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On Thursday, June 24, 2020, the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) titans pushed overboard its captain to avert imminent catastrophe reminiscent of its forebear. In a way, as a political party, APC was like the famous Titanic ship: assembled like no other.
Some reflections on the party platform would help explain what happened to the docked captain: at its creation, APC was intended as a special purpose vessel to capture political power. And in the flurry of activities and frenzy to achieve that purpose, no thought was spared for what becomes of the vessel when it reaches the quay.
So, because the political grouping was programmed for a power grab, politics of who gets what has continued to define its modus operandi. That could explain why in 2018, two years after he served out his two constitutional terms as Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Aliu Eric Oshiomhole, was conscripted to replace his kinsman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, as captain of the cruise ship.
As such, in apparent disdain for basic democratic principles that guarantee the freedom to ‘vote and be voted for,’ Oyegun was denied a second opportunity to pave the way for the eventual emergence of Oshiomhole as his successor.
Midway into the processes leading to the elective convention, other aspirants, including Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, who like the other two was a former Edo governor, were asked to opt-out of the chairmanship race. With that and other intrigues that surrounded his eventual emergence as national chairman, it was obvious that Oshiomhole was being imposed on the platform for strict power grab intentions, rather than genuine leadership for the amalgamated union of former opposition parties.
He laid credence to that fact recently when he was forced to accept the undemocratic circumstances that led to his fall from power and presidential grace.
That was not the first time the former national chairman would allude to the fact that virtually every consideration in the governing party revolves around political power and how to grab, without necessarily discussing what to do with such power.
Earlier in March this year, shortly after an FCT High Court presided over by Justice Senchi upheld his suspension by his ward in Etsako West Local Government of Edo State, Oshiomhole alleged that party chieftains angling for the 2023 presidential ticket were plotting his removal.
Americans say that whatever begins by division will continue to divide and what goes around, comes around. The blame for Oshiomhole´s mighty fall could not be entirely his alone, because the platform seems programmed for such acrobatic excision of its captains.
While it was being coupled together, many progressives who were enthusiastically involved got thrown overboard along the way. The tumbling and tossing out continued to such an extent that at the exit of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the platform was seen as belonging to two leaders: President Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor.
Having emerged national chairman with the grace and support of the two big men, the former Edo State governor saw himself as the third leg of a powerful tripod upon which APC sits in power and glory. That notion, albeit erroneous, buoyed his swagger and imbued in him the false confidence that he could say anything, anyhow and do as he pleased without consequences.
He tried to entrench party supremacy and internal democracy through direct method of candidate selection, but the summary of the move against him was that all those were self-serving as his detractors held that every good deed he did was to serve, not the general good, but a parochial purpose.
That fact was made apparent when, at the height of the mass movement for ‘Oshiomhole Must Go,’ the former chairman cried out: Governor Kayode Fayemi is one of those seeking to remove me. I favoured him with the party´s ticket in Ekiti State, at the expense of my friend Babafemi Ojodu.
By his admission, the former labour leader breached the oath of allegiance and pledge to do good to all men, without affection or ill-will, fear or favour.
All these played out at the heat of the ‘Oshiomhole Must Go’ plots: His constant visit to President Buhari at the Villa gave him the false belief that he was on the same page with the leader of the party, a former soldier.
It is not impossible that Shakespeare had soldiers in mind when he declared that there is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.
But, events of the past few days exposed Oshiomhole´s poor appreciation of the imputations of a soldiers´ camouflage. By their orientation, like every other security personnel, they are wont to open their eyes and their ears, even as they keep their mouths shut.
According to him, “I thought I had a duty to brief Mr. President, as the overall leader of our party, about this development. Incidentally, when I requested for the audience yesterday, I wasn’t sure what has happened today will happen.
“And I showed to the president the resolutions of my ward even though a ward executive does not have the powers to remove a national chairman, just to say that the document that we have says clearly that my ward passed a vote of confidence on me. How the court can hold a vote of confidence and twist it to mean a vote of no confidence, only that judge can explain it to himself.”
That was Oshiomhole speaking to reporters after seeing President Buhari on the very day he was axed. Only he could explain how on earth he thought the leader of the party was not privy and tactfully complicit in the ‘Oshiomhole-Must-Go‘ plot. It is also being held against the former APC national chairman that he was fond of activating his mouth before engaging his brain.
In an interface with State House
OSHIOMHOLE, in an apparent allusion to the Minister of Labour and Employment’s failure to inaugurate the board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), warned that he would discipline ministers that fail to live up to their responsibilities.
“If the minister refuses we will suspend him from the party. You know we must return to internal discipline. For me it is the height of mischief for any minister; you cannot purport to be an honourable minister and you act dishonourably and nobody is greater than the party.
“And if the president condones disrespect for his office, I will not condone disrespect for the party. And when we expel the minister we will prevail on the president that he can’t keep in his cabinet people who have neither respect for his own decisions nor have respect for the party without which they would not have been ministers.”
IF Oshiomhole dreamt high dreams of even becoming president, the manner of his fall leaves him not only with emotional trauma but also opens up for an uncertain future. As a former governor and labour leader, the governing party might reward him with either a ministerial appointment in the anticipated cabinet reshuffle or send him on political exile as an ambassador.
But, in the interim, as he regards life as an outsider to power, the sound of his strong words against his traducers would continue to echo in his mind.
Here are some samples:
* Whatever you do, those who want to fight you will fight you. But I know that my tenure will be defined by God, not by man. And I worry more about what I will be remembered for when I was chairman rather than how long I was chairman.”
* Those fighting me just feel that if they cannot give me orders, then they must do everything to embarrass my person, but I believe that he who God stands with no man born of a woman can bring down.
* People want strong leadership, the averaged Nigerian want to have a strong leader for Nigeria. They want to have strong leaders in various institutions; they want institutions that are strong enough that cannot be controlled by individuals.
* Unfortunately, very few sections of our elite want to weaken institutions so that they can control and if you refuse to oblige them the misuse of your institution, then they go for your jugular; that is the only thing.
* Those behind this plot, the hands you saw which include as you saw yesterday, the Edo State governor and his people jubilating, but that is the irony of life; that you will help give birth to a child and the child will look for cutlass to want to chop off your neck. It has happened in history; it has happened in this country. So, I won’t be the only person.
