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*APC governors already short-listing candidates, sources say
JuJun26th, 2019
*ACN block in APC insists it’s their turn
*Buhari gave nod for replacement, party chieftains say
By Ezeocha Nzeh, Group Politics Editor
Governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) extraction may have commenced consideration of possible replacement for the embattled national chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
The AUTHORITY gathered from competent sources at the Presidential Villa and the party that President Muhammadu Buhari has already given tacit approval for Oshiomhole’s replacement.
“Yes, I can tell you authoritatively that the president has given tacit approval for the national chairman to be replaced. He is tired of the problems which crop up at the party every now and then. He has approved that the governors shop for his replacement,” the sources stated.
Oshiomhole has faced series of criticisms from party members since after the party’s primaries for the past general elections.
At a point, he was said to have been drilled by the Department of State Security (DSS) over alleged undercurrents in the primaries that brought the party’s candidates for the election, as well as other allegations bothering on sleaze leveled against him.
According to the sources, the president approved Oshimhole’s replacement when he met with some APC governors at the Aso Villa.
The governors were said to have accused the party chairman of lacking the capacity to lead the party.
Recall that it was the APC’s Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Lawal Shuaibu that first accused Oshiomhole of lacking the capacity to handle the APC.
Shuaibu, had in a personal letter he wrote to Oshiomhole which was leaked to the media, insisted that with the low performance of the APC in the last general elections, Oshiomhole has no option but to resign.
Also, the former national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, had accused Oshiomhole of “conducting the most fraudulent party primaries in the history of Nigerian democracy”.
In a statement issued by Oyegun’s Media Adviser, Ray Murphy, he said: “It is common knowledge that Oshiomole ran the most fraudulent primaries in the history of politics in Nigeria.
“Recall that INEC said so when it adjudged Oshiomole’s primaries as the worst so far. The courts are saying the same thing today by upturning several APC primaries for being undemocratic”.
Although the APC State chairmen came in defense of Oshiomhole when they recently passed a vote of confidence on him after a meeting with the NWC in Abuja, the call for his removal have remained persistent.
According to the secretary of the Forum of APC state chairmen, Dr. Ben Nwoye: “We met with National Chairman of our great party in company of members of the NWC. Based on the information we have and the readiness of the national chairman to lead this party to the Next Level, we have all unanimously passed a vote of confidence on the person of the national chairman and the NWC.
“Any rumour that our National Chairman is facing troubled time should be disregarded. We need to bring that to stop the speculation. He is a strong leader. He has all it takes to lead this party to the Next Level”.
Nonetheless, The AUTHORITY gathered that two APC chieftains from Cross Rivers State, Sen. Victor Ndoma Egba and a former governor of the state, Chief Clement Ebiri, are being considered as possible replacement for Oshimhole.
Also the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) bloc of the party wants a Delta state chieftain, Chief Alex Ideh, who The AUTHORITY gathered is also receiving the support of the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu as a possible replacement, if Oshiomhole is kicked out.
Sen. Ndoma Egba, a former chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and Secretary of the past APC National Convention Planning Committee is battling his recent defeat at the Senatorial Election Tribunal.
Clement Ebiri, a former governor of Cross River State, was in the race with Oshiomhole to replace former chairman, Odigie-Oyegun but was pressurised by the presidency to step down for Oshiomhole.
However we learnt that pro-Oshiomhole forces in the party have maintained that Ndoma Egba and Ebiri are not qualified to take up the job, adding that the state has already produced a member in the current NWC, Hillard Eta, the National Vice Chairman (South-South), hence the push for Alex Ideh, a former National Treasurer of the defunct ACN from the ACN bloc for the job.
http://authorityngr.com/2019/06/26/ndoma-egba-ebiri-ideh-tipped-to-replace-oshiomhole/
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