The Progressives Governors Forum has asked the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman Adams Oshiomhole to convene a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting to address the party’s challenges or resign his position. The ultimatum came after a Federal High Court in Yenagoa; Bayelsa State ruled that the APC has no candidate for the Saturday governorship election in the state. Justice Jane Inyang ruled that David Lyon was not the APC’s candidate for the election.
“It is either Comrade Oshiomhole respect the provision of the party constitution and convene superior organ meeting to deliberate on all our challenges, or he should just accept his inability to manage the party and simply resign,” Progressives Governor Forum Director-General Salihu Mohammed Lukman said in a statement. In the current circumstance, nothing short of a NEC or National Caucus meeting of the party can resolve all our increasing organizational challenges as a party.”
Lukman’s criticism comes a day after APC Edo State chapter suspended Oshiomhole. In Oshiomhole’s suspension letter, Edo State APC chairman Anselm Ojezua accused him of being behind the party’s internal crisis. Also suspended along with the governor, were his deputy, Mr. Philip Shaibu, and Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Osarodion Ogie. Prior to this, there had been a growing internal crisis within the APC before and after the 2019 general elections. Some of the party’s aspirants that lost their primary elections of different political offices passed a vote of no confidence on Oshiomhole and accused him of corruption.
The APC was denied participation in Zamfara and Rivers State governorship election following court rulings that the APC in both states failed to conduct credible primary elections. Oshiomhole was largely blamed for the incidents.
Lukman said Oshiomhole ought to focus on working to win elections for the party but had lost grip of the party with local politics in Edo State. While Oshiomhole and Edo State governor Godwin Obaseki still have unresolved differences, Lukman said it is painful to see Oshiomhole devalue himself to a local factional leader from a very high pedestal of an illustrious national leader.
“What legacy is Comrade Oshiomhole hoping to achieve as a National Chairman by running the party in a way that suggests almost zero commitment to issues of party development?,” Lukman queried. He opined that the APC National Working Committee (NWC) headed by Oshiomhole has become a shadow of itself after losing members to appointment into government offices and controversial suspensions.
Meanwhile, a Federal High Court sitting in Bayelsa State ruled that the ruling APC has no candidate for the Saturday governorship election in the state. The judge, Justice Jane Inyang ruled that David Lyon was not the party’s candidate for the election. One of APC’s governorship aspirants in Bayelsa Heineken Lokpobiri filed the petition against the Lyon. Lokpobiri, a former minister of state for agriculture asked the court to declare him the authentic candidate of the APC.
“The court pronounced that the governorship primary conducted by the APC in Bayelsa state was not done in compliance with the guidelines and the constitution of the party, and, therefore, the party has no candidate,” Lokpobiri’s lawyer, Fitzgerald Olorogun, told journalists after the court ruling. We’ll do the needful. But for now, the pronouncement of the court is that APC has no candidate.”
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday disqualified Lyon’s running mate Biobarakuma Degi from participating in the election because he provided conflicting information on the documents he presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The case against Mr Degi-Eremienyo was filed by the PDP. Huhuonline.com gathered from sources close to the electoral umpire; INEC was served the enrolled order of the Federal High Court, Abuja that disqualified the APC running mate in the governorship election. Justice Inyang Ekwo, who had disqualified Degi-Eremienyo on Tuesday due to anomalies found in his form CF 001, submitted to the INEC for clearance in the poll, signed the order, a certified true copy of which was made available to Huhuonline.com after service.
Even before the Lyon’s disqualification, the disqualification of Degi-Eremienyo had endangered the APC ticket as Lyon, risked being delisted from the ballot as the pair is constitutionally conjoined to run for the election because he cannot run without a validly-nominated running mate.
In another development, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that it has constituted a fact-finding and reconciliation committee of party leaders to meet with all disputing parties to ensure that all issues affecting the Edo State chapter of the party are addressed and resolved. The National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, disclosed this in a statement issued yesterday after the NWC meeting held at the party secretariat, Abuja. He said the NWC also received a notification of the suspension of the Edo APC Chairman, Anselem Ojezua, by eleven (11) of the sixteen (16) members of the Edo State Working Committee (SWC). Issa-Onilu said the NWC reviewed the process and concluded that they have fulfilled the required conditions. He said the NWC, therefore, upheld the suspension of Ojezua while awaiting the outcome of the fact-finding and reconciliation committee.
Issa-Onilu recalled that party leaders such as the Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Chairman, Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) and Governor of Kebbi State, Alhaji Abubakar Bagudu, and other eminent party leaders, had all tried at various times to ensure that the issues do not escalate.
He said that sadly, these interventions had not yielded the desirable results, but noted that the immediate concern of the NWC was how to ensure that unity returned to the ranks of the party in Edo State. Issa-Onilu stressed: “In achieving this, we have decided to constitute a high-power fact-finding and reconciliation committee of party leaders to meet with all disputing parties to ensure that all issues are addressed and resolved.”
The party stated categorically that the NWC’s objective and cause of action was strictly to address the root causes of the disputations and reconcile all parties to make the party even stronger. Meanwhile a faction in the state has announced the suspension of the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, from the party over alleged anti-party activities. Also suspended along with the governor, were his deputy, Philip Shaibu, and Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie.
But reacting to the gale of suspensions rocking the APC in the state, the PDP state chairman, Mr. Dan Orbih said it is only in APC that a national chairman, the state chairman and the secretary would be suspended in one day.
