Barring last minute changes, former Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomhole will on Saturday, June 23, at the highly anticipated national convention of the All Progressives Congress, be coronated the National Chairman of the APC, taking over leadership of the ruling party from his co-former Edo state governor, John Odigie-Oyegun, who has been at the helm of the party’s affairs since 2014. This follows the resignation of no fewer than four contenders from the race of who gets to chair the APC. As it stands currently, the former governor is the sole candidate for the plum job!
Oshiomhole’s fait accompli manifested about 48 hours to the APC National Convention when his main rival for the APC chairmanship, Chief Clement Ebri, a former governor of Cross River state, withdrew from the race for the APC chairmanship, surrendering his supporters to Oshiomhole, who rose to limelight as a unionist and President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, APC.
The coasting of the immediate past governor of Edo state to the most important office in the APC does come as a surprise to political watchers. Since April 24, 2018 when President Muhammadu Buhari withdrew his support for Oyegun’s continuation in office, and rallied governors to work for Oshiomhole’s emergence as the APC National Chairman, it became clear that the comrade-governor would soon become everyone’s toast.
Even the self-styled National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who has relentlessly campaigned against Oyegun remaining in charge of the affairs of the party, embraced Oshiomhole as best suited to lead the APC to the 2019 electoral battle. Speaking after leading APC chieftains to the Asokoro-Abuja campaign office of Oshiomhole, the former Lagos governor told reporters: “There is no doubt (on Oshiomhole’s ability to lead APC). I have worked with him, why should I have any doubt?”
Between, the current national chairman, who was at a time angling for a second term in office, had kicked against the reported outcome of Buhari’s meeting with APC governors, dismissing the President and governors’ endorsement of his challenger as “childish, absolutely childish!”, and going on remind all who cared to know that voting will be done at the convention, not at the Aso Villa or in government houses. But few weeks later, Oyegun woke to reality and swallowed the bitter pill.
Speaking while taking back his interest to continue presiding over the affairs of the APC, Oyegun said, “Even though, I had the desire to re-contest as National Chairman of the party, I have decided that it is ultimately in the best interest of the party for me to withdraw from the race.” He capitulated to a man who had been accused of plotting his removal.
Recall that as of last year, a group, the All Progressives Congress Youth Vigilante claimed that Oshiomhole was out to sack Oyegun. The group’s Director, Organisation/Strategy, Mr. Emmanuel Oronsaye said, “Let us place it on record that the APC as a part is yet to arrive its ideologically wired end. It naturally has in its fold a lot of pretenders and Oshiomhole is one of them”.
“We are aware that this chieftain has blamed Chief Oyegun and vowed to vent his fury on Oyegun. This is absolutely miscalculated because the man, Oyegun, has no hand whatsoever in this person’s stunted rise to presidential relevance,” Oronsaye added. Although, Oshiomhole denied this claim, such was the relationship between the two Edo sons, yet Oyegun bowed.
He would later tell journalists after rescinding his decision to re-contest for the party’s chairmanship that, “I have been through several intense opposition with some saying ‘Oyegun must go’, but I said there was no reason why Oyegun should go… I was not intimidated out of the race, I only just thought of Oyegun being in the front or back pages of newspapers every day and being the famous whipping boy of the social media, maybe we should let somebody else bring some different air into the system”.
As he steps into Oyegun’s shoes this Saturday, it is hoped that Oshiomhole will learn to stomach criticisms and bring in the needed different air to the APC. Many have wondered how the then governor who was quick to tell an aggrieved widow whose livelihood was taken from her by his administration to ‘go and die’ would have the needed temperament to entertain and coalesce divergent views and dissents that are rife in the APC. This is more so as there are grumbles in some quarters that Oshiomhole is rather being imposed on party as national chairman.
Those making this complaint in hush tones believe that the open endorsement and advocacy for the emergence of Oshiomhole by Buhari, governors and other bigwigs of the party dissuaded other contenders and even forced those already in the race to back down as they wouldn’t want to be seen as going against the wishes of party leaders. This has limited their choice. Thus, Oshiomhole has his work cut out for him.
Post convention, he must promptly work to legitimise his ascension to the chairmanship such that he would be enjoying a popular mandate, not potentates’ mandate. It is even most imperative he attains the collective endorsement and acclaim of every APC member if he is to succeed in his avowed quest to enthrone party supremacy and get the President, governors and other elected public officers to kowtow to the directives and wishes of the party.
However, it must be pointed out that the ruling party lost it by promoting a consensus arrangement that took away members’ freedom to choose, instead of allowing the chairmanship aspirants test their popularity at the convention. The horse-trading that resulted in Oshiomhole emerging the sole candidate has only shown that there is no difference between the PDP and the party of change, after all.
It appears that in a desperation for another voice to help silence the opposition and square-up to the critical and irrepressible Uche Secondus, Kola Ologbondiyon, Ayo Fayose, Femi Fani-Kayode et al, the APC is sacrificing the democratic standard of balloting for horse-trading. But they should be reminded that the Oshiomhole who serenaded and swayed Nigerians in his days as labour leader is long gone. Besides, when the people have lost faith in a party and its government, not even a million mobilisers and political demagogues can return the disillusioned people.