Oshiomhole Creating More Problems For APC –- Prof. Sagay – TheNigerialawyer

Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), chairman of the Presidential Advisory
Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), said at the weekend that
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC), is creating more problems for the
party with his aggressive attitude.

Sagay said he would personally demand the removal of Oshiomhole
if Edo State, the only state controlled by the APC in the
South-South, was lost to the opposition.

In a chat with Daily Independent on the lingering rift between
Oshiomhole, a former two-time governor of Edo, and his successor,
Governor Godwin Obaseki, Sagay – who is also a leader in the APC –
said he had severally advised Oshiomhole on the need to be less
combative in his dealing with people but added that the former
labour leader ignored his advice.

According to him, Oshiomhole’s aggressive approach has cost the
APC some states in the country such as Zamfara, Rivers, and
others.

Expressing worry over the developments, Sagay said if care was
not taken, the APC might be left with no single state by the time
Oshiomhole completes his tenure, given his confrontational approach
to issues.

According to the legal expert, “I have advised Oshiomhole rather
unsuccessfully to stop being combative, to stop punching, and all
these aggressive behaviour.

“In a leadership position, you need to stoop to conquer, you
need to be restrained. Even when people are wrong and you want to
correct them, you need to show that you are not after humiliating
them and that you will work with them to correct things; not to be
aggressive, threatening and engaging in pugilistic method. I told
him this but he ignored it.

“Because of his aggression, we have lost quite a number of
states. We lost Rivers State; we didn’t have a chance to contest.
We lost Zamfara, where we won the election and all our victories
were handed over by the Supreme Court to the PDP, all because of
Oshiomhole’s aggression. I think there were also two other states
which we lost because of his aggressive attitude.”

Speaking further, Sagay also advised Oshiomhole, who is a former
president of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), not to be treating
the APC as a trade union organisation but as a political party.

“This is not trade unionism. Being a leader of a political party
does not involve war but this is his attitude. He needs to persuade
people and even when somebody is wrong, he needs to build up the
person’s confidence so that they can take your correction.

“So, I think Oshiomhole is creating more problems for the APC by
his aggressive attitude. By this aggression, if we lose Edo State,
which is the only state APC has in the South-South, I am personally
going to call for his removal as APC chairman.

“If by what is going on now between him and the state governor
we lose Edo State, I will personally call for the removal of Adams
Oshiomhole. Otherwise, by the time he finishes his term, we will
not have a single state left.”

Corroborating Sagay, Chief Charles Idahosa, a former political
adviser to Oshiomhole, said if the APC denied Obaseki a second term
ticket despite his sterling performance, Edo would go to the
opposition in the governorship election billed to hold next
year.

According to him, what Sagay said about Oshiomhole’s belligerent
attitude towards party members was nothing but the truth.

Idahosa, who said Obaseki was performing to the admiration of
the people, threatened that he would leave the party should the
governor be forced out of it.

He said he was surprised that Oshiomhole who brought Obaseki as
his successor would be doing everything to frustrate the governor
and get him out of office despite the fact that he had performed
creditably well in just three years in office.

“When I read what Professor Sagay said, I wasn’t surprised
because he is a man of truth whom I have always respected when he
was in Benin.

“I have said it before in my previous interviews. I said that if
they push Obaseki out of the APC either by omission or commission
that is the end of the APC in Edo State, but we will not allow that
to happen as we are ready to stand by Obaseki.

“This is a very strange phenomenon; a situation where a party
will bring out a candidate, the candidate is very popular with the
masses but a few people, led by the so-called national chairman of
the party, will be saying they are not happy because he didn’t
carry them along.

“The same national chairman will open his mouth and say Obaseki
went to bring computer to use in collecting revenues. Do you want
revenues to be collected by thugs and miscreants who will use
weapons to beat up the people to force them to pay?

“You call yourself a national chairman, you came to Benin and no
human being was with you apart from thugs and miscreants and
inconsequential people.

“Oshiomhole should leave Obaseki alone and allow him govern. He
is no longer the governor of Edo State. What is happening in Edo
now is so embarrassing. I am fully in support of what Prof. Sagay
said,” Idahosa said.