..former governor not loyal to buhari
The former chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), now a Senator, Adams Oshiomole on Tuesday narrated how the immediate past Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun passionately begged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former Ogun State Governor, Segun Osoba before he was given the 2011 Ogun State Governorship ticket under the then Action Congress.
The former chairman,spoke at the launch of a book “APC and Transition Politics”, authored by Salihu Lukman, a former national vice chairman (North-west) of the party, at the Shehu Yar’Adua Center in Abuja on Tuesday.
Adams Oshiomhole, while narrating the event that led to his exit as the APC National Chairman said Amosun alongside former Ekiti state Governor played prominent role in his removal.
“The man in Ogun State, he told me if not for the president, he have would left the party. Some of them told me “You are working for your paymaster in Lagos. Your paymaster in Bourdillon.
“I told the Ogun State governor, not the current one, the former one. I said “You are not loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Because if you are, when Buhari lost the election, you ported to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in search of a political greener pasture.
You begged Asiwaju to beg Segun Osoba to accept you when you lost in the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). And today, you are coming to say that you are loyal, what manner of loyalty is that? This is what you call opportunism,” Mr Oshiomhole said.
Sen. Oshiomole said former governors of Ekiti and Ogun State, Kayode Fayemi and Ibikunle Amosun, respectively instigated his removal.
He alleged that the governors deployed all manner of illegal means to remove him following his moves to enshrine party supremacy.
“Lukman wrote several letters, dismissing my leadership without calling me. When you ride on the back of a tiger, there is only one destination. Lukman was appointed undemocratically by the governors’ forum. I was not consulted—I was a governor. We were told this is the new DG of the APC governors forum.
“Lukman was there when I wrote a letter, inviting the governors for a meeting to discuss the guidelines for conducting primaries, let me know the thinking of the various interest groups.
I have discussed it with the president, and I needed to discuss it with the governors—so that once the guidelines are out, the party can claim ownership of it because it has been debated.
“I wrote to the governors for a meeting. The governors said no, I should come to Imo House, not the APC office. He (Lukman) was in the there (where they were holding the meeting). He did not see anything wrong with that,” Mr Oshiomhole said.
Speaking on the atmosphere at the meeting with the governors, Mr Oshiomhole said “It felt as though I was in a military barrack.”
He said following the diatribes from the governors, he responded “None of you can lecture me about the power of a governor. Because I have been governor twice. Eight years uninterrupted.
At a point, I told Fayemi, ‘You did a resit. You were elected and by the second term, you lost. That means you failed’. I did not do a resit, and you are lecturing me about power. I can mention some of them.
