Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, immediate past National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has exonerated himself from the crisis facing the party in many states especially in Zamfara, saying current chairman, Adams Oshiomhole lacks the quality and capacity to lead the party.
Odigie-Oyegun in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Chief Ray Morphy, said he could not be responsible for the crisis in the party as was being alleged in some quarters.
The statement was in response to allegations by six South-South APC state chairmen on Friday.
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The chairmen had attributed the current challenges facing the party as a “landmine” left behind by Odigie-Oyegun’s administration.
While exonerating himself from the allegation, Odigie-Oyegun said Oshiomhole could not move the party forward with his style of leadership.
“Oshiomhole fails because he lacks the temperament required to run a political party.
“He lacks the capacity to manage different interests and tendencies that constitute a political party.
“He engages his mouth before engaging his mind, so he offends party members, so how does that constitute traps by Oyegun,” Odigie-Oyegun wondered.
He recalled that already, the APC Deputy National Chairman (North) had confirmed that Oshiomhole runs the party without recourse to its National Working Committee (NWC) and acts in direct opposite to its decisions.
Odigie-Oyegun noted that many party men were against Oshiomhole because of unfair treatment and injustice meted on them during the party’s last primaries ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“Only a bad carpenter quarrels with his tools, indeed Oshiomhole is degrading and de-marketing the party, rather than seek to bring more people on board, he is chasing people out of the party with his agbero style of engagement,” Odigie-Oyegun said.
Sen. Lawal Shuaibu, APC Deputy National Chairman, North, had recently called on Oshiomhole to resign for allegedly failing to add value to the party since his election.
Shuaibu, in a six-page letter dated May 27 and addressed to Oshiomhole, accused him of incompetence, high handedness and immaturity in his handling of the party’s affairs.
In the letter made available to newsmen at the party’s National Secretariat on Tuesday in Abuja, Shuaibu noted that the APC had lost control of seven states under Oshiomhole.
He said: “That statement of booby traps by Oshiomhole is ludicrous and infantile, an attempt to drum up justification for the failings of the party under Oshiomhole’s chairmanship. Oshiomhole failed because he lacks the temperament that is required to run a political party.
“He lacks the capacity to manage the different interests and tendencies that constitute a political party. He engages his mouth before engaging his mind, so he offends party members. So, how does that constitute booby traps by Odigie-Oyegun, the erstwhile chairman?
“Already, the Deputy National Chairman has confirmed that Oshiomhole runs the party without recourse to the NWC. He acts in direct opposite of decisions taken by NWC. No minutes of the NWC meetings which in any event take place outside the party secretariat.
“How would you not have crisis in states with the confusion that Oshiomhole created when he gave the states freedom to choose their methods of picking candidates for elections? Much of the crisis in states arose out of sheer incapacity on the part of the current chairman. How has this Oshiomhole incapacity become booby traps by Odigie-Oyegun.
“Many party men were aghast at the unfairness and injustice meted to them during the primaries process. Only a bad carpenter quarrels with his tools.”
Samson Oyedeyi
