APC crisis: We won’t watch Oshiomhole humiliated out of office, Uzodinma vows

TRACKING____Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma, has vowed that patriotic forces in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would not allow the National chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, to be humiliated out of office.

Uzodinma made the vow just as a pressure group under the ruling party, Professionals Forum, called on President Muhammadu Buhari and a national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to wade in and save the party from the crisis that is rocking it.

Fielding questions from journalists in Owerri, the Imo State capital, on Friday, Uzodinma said that every weapon in the arsenal would be deployed to ensure that the plan of those plotting his removal was foiled.

The governor insisted that Oshiomhole has done nothing to warrant being removed from office, adding that there were clearly spelt out guidelines for the removal of national officers of the party, which those that are championing Oshiomhole’s removal want to circumvent by going through the back door to obtain ex parte orders from the courts.

He also accused them of dropping the name of the President in their plot.

The governor accused leaders of the PDP of being behind the crisis in APC.

The governor said the guidelines of the party is clear on how the national chairman can be removed from office, which must be through the National Executive committee (NEC) of the party, adding that anything outside that is illegal and amounts to a witch hunt.

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According to him, the plot to remove Oshiomhole is a clear case of witch hunt, otherwise, he said, those behind it would have come through the proper channel which is the NEC of the party.

He noted that they have refused to do so because they know they have no genuine case against Oshiomhole.

He said: “Many of us, leaders of the party, are aware that those clamouring for the chairman’s removal are working with the PDP to destabilise the party.

“But they will fail because we will not allow them to humiliate our national chairman out of the party through illegal means or by dropping the name of Mr. President.”

He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari has always made it clear that as the leader and father of the party, he does not interfere with party matters.

“So, I advise those dropping the name of the President on their wicked plans to desist forthwith.”

The governor wondered why any true member of the APC would want to remove Oshiomhole who has done so well for the party at this crucial stage in time when the party ought to come together, savour their victory at the last elections and plan how to consolidate for the future.”

The governor advised those behind the plot to remove Oshiomhole from office to desist because it is bound to fail.

“Let me make this clear: we will not allow Oshiomhole to be humiliated out of office.

“He has done nothing wrong and no amount of propaganda and illegal plots can succeed in removing him from office.”

The Professionals Forum, a pressure group under APC on Friday called on President Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to save the party from the crisis.

The National Coordinator of the forum, Akintayo Akeem, made the call in Abuja while addressing newsmen at the media center of the party’s national secretariat.

“We call on President Muhammad Buhari, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other leaders of the party to do more to intervene in the internal wrangling in the party,” Akeem said.

The forum said the party cannot allow the crisis rocking it to disappoint millions of Nigerians who voted for the party in 2015 and 2019.

The forum said it behooves the party leadership to up the structures that will activate all organs of the party, including the once sidelined structures like the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party.

It also called on the party leadership to strengthen the recently constituted National Reconciliation Committee, demanding that the committee immediately begins the reconciliation of all aggrieved members of the party across the country.

Akeem then stressed the need for relevant support groups within the party to be empowered and revived.

This, he said, would help strengthen the support base of the party as a means of going forward.

He then appealed to the APC-led government at all levels to reward those who worked for the party’s success at the polls in 2019 so as to encourage the party’s teeming supporters and enhance their loyalty.