Decision long over-due –Ogun APC
Suspension null and void -Okorocha
The national working committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has suspended governor of Ogun State, Mr. Ibikunle Amosu and his counterpart in Imo state, Mr. Rochas Okorocha over anti-party activities.
The NWC also recommended the expulsion of the governors from the party to the national executive committee (NEC) of APC, after a meeting on Friday in Abuja.
Amosun and Okorocha have openly backed gubernatorial candidates different from APC’s candidate in their respective states.
The preferred candidates of both governors lost the APC primaries in their states.
Amosun, who contested and won a senatorial seat in the February 23 national assembly election on the platform of the APC, backs Mr. Adekunle Akinlade of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) for the March 2 governorship election in Ogun State against APC’s Mr. Dapo Abiodun.
Conversely, Okorocha who is also APC’s senator-elect promotes his son-in-law, Mr. Uche Nwosu of the Action Alliance (AA)
Nwosu contested the APC primary and lost to Senator Hope Uzodinma.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State chapter of the APC hailed Amosun’s suspension.
Spokesman for the party’s caretaker committee state, Mr. Tunde Oladunjoye, said in a statement that it rather wanted Amosun expelled from the party to serve as deterrence to other people that might want to emulate him.
“The APC in Ogun State receives wholeheartedly the decision of NWC to suspend Governor Ibikunle Amosun.
“We see the NWC decision as long overdue, as Governor Amosun’s action represents huge and unbelievable demonstration of ingratitude to a party that has helped his political fortune.
“We are also calling on the NEC of the party to go ahead and expel him from the party to teach him a lesson and serve as deterrence to other people who might want to toe the path,” he said.
But in his reaction, Okorocha described his suspension as “null and void” saying the national chairman of the APC Mr. Adams Oshiomhole conducted “fraudulent primaries in the South-East.”
Okorocha who accused Oshiomhole of playing the politics of 2023 in 2019 said it was wrong for the Oshiomhole-led NWC to treat him with disdain just two days after he had worked hard to ensure that president Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected.
“Adams Oshiomhole was determined right from the outset to destroy APC in the South-East and unknown to party chieftains from the zone who had genuinely supported his chairmanship.
“He is playing the politics of 2023 in 2019 and in playing it; he has thrown caution to the wind. In all the South-East states there are crises and all arising from the fraudulent manner he conducted the primaries.
” In 2015, Governor Okorocha had joined the merger that gave birth to APC at the risk of his second tenure and was called all sorts of unprintable names. Yet, he won the governorship election, delivered 24 out of the 27 members of the House of Assembly for APC, two House of Representatives members and one Senator.
“In 2019, Oshiomhole felt that such a man should be treated with disdain. He handed over the governorship ticket of the Party to Hope Uzodinma who has never resigned his membership of the PDP on the floor of the Senate like others did and giving all kinds of flimsy excuses.”
“If Oshiomhole had meant well for APC and Imo people in particular, would he have given the ticket of the party to a man facing five corruption charges and having travel ban slammed on him, to be the party’s candidate.”
“In the February 23, 2019 presidential and national assembly election, Governor Okorocha won in ten, out of the twelve local governments in Orlu zone to emerge winner for Imo West Senatorial District. He also delivered four House of Representatives Candidates on the platforms of APC and AA respectively, with one Senate Seat and two House of Representatives Seats outstanding.”
“When the APC members across the nation are still celebrating the success of the party in the Presidential and National Assembly elections, Oshiomhole in his wisdom or lack of it, felt that the best action in the circumstance was to suspend two governors who did well in the election, even when he played safe in 2015 and 2019 in Edo State without any known pressure.
“Again, Oshiomhole coming up with the purported expulsion this time was only acting out of the fear that God in his infinite Mercy could give Governor Okorocha a role to play in the Senate, in the overall interest of the nation.”
“The truth is that Oshiomhole is only labouring in vain to play his own part of the deal that warranted his giving out the tickets of the party to non-deserving elements like in the case of Imo.”
“Finally, APC especially in the South-East and in Imo, in particular, will outlive Oshiomhole. Men like him hardly sleep with their two eyes closed. They always sleep with their eyes open because they have murdered sleep with their actions and inactions. And unfortunately for him, the purported expulsion can’t stand because the law has taken care of it even long before now,” said Okorocha in a statement.
