By Charles Igbo
Strong indications emerged on Saturday that suspended National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole is likely to return, soon, to his office.
A Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had, last week, affirmed the judgement of a lower Court which had earlier suspended him from office.
The judgement was consequent upon the crisis in the Edo chapter of the party, which culminated in Oshiomhole’s suspension by his Ward, and ratified by both the Local Government and the State branches.
Oshiomhole appealed. But last week, he lost his appeal at the Court of Appeal. The judgement was based on the fact that Oshiomhole, having been suspended by his Ward, was no longer a member of the party, and therefore, unqualified to be Chairman.
The affirmation of the judgement came a couple of days after Oshiomhole had supervised the disqualification of Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, from seeking for a second term in office under the APC banner.
The two men have been at each other’s throat for months. Earlier, Obaseki had been disqualified, strangely, over alleged discrepancies in his educational certificates.
The disqualification forced Obaseki to defect to the PDP.
Earlier before Obaseki’s disqualification, Oshiomhole and his camp had adopted Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a man he, many times, publicly called an armed robber, as its soul candidate for the Governorship election.
Ize-Iyamu , a founding APC member, defected to the PDP when he fell out with Oshiomhole. Oshiomhole had chosen Obaseki over him, to fly the APC flag in 2016. He flew the PDP flag, but was defeated by Obaseki. He has now re-defected to the APC, and he and Obaseki are likely to slug it out on September 22.
But, Oshiomhole is desperate to re-claim his seat. On Saturday, in connivance with a couple of APC Governors, the process began from his Ward.
Some people, claiming to be Executive members from his Ward, in a statement issued on Saturday, in Abuja, said the Executive Committee of the APC Ward 10, of Estako West LGA, has in a resolution, just lifted the suspension slammed on Oshiomhole.
The Ward Secretary, Emuahkemeh Sule, who led the other members to the Party Hedquarters in Abuja, said in lifting the suspension, the Party reviwed the circumstances which led to it, and found that neither were the allegations against Oshiomhole true, nor due process followed.
Said he: “We hereby lift the suspension placed on Comrade Adams Oshiomhole by the Ward. We call on all organs of our great party to restore all rights and privileges of membership to Oshiomhole”
Excited, one of the claimants to the office of the Acting National Chairman, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, represented by the South- south National Vice Chairman, Prince Hilliard Etta, while receiving them said: “Let me say that 17 out of the 27 members signed this resolution. Let me also say that in matters of this nature, our constitution provides for a simple majority, and 17 out of 27 is, indeed, more than a simple majority. So, we want to use this opportunity to thank the Estako West Ward 10 for what they have done. History will be on your side.”
The idea is: Since the Court’s judgement was pegged on Oshiomhole’s suspension from his Ward, lifting it pulls the rug off the judgement.
But a disagreement has arisen within the Ward members. Chairman of the Ward, Mr Oshawo Stephen, dismissed claims of the lifting of the suspension order on Oshiomhole, insisting he remains suspended. The Ward executives who went to Abuja, he said, were impostors, as the Executive members, elected to office in 2018, remain in office.
“The suspension of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole by the Ward Executives remains intact. The statements to the contrary in the media are false and should be disregarded. We stand by our resolution and have no reservation on the action as it is in the best interest of the party”
“The Ward Executives, as well as our counterparts in Estako West Local Government level stand by the suspension of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole for his divisive role in the crisis rocking the APC in Edo”
Ezelomhe Rabiat, APC Chairman in Estako West Local Government affirmed that there is no change in the membership of the Executives at the Ward level.
This magazine gathered that Oshiomhole will go back to court, flaunting the resolution lifting his suspension in his Ward. But, the other group are determined to prove that those who signed the resolution were imposters.
