Former Ogun state Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun on Wednesday berated Senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, over his role during the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries in 2019.
Amosun and Oshiomhole, then APC national chairman, had a public spat during the ruling party’s primaries in the build-up to the 2019 general elections.
The clash followed the disputed governorship primary in Ogun, which edged out Amosun’s anointed candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, in favour of Dapo Abiodun, the state’s incumbent governor.
Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee backed Abiodun against Amosun’s candidate, a development which severed the former governors’ relationship.
Over four years later, on Tuesday, Oshiomhole revisited the 2019 drama and hinted that the party spent a whopping N2.4 billion to win the governorship elections in Kwara, Imo, and Ogun states.
Speaking at a book launch, he said they needed to spend N800 million in Imo, Ogun, Kwara, and Taraba because they had strong opposition leaders in those states.
For Imo State, he said that there was Senator Rochas Okorocha, who was against the candidate of the party; Kwara had former Senate President Senator Bukola Saraki; and in Ogun state, APC had Amosun, who worked against the candidate of the party, Abiodun.
But Amosun, in a statement he signed on Wednesday, lampooned the former Edo Governor, saying his narrative was fraught with lies, and he (Oshiomhole) did not boast the requisite integrity to say the truth.
Amosun said APC conducted the worst primaries in Nigeria’s history under Oshiomhole’s watch, describing him as “APC’s biggest, most destructive threat.”
“It is not in doubt that I have participated fully in the formation and sustenance of our party, the APC, and I can boldly say that the party under Adams Oshiomhole conducted one of the worst primaries in the history of Nigeria’s contemporary politics and ended up shopping for his own enemies, leading to his eventual removal as Chairman of our party.
Nigerians should not be in a hurry to forget the allegations that preceded the conduct of those primaries and his eventual invitation by the Department of State Service, DSS, to clarify certain grave allegations.
“If anyone was in doubt that Senator Oshiomhole posed the biggest and most destructive threat to the existence of the APC at that time, and the party’s best bet was to dispose of a canon folder that he was and unfortunately still is, his utterances and grandstanding yesterday at an occasion to find solutions to our democratic and party challenges, would have cleared such mindset,” he said.
Amosun, however, asked Oshiomole to come straight.
“If he wanted to insult our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, he could have come out boldly to do so. But his subtle attempt to pass snide remarks at him failed the simple test of loyalty because the former president also moved from his own party to merge with other like-minds to form the APC.
“Also, if he is seeking favour from the presidency, why not come out and do so? But to tell barefaced lies that, “You are working for your paymaster in Lagos, paymaster in Bourdillon,” is cheap but typical of an individual, who suddenly found himself where he never dreamt of, despite his obvious limitations – education and exposure.
“If the public will remember, soon after Senator Oshiomhole was sworn in as a Senator, he allegedly said members of the 9th Senate had vandalised their offices before leaving, only for him to eat the humble pie and made to apologise later when it was obvious that the allegations were baseless.
“My honest advice to him is to carefully and soberly sit down to take stock of his past so that it will continue to serve as a guide for him in his future public utterances rather than dragging the names of innocent people into a needless controversy because in Africa, age and leadership are associated with wisdom.
“This is also why I have consistently brushed aside and intentionally scoffed at his tongue-in-cheek apology, which he had extended to me several times. I am now convinced it was not genuine. In the final analysis, background matters!”
