddenly found himself where he never dreamt of, despite his obvious limitations – education and exposure.”

Amosun stressed that if the public would remember, soon after Oshiomhole was sworn in as a Senator, he claimed that members of the 9th Senate had vandalised their offices before leaving, only for him to eat the humble pie and made to apologise later when it was obvious that the allegations were baseless.

“My honest advice to him is to carefully and soberly seat down to take stock of his past so that it will continue to serve as a guide for him in his future public utterances rather than dragging the names of innocent people into a needless controversy because in Africa, age and leadership are associated with wisdom.

“This is why I have consistently brushed aside and intentionally scoffed at his tongue-in-cheek apology, which he had extended to me several times. I am now convinced it was not genuine,” he said.