“I hear some people say Oshiomhole has lost his seat as the National Chairman of APC and I asked ‘is it my father’s job?’”
This was the response the immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, to those who have been jubilating over his loss of the party’s championship via judicial pronouncement.
Oshiomhole, who was addressing APC supporters ahead of the Edo gubernatorial election in September, stressed that he had no personal grudge against Governor Godwin Obaseki, who was disqualified by the APC’s primary electoral panel from flying the party’s flag for a second term.
He said that the APC screening committee relied on the documents to disqualify Obaseki from the party’s primary in 2020, adding that the PDP’s suit in 2016 against Obaseki, then of APC, was struck out because it was filed out of time.
Oshiomhole said that APC leaders had learnt from the mistake in Bayelsa State and decided to stick to the rules.
“In 2016, PDP took Obaseki to court that he forged certificates. Now, you remember one governor (PDP’s Nyesom Wike of Rivers State) that said there are tax collectors, when something moved, they collected the taxes and the certificates became okay.
“But let me tell you, members of APC’s screening committee knew that the man who forged documents, even if you vote for him, you know what happened to us in Bayelsa State.
‘’So, I need to assure you that the decision of the screening committee members to disqualify the sitting governor (of Edo State) was based on the evidence provided by PDP leaders in 2016, which they found to be correct and you do not repeat the same mistake twice.
“The only task we have is to go to every unit, every community, every ward, every local government area and remind them of where we stopped and ask them since we left, what new thing has been brought?
“If I failed Godwin Obaseki’s examination, by the grace of God on Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, I will score A1.
‘’It is not unusual to misread people but it will be unusual after misreading them, you continue on that dangerous part.
‘’ We have a duty to correct it. I assure you that there are no personal issues whatsoever.”
Oshiomhole assured that Ize-Iyamu, a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), would ensure good governance from November 12.
