Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), on Thursday urged Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to be less combative in addressing his rift with some governors in the party over the fall-out of the just concluded primaries of the party.
While backing the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) for standing firm and preventing the governors from carrying out their selfish desires, Sagay, however, said the language employed by Oshiomhole in addressing the governors who were major stakeholders in the party was too harsh.
He said while the governors had a right to be aggrieved, having lost out in the battle, Oshiomhole should employ tact and diplomacy in assuaging their feelings so as not to worsen the crisis.
On the attempt by Governor Rochas Okorocha to install his son-in law, Uche Nwosu, as his successor, Sagay said it was unfair for the outgoing governor to want to turn Imo State into ‘Okorocha Nigeria Plc’.
He added: “It just shows you that our elite are really spoilt. They think the whole country can be sacrificed for their own personal interests.
“How can you try to install your own son-in-law to replace you as governor after you have served for eight years?
“At the same time, you want to go to the Senate, and your wife to go to the House of Reps.
“In fact, the seat he wants to occupy in the Senate is the one belonging to Hope Uzodinma, the man who has been recognised as the duly elected governorship candidate.
“If that was not the case, he would have deprived the man of his seat, install his son-in-law, install his wife in the House of Reps, install his brother as Deputy Governor, and so on and then, the whole state becomes Okorocha Plc.
“There is a limit to which you can do things like that. This is a public matter, not a private issue. So, I support the decision of the APC national chairman on this issue.
“My only worry with him is that his language has been too harsh in addressing Amosun and Okorocha.
“You don’t need to be so harsh and hard when you know that you are dealing with important people in the party who did something that could be wrong.
“You can let them down gently and you can even call them and tell them what they are trying to do is wrong and, as such, you can’t allow it.
“These governors are hurt; they are in pains, so their rhetoric is harsh. You, as national chairman, has had your way and exercised your power, you can calmly talk to them with a view to reconciling with them.
“You don’t have to be forceful and combative in everything. This is not labour dispute against Federal Government. It is a party affair.”
