Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Governor of Ogun State, has berated Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing him of not submitting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Party Candidate Form (CF001) to any of the 26 candidates that won the primaries for the tickets to contest for the Ogun State House of Assembly.
According to the Governor, “Oshiomhole, who became the APC Chairman barely three months ago, is already threatening to write the epitaph of the party in his 100 days of ignominy.”
He stated this in response to the comments credited to Oshiomhole on the controversy trailing the primaries held in the state.
A statement signed by Adedayo Adeneye, the Ogun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, on Saturday, noted that Amosun would not trade words with the APC National Chairman as there are “acceptable standards of conduct expected of people holding certain offices, a virtue he wishes Oshiomhole would exhibit”.
The Governor restated the contention of the APC leadership in Ogun State that the only gubernatorial primary held in the state was that of October 02, 2018 which produced Honourable Adekunle Akinlade as winner. He said the emergence of Akinlade was initially through a consensus arrangement as allowed by the party constitution, but was nevertheless subjected to a primary election when some gubernatorial aspirants disagreed with the outcome of the consensus arrangement.
Amosun said: “This is, however, without prejudice to the sanctity of the consensus arrangement which Adams Oshiomhole hypocritically tries to demonise. Nigerians will recall that Oshiomhole himself was elected National Chairman of the APC by consensus arrangement which witnessed all other contestants to the office being prevailed upon to step down for him (Oshiomhole). The ground on which Oshiomhole disputes the gubernatorial primary in Ogun State is that the result was not announced by the State Electoral Committee from Abuja, therefore the governor resorted to self-help.
“We wonder why Oshiomhole accepted the result of the primary election in Lagos State whose result was also not announced by the State Electoral Panel. Why will the same scenario be acceptable in Lagos State but regarded as self-help in Ogun State? Is it because it was executed by the Capo Di Tutti in Lagos State?
“We wish to call the attention of Nigerians to another evil being perpetrated by Oshiomhole in Ogun State. As at today November 03, which is 24 hours after the deadline for submission of names of candidates for the House of Assembly, Oshiomhole has not given INEC Party Candidate Form (CF001) to any of the 26 candidates who won the primaries for the ticket to contest for the Ogun State House of Assembly. The primary was conducted on October 07 by the State Electoral Committee headed by Col. Ali Ciroma. This is despite the fact that the State Chairman of the party had kept vigil at the national secretariat of the APC in the last two weeks to collect the forms.
“If Oshiomhole is denying the outcome of the gubernatorial primaries because the State Electoral Committee shied away from announcing the result, what is the reason for denying all the 26 candidates for the House of Assembly freely elected by members of the APC in Ogun State? We want Nigerians to note the duplicity and meddlesomeness of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and his gang in the affairs of the APC in Ogun State.
“It is also important to note that Oshiomhole unilaterally replaced four of the nine winners of the primary election into the House of Representatives. This includes Hon. Mikhail Kazzim, a serving member of the House who won the primaries by defeating Olumide, the son of Chief Olusegun Osoba, with 28,802 votes to Osoba’s 4,209. Oshiomhole removed Hon. Kazzim who won the primaries and replaced him with the man he had serially defeated, not only in the last primary election but also in the general election of 2015. In yet another instance in Ado Odo – Ota Federal Constituency, Oshiomhole substituted the winner of the primary for the House of Representatives, Hon. Rotimi Rahmon with the name of Hon. Jimoh Ojugbele, who did not even contest to go back to the House of Representatives but contested the primary for the Senate and was defeated.
“In his conduct, Oshiomhole is opening a new chapter in the history of elections in Nigeria — a situation where a gang of desperate politicians will sit somewhere in another state and write the result of an election that never took place; what our people creatively refer to as ‘Offshore Rigging’! This is what Oshiomhole and his gang are trying to foist on Ogun State. Lawyers say ‘you cannot build something on nothing’. Oshiomhole and his gang are trying to build a storey building of fraud on nothing.”
AMosun also dismissed the claims of Oshiomole that he withdrew the security of the State Electoral Committee.
“As regards the claim of Oshiomhole that Sen. Amosun withdrew the security of the panel, Indabawa, Chairman of the panel, is a retired Commissioner of Police. He came into Ogun State with a full complement of police team which he claimed was provided for him by a Deputy Inspector General of Police. How could Amosun have withdrawn policemen he did not assign or over whom he had no control?
“All of these have clearly shown that the motive of Oshiomhole is not the rule of law which he proclaims on the roof top. It is rather, an evil plan with some collaborators, desperate to hijack the government of Ogun State and add it to the harem of states under their rapacious gang of exploiters.
“As we have stated before, this evil design will not succeed in Ogun State. Our people are too educated, exposed and sophisticated to come under such odious arrangement. On a general note, Oshiomhole, who became the APC Chairman barely three months ago, is already threatening to write the epitaph of the party in his 100 days of ignominy.”
He concluded the statement with an advice for Oshiomhole: ”To Oshiomhole and his motley crew of co-travellers in ignominy, be assured that the music has just begun and we hope that you will enjoy the macabre dance to the music of justice.
“By the grace of God and the support of the good people of Ogun State, Hon. Adekunle Abdulkadir will be sworn in as new Governor of Ogun State on May 29, 2019.”
