Oshiomhole: Ganduje, 7 APC Govs Back Party Chair

President Buhari Remains Cautious

By Tosin Olatokunbo

On March 17, some powerful forces within the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC will try to remove Adams Oshiomhole as the party’s chairman.

But the success of the plot highly depends on APC governors who hold the ace in the ongoing quest to kick the controversial Oshiomhole out of office.

Recall that Oshiomhole was last week stopped by an Abuja High court from further parading himself as the party’s chair.

The former Edo state governor later secured a restraining order from a federal high court in Kano to stop the execution of the ruling.

Anti- Oshiomhole’s elements are capitalizing on his current travails to send him packing from the exalted position.

Oshiomhole’s detractors, led by the party’s vice chairman and Deputy National Secretary, Victor Gaidon are backed by some APC governors who have been working underground to sack him.

The embattled Oshiomhole, seems to have had a breeder to his travail last week end after it was discovered that not all the governors wanted him out of office.

Since then, the APC chairman has enlisted governors on his side to reach out to their other colleagues on his behalf, APC sources said.

The magazine learnt that the governors are now divided into two groups, one led by Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi state, who’s also the chairman of APC Governors Forum, leading the pack of those who want Oshiomhole replaced, and the other group led by Kano state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje who wants him to stay.

Pro- Oshiomhole governors, the magazine was told include Governors Yahaya Bello of Kogi state, Babajide Sanwo Olu of Lagos state and four others out of the 19 APC governors.

Some APC governors had met secretly last Thursday in Abuja but failed to reach a decision on the future of the former NLC president.

After the ‘failed’ meeting, Governor Bagudu met with President Buhari last week to know his position on the matter.

“The president did not commit himself to the plot, except that he told the visiting governor that he ‘will always support what’s right,’ a source privy to the meeting with President Buhari said.

According to various sources who spoke with the magazine, the initial enthusiasm in the camp of the APC chairman’s opponents has now been dampened due to failure to enlist the support of majority of the party’s governors.

Governors rooting for the replacement of the APC chair are also being careful because of their doubts on where President Muhammadu Buhari stands on the matter, the magazine was told.

Oshiomhole had met with the president on Thursday in Aso Villa after securing a stay of execution on the ruling.

Neither him nor the presidency disclosed the outcome of the meeting with President Buhari which held behind closed doors.

The Source however learnt that President Buhari has refused to give the green light to hawks in the party who want their chairman to be removed by all means.

“President Buhari is the leader of the party and he wants things done according to the law. Yes, a court suspended Oshiomhole, but he has also got a reprieve from another court. Until the matter fully runs its course in the court of competent jurisdiction, no party can actually claim victory,” an aide to the president said.

Another close confidant of the president also informed the magazine that President Buhari’s advisers “considers the APC chairman as a loyal party man who must not be left in the cold just because some persons desperately want him out of office.”

He said the president will not attend the NEC meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 17.

“This will definitely force the promoters of the meeting to cancel, because a NEC meeting cannot hold without the president, who’s the head of the party attending,” the source stated.

“In line with Article 25 (B) (II) of the Constitution of our great Party, members of the APC National Executive Committee are invited to attend an emergency meeting which is scheduled to hold on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 3:00 pm Prompt”, Victor Giadom said last Wednesday in a statement.

But pro-Oshiomhole supporters in the party led by the party’s National Legal Adviser, Babatunde Ogala, and the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, has since dismissed the meeting as the handwork of some elements to destabilize the APC.

In a statement released on Saturday, the NWC members dissociated themselves from the APC Emergency National Executive Committee meeting.

The statement reads in part “constitution of the party had provided the process and procedure to be followed to convene such a meeting as stipulated in Article 25 (B) (i) and (ii).”

The article states, “The National Executive Committee shall meet every quarter and or at any time decided by the National Chairman or at the request made in writing by at least two-thirds of the members of the National Executive Committee provided that not less than 14 days’ notice is given for the meeting to be summoned.

“ii. Without prejudice to Article 25(B)(i) of this Constitution, the National Working Committee may summon an Emergency National Executive Committee meeting at any time, provided that at least seven days’ notice of the meeting shall be given to all those entitled to attend.”

According to them “neither the National Chairman nor the resolution of two-thirds of members of the National Executive Committee has directed nor made any request to summon a National Executive Committee Meeting of the party”.

Meanwhile, the magazine learnt that security forces who took over the party’s national secretariat have been directed by the president to remain there until the issue is fully resolved presidency sources said “ to prevent the opposing groups from turning the secretariat to a battle ground.”