Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has described the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, as an embarrassment to the ruling party.
He added that Oshiomhole has been promoting rascality and delinquency in the party. Okorocha bemoaned a situation where the national chairman of the ruling party, who should be educating Nigerians on the achievements of Mr. President ahead of 2019 elections, has instead assigned himself the task of abusing elders of the country and leaders of the party, particularly governors.
The governor, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, called on President Muhammadu Buhari, who he referred to as the leader of the party, to call Oshiomhole to order. “The party’s National Chairman has, in less than six months, enthroned the culture of rascality in the party and the development is not good for the party.
APC is not known for rascality and abuses. And the earlier he is called to order the better for the party. “Since Muhammadu Buhari became President, he has not insulted or denigrated any Nigerian, high or low, and that is the best way to go. And Oshiomhole should borrow a leaf from Mr. President.
“One of the reasons the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost in 2015 was the abuses the handlers of the party then hurled at the APC presidential candidate then, and the President today, Muhammadu Buhari.
Oshiomhole should be advised not to tow the same line of infamy,” he said. Okorocha, in a statement issued yesterday by his media aide, decried Oshiomhole’s criticism of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. According to him, “Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is the former President of the country.
And no matter the provocation or his political activities this time, Oshiomhole should have considered his status as a former President of the country in talking about him, and should have exercised restraint in addressing him.
“Saying that God would punish the former President is not advisable. This should not be the language of APC. “APC does not belong to Oshiomhole.
He should, therefore, be advised to carefully choose his words when he is talking about certain categories of Nigerians. And he should also find out why he is the only one talking about APC and no other member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.”
The governor urged Oshiomhole to apply decorum as his commentaries in recent times have become nauseating and embarrassing to the party. “To say the least, few weeks to the elections, APC and its candidates do not need Oshiomhole’s insults and abuses, but the reasons Nigerians should re-elect President Buhari and elect APC candidates”, he stressed.
Oshiomhole had, on Wednesday, while hosting Edo State and FCT Women leaders of APC in Abuja, said that Obasanjo would receive punishment from God for supporting the former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for the 2019 election.He also stated that Governors Ibikunle Amosun and Rochas Okorocha were poor students of their own history who had forgotten they lost elections before winning on the platform of APC.
The national chairman said that the ruling party was stronger now in Ogun and Imo states despite the grievances of Okorocha and Amosun. He stated that the popularity of APC in Ogun and Imo had soared despite the alleged anti-party activities of their governors.
“Those who think our political future is tied to them; they are poor students of their own political history. Some of these people who talk as if they are invincible, they have forgotten that they have run elections in the past and lost until they abandoned their parties and joined us. So if they return back, history will repeat itself. “In Imo State today, APC will win more votes.
My focus is on ordinary Imo voters because on that day, the governor would have only one vote, his son-in-law would have only one vote while his Commissioner for Happiness would have only one vote. “But artisans, traders, teachers and workers whose salaries are not being paid have the same weight of vote and they are excited about the renewed possibility of a new government coming with fresh ideas free of all the encumbrances of the present system. So, in Imo I’m very confident.”