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By Joel Anekwe
The Rivers Unity House (RUH), an advocacy group within the Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has lent its voice to calls for the resignation of the national chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
Kingsley Wali, convener of the RUH, addressing journalists in Port Harcourt, Friday blamed Oshiomhole for 96 percent of the challenges that confronted the ruling party in the 2019 general elections.
It is no longer news that poorly managed internal misunderstandings in the APC led to huge losses recorded by the party in the just concluded general elections.
For example, the Rivers State chapter of the party following several court decisions, mostly emanating from internal squabbles, could not participate in the elections. Similarly, Zamfara State recently lost all elective positions it won after the elections because the national executive of the party under Oshiomhole could not resolve internal disagreements.
“It is a natural thing in politics that whenever there are losses, people have to be held accountable for those losses. There is need to identify the people who made it possible for the party to suffer any kind of loss,” Wali explained the reason behind his call for Oshiomhole’s resignation..
He added: “Just like if the party enjoys a decent measure of victory, it will obviously point out those who made it possible and then, compensate them for making it possible.
“So, those who are responsible for the body-blows APC received should be identified and made accountable, so it discourages this kind of attitude.
“I am one person who has been consistent with the position that Mr. Adams Oshiomhole is 96 percent responsible for the problems APC had. It boils down to nothing but somebody feeling that he knows everything and no other person is smarter than him.
“I think the reasonable thing to do is for APC as a party to ask Adams Oshiomhole to vacate the seat. If we insist on understanding or characterizing the next level slogan of APC, the kind of attitude that Adams Oshiomhole exhibited cannot be in tandem with the President’s vision on Nigeria.”
The group lauded the APC deputy national chairman (North), Alhaji Lawan Shuaibu, for the courage to tell Oshiomhole to vacate his office.
The RUH convener said: “Of what is a party chairman who doesn’t take any form of criticism; once even if it is one councillor in Karadamuda or Akassa, that says something about him, he replies in the same measure.
“Like the deputy national chairman said, and I want to applaud the deputy national chairman (North), Alhaji Lawan Shuaibu for what he said in the very elaborate letter he sent asking Mr. Oshiomhole to vacate office. That is a point that the man was running a one-man show.
“Like I said before, I worry because where we are heading for might not be too nice. Like Alhaji Shuaibu said, all it takes for the PDP to control the National Assembly is two seats or six or seven stubborn APC senators.
“It is a done deal and the same man is there threatening hell fire and brimstone about how APC will not do any business with PDP. In 2019, you still see the other party as party of enemies? Who does that?
“In other political climes, once you lead a party and the party did not do well on an election, you have to go. Let us not demean ourselves with the fact that we won the Presidency. What about the governorship seats? Did we gain more senatorial seat now than we did in 2015? No. So if you look at it properly, APC lost in this last election.
“We are just lucky that the profile of the President got us to where we are today that we control the Presidency,” he said.
