Sunday Ehigiator
A presidential aspirant of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the 2019 general election, Adamu Garba, has reacted to a statement allegedly made by the party national leader, Bola Tinubu, in which he defended the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomole, calling on all members of the party never to give room for what he tagged: ‘Forgive and forget backroom approach’, as the leadership of the party is making frantic effort to resolve some internal issues it’s faced with.
He made this remark yesterday through his Twitter handle while encouraging stakeholders of the party to allow the rule of law prevail over other personal sentiments and affiliations.
According to him, “In as much as I can’t agree less with Tinubu about the involvements of hidden hands regarding the 2023 election on the crisis of our party, the APC, I think we should not undercut the court order on the premise of the activities of the suspended party chairman, Oshiomole, as a mere human error that needs to be forgiven and just let it pass.
“We can’t build a robust, sound and balance political party capable of winning elections without displaying the highest level of objectivity from the leadership.
“Right to fair participation and the objectivity of the leadership in terms of adherence to the rule of Law and the party constitution should be paramount in discharging ones duties in the party.
“The national leader of the party, Tinubu, knows that we need to uphold the principle of objectivity in the affairs of the party. As an elder statesman of high repute, I’m sure Tinubu understands that having Oshiomole back as the party chairman without recourse to the processes in the party constitution on the ground that his actions were limited to his person must have shelf the justice and fair play to the dark corners that might not portend well for the party.
“Most party members perceive Oshiomole as a Tinubu-only campaigner in a party that have national spread with many interested in various representations in the coming general elections. If we start the forgive-and-forget kind of back roomers, it may appear as if all other interests might not be considered and could send dangerous signal within the party, wreaking our chances for winning future elections.
“As a member of the party, who aspired for the office of the president in the 2019 election, whose participation have done a lot to give youths a balance view of the party, we cannot allow our party leaders to usher in ‘forgive-and-forget-backroom’ approach from a national party that have produced most election officials in Nigeria, including presidency.”
He added that “the law of the party must be upheld, punishment, sanctions and discipline must be done on all erring members who caused loss of elected offices, prestige, and national embarrassment, and become extremely high handed, including the national chairman.
“Therefore, I call on the national leader of our great party and all the other NEC and NWC members to allow the party constitution reign supreme; obey the court order and pay attention to building a strong party capable of winning all future elections in this country, including 2023. Else, if we start divisions and machinations, manipulations and non-punishment of erring behaviours, we risk losing important members of the party, chaos within the party and perhaps even loss of elections, something we should avoid seriously.”
