Crusaderhotnews
*_...reacts to his suspension, says it’s mere entertainment_*
*_...unfolds what APC will do on Valentine Day_*
Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole a few days ago received thousands of PDP supporters from Edo North Senatorial District into the APC. The podium built for the rally had been destroyed before the event.
Oshiomhole spoke after the rally:
*Edo APC primaries*
I think what happened today is the best evidence that not only our primaries, our activities will be peaceful.
That does not mean that I am in a position to vouch for the inner intentions of each and every member of our party but I am able to say that the overwhelming majority, 98 per cent of APC members are peace-loving people and we are not about to do primaries for the first time.
We have been doing primaries since 2007 when I became involved in party politics and there has been no incidence of violence during our primaries. We can only build on that tradition.
The beauty of primaries is that it allows you a first-hand feeling of the opinion of your own party members. If your own party members vote for you, you are already 49 per cent through.
If they don’t vote for you then you are not likely to go anywhere. So for any aspirant, I think it is important that we all work hard to have not just a peaceful primary but one that is fair, transparent and one that represents the feelings of the APC family in Edo state, that I believe is not reinventing the wheel, it is not rocket science; that is our trademark and you should never forget, whatever you think about me, you should never forget I launched one man one vote, I didn’t invent it but I helped to renew the campaign and to popularise it. If it is about the survival of the fittest, you will know that I am not the strongest guy in town so I don’t have any fear at all.
*Fire at the rally venue*
Today, there were people, I am told, who came in the midnight and burned down two vehicles, burned down the podium that was being constructed to be used for the rally and they did that for reasons best known to them.
The fact that they planned that evil did not stop the peaceful rally that we had without any incidence. The people were determined that there must be peace. If people want peace those who plan violence will not prosper.
I know that Edo people have a reputation for peace. In my election on April 14, 2007, PDP activists are on record to have killed three innocent voters at Oba Primary School. I erected a platform in their memory in Ramat Park, Benin City so we are not bloodthirsty people.
There could be few who like violence but I think the spirit of the overwhelming majority of Edo people will prevail at the end.
*Allegation of suspension and counter suspension*
It is a pity, we have had a peaceful party structure since 2007. I keep emphasizing 2007 because as you will recall Edo had been reduced to a one-party state before I came on board and we started from ground zero and I realised quite early that the irreducible minimum requirement for our party to defeat PDP was to have internal unity and adhere strictly to the rules of our party and to build trust among and between leaders of the party.
This is an elementary rule in social organizations, in voluntary organizations. I have had the privilege and let me also say the burden of leading Africa’s largest mass-based, mass driven, mass funded non-governmental organisation called the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
I did that for eight years without faction and I have had the privilege of governing this state for eight years without faction at my party. I think I am much more informed about these issues than some people will like to think. The forces of unity will overwhelm the forces of disunity and APC will prevail.
Suspension and counter suspension; listen to the words of our president, President Muhammadu Buhari in the last address at the last NEC meeting of our party, he reminded all of us that we are bound together by a party constitution.
What makes us an organisation because we are not an amorphous crowd or a rally is the fact that we are organised and our actions are guided by our APC constitution.
Buhari advised every APC member not only to read the constitution but to understand it, there are provisions for dealing with any infraction or anything that is considered anti-party.
All those procedures are there so anything done outside those procedures is like self-entertainment. The good thing about entertainment is that you choose the kind of entertainment you want but when it comes to rules, they are rigid and they are even enforceable so I think that sooner than later everybody in the APC family will see the futility of fighting one another.
I never dissipated energy fighting within the party, I was never involved and I will never be involved in intra-party fighting, rather, I reserve my energy for the opposition and once they ring the bell for the contest, I deploy that reserve energy.
I have not publicly or privately fought or abused any APC leader or member, any ACN leader or member, any AC leader or member.
That does not mean that a couple of people didn’t do what I didn’t like but I also recognized that that is why we are humans and my responsibility as a leader is to identify those people, bring them, persuade them, caution them where necessary and guide them on how to go forward.
It is never productive to engage in what our people call them home to fight. In my place they say the weapon you use for war between your family and another community, you don’t use those weapons when you have an internal family quarrel. You try to be careful not to cut anybody’s flesh because if you do, anytime the person remembers the scar, he may not forgive, so you have to be careful as much as possible to manage internal family discontent.
There must be disagreement, there must be contests, there must be legitimate divergent views about how to arrive at a destination.
The process of the contest needs to be peaceful so that however it is resolved everybody will key in and follow the common route. I think that spirit still prevails and that is what was demonstrated today.
You know we had an incident like that in Benin when some people just chose to go and buy disused vehicles, put them on the road, burn the asphalt on airport road just because they didn’t want me to land in Benin; what was the purpose of my coming? To receive more people into our party.
My language has always been our doors are open, let people who share our ideology come to join us when they do they enjoy all privileges. We have always been receiving people from PDP and my message is the same and it will remain the same whether I am chairman or not.
*Position as chairman of APC*
Chairman is a passing phase, I didn’t join this party to become chairman, I joined this party to contribute to it and to use it to deliver on good governance. It is a pity that APC people will come at 2 am to burn down the facility meant to receive people into the party.
And I think it is a shame for the police to allow people to carry a weapon and destroy things and they walk freely but for me, I have faith in Nigeria, I have faith in my party, I have faith in our future and I am very proud of APC youths.
I am very proud of APC leaders, I am very proud of APC activists. They own the party, I am only a steward, I don’t need anybody to remind me that I have tenure. I know it, I have passed through tenured positions several times.
As General Secretary of Textile Workers Union, I left, I went to NLC, I exhausted it, I left, I came to governance, I had tenure; four years and eight years and no more, I finished it, nobody needs to tell me that even this one will end.
What is constant, is the institution and the mission and vision that informed the formation of that institution. I am very proud of what we have accomplished. Just a few weeks ago, people used to count Imo as one of the states we lost. Just now they are quiet.
Today APC under my stewardship is stronger, it is better and I dare say we have not lost any by-election. The first one was Ekiti, we won, we went to Osun we won, the presidential election, President Buhari had more votes than he got in 2015, in the National Assembly we have more senators than we had in 2015, we have more members in the House than we had in 2015, thereafter we went to Kogi we won, now for the first time APC has two states in the South-South, if people don’t appreciate this, for me, I appreciate it that the heart of Ijaw nation, a hugely rich oil-producing state but mismanaged is now back to the fold of APC.
That on Valentine’s day we will go to Bayelsa to celebrate love, the love of the electorate as they install a very humble guy called David Lyon who will now be the governor of that state. Even if I leave tomorrow, you can’t deny these facts so for me, while the people with little heart are planning violence, planning burning cars, burning canopies, hiring police not to do their work, I ask God to give me courage, wisdom to stand firm on what is right.
*-(VANGUARD)*
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