By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Erstwhile National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was filled with excitement going in and coming out of the Presidential Villa to brief the presidency that the party took the right step in disqualifying the incumbent governor and the candidate he loves to hate, Godwin Obaseki as the party prepares for governorship election in the Edo state.
Oshiomhole, after leading members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to meet with the Chief of Staff to the president, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, described APC as a party governed by rules, insisting that the party could not have bent such rules to favour Obaseki. And Obaseki was denied right of first refusal. The rest is history!
Rules indeed! Who determines the rules? Written or insinuation? To Oshiomhole, whatever that suites him is law and hence his strictness that Obaseki didn’t get the second term he kicked against.
According to Oshiomhole, “the party decided to be strict in screening contenders for the election to avoid a repeat of the loss it suffered in Bayelsa State where it lost the state to PDP after winning the governorship election only because it failed to do thorough screening.
Recall that APC candidate in Bayelsa State, Mr. David Lyon, was stopped from being sworn in on the eve of his inauguration as the Supreme Court, in a judgment, disqualified the deputy governor-elect, Senator Biobarakuma- Degi-Eremienyo, on account of inconsistencies in his credentials.
These are matters arising and the aforementioned impunities were perpetrated under the watch of Emperor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who bent rules with whims and caprices without recourse to what the constitution of the party says. Like Oshiomhole said, had he allowed the rules to govern the activities of his party, Zamfara episode, Bayelsa saga, and the crisis rocking APC in Edo state would have been averted.
Oshiomhole Threw Caution to The Wind
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole threw caution to the wind and carried on as if there is no life after political office. He was never close to being the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria yet, was hell bent to lure the Presidency into violating the constitution and oath of office. This he attempted indirectly when he declared, after Supreme Court’s judgement, that Duoye Diri, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the November governorship election in Bayelsa, will not be sworn in.
Even as party chairman, Oshimhole opposed supreme court judgement, showing that he lacks democratic chromosomes.
Reacting to the sack of David Lyon, his party’s candidate who was declared winner of the election but sacked by the supreme court, Oshiomhole said the PDP candidate did not meet the requirement for swearing in.
“He said there was no candidate in the election that met the requirement apart from Lyon, adding that the implication is that from Friday Bayelsa will be without a governor.
“Let me also say that it is not a state secret, if as the supreme court has ruled, David Lyon cannot now be sworn in as the person who has the highest number of votes and the spread to be sworn in, it simply means from tomorrow there will be no governor in Bayelsa state.
“And, therefore from the fact available to us, in consultation with our lawyers, it is clear that there is no candidate that meet the requirements of the supreme court, which means no one can be sworn in legally tomorrow unless there is a deliberate abuse of the legal process.”
Oshiomhole said Lyon won convincingly, saying a candidate who lost the election could not be imposed on the people of Bayelsa.
In a manner which seemed as if he was blaming the supreme court, Oshiomhole said when a similar case was brought before the apex court in 1999, INEC was ordered to conduct a fresh election.
Since everything that has beginning must have an end, this is end of the road for Oshiomhole.
