APC crisis deepens as governors shop for Oshiomhole’s replacement

Sade AdewaleJune 23, 2019

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The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, is far from surviving the plot to ease him out of office.

There is a fresh move to kick him out of the party’s national secretariat coming on the eve of his one year in office as party’s chairman.

A party source told Sunday Tribune that APC governors tabled a demand for a change in the party’s leadership while meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari during the week.

Kebbi State governor and chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, led his colleagues to the meeting.

It was gathered that the APC governors, at the meeting with President Buhari, expressed concern over the ongoing power tussle at the party’s national secretariat and pleaded for his intervention.

The source revealed that a meeting of its statutory organs, the national caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) might be convened to discuss the cold war between Oshiomhole and his deputy.

Prodded for the name of likely replacement if the governors succeeded in their putsch against the former Edo State governor, the source disclosed that “the governors are shopping for a replacement behind the president.

“They are restricting their choice to the South- South zone. They aren’t looking in the direction of the South- West and they don’t trust the South- East with the number one position in the party.”

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Lanre Isa-Onilu, could not be reached for comments last night.

His deputy, Yekeen Nabena, however, told Sunday Tribune on phone that he was not aware of any plan for a NEC meeting.

He said: “I am not aware of any plan to hold meeting of NEC. Only the chairman or secretary can call for the meeting.

“We don’t even have a substantive national secretary now. The person we have is acting. So, the power to call the NEC meeting resides with our chairman. The governors can’t force him to call NEC meeting,” he said.

Oshiomhole has been having a running battle with one of his deputies, Senator Lawan Shuaibu, who blamed the party’s poor performance in the general election on Oshiomhole.

Senator Shuaibu, who is the deputy national chairman (North) had, in a recent letter, accused Oshiomhole of excluding other members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) in the running of the party.

Senator Shuaibu, in the letter dated May 27, 2019, entitled, “APC: its Fortunes VS Misfortunes: Time to Act,” demanded Oshiomhole’s resignation to save the party from what he called imminent collapse.

Shuiabu had since declined invitation to a five-man disciplinary committee set up by Oshiomhole with the deputy national chairman (South), Chief Niyi Adebayo, as chairman.

Senator Shuaibu, who incidentally is from Zamfara State, has since been suspended by a factional executive of the party in the state.

Factional Publicity Secretary, Zamfara State chapter, Mohammed Bakyasuwa, led other officials of the party to the APC national secretariat last week to submit the report which accused both former governor, Abdulazeez Yari and Senator Lawan of breaching Article 21(a) 2014 of the APC constitution.