What largely appeared to be a family affair has now taken the garb of national prominence becoming one of the enjeux majeaurs in the nation’s public sphere.
Trust Nigerians, such drama at best beats any of the soap operas be it local or international. In the cause of such drama truths and half truths are couched side by side, and of course there is the ludicrous and the unreasonable. I shall attempt to explain the latter, where an Adams Oshiomhole is seen threatening that he would expose the real occupant in Aso Rock and in another case, he threatens to reveal how the All Progressives Congress, APC won the 2019 elections should he be removed as its Chairman.
These statements which are fraudulently credited to Oshiomhole by scatterbrained named blogs and online mediums have caught the attention of media illiterates who with glee share or cavort around such stories. One must not forget they did the same with Senator Rochas Okorocha while he sought to impose his son in law as the APC’s guber candidate.
One, however should not blame these Nigerians who are cashing in on the drama, nay, the real blame as always should go to those who are bent on having their way in a party as against the will of millions of party members. If those vigorously orchestrating the putsch had chosen to allow peace to reign and not employ cloak and dagger tacticts in such affairs then Nigerians would have been denied this needless drama which not only threatens the stability of the nation’s ruling party but also the stability of the our democracy.
So when a Governor Kayode Fayemi, a man who is hell bent on running for the office of President in 2023 that he would not mind supplanting an Oshiomhole and installing his own yes man as Chairman to pave the way for his own ambition, yours sincerely becomes troubled. Fayemi, one of my heroes in the SouthWest region of Nigeria at this point disappoints me; why put so much oomph into removing Oshiomhole? What crimes has the embattled National Chairman committed? If they blame him for Zamfara, Rivers and Bayelsa, why have they not in turn commended him for Ekiti (Fayemi’s State) Gombe, Kwara, Ogun( Recall that the then Governor was backing a candidate from another party) the cemented majorities in both Chambers of the National Assembly and recently Imo State?
Even the loss of Zamfara, Rivers and Bayelsa cannot be laid at the doorsteps of Oshiomhole. In Zamfara, the former governor, Abdul’azeez Yari sought to undemocratically impose his candidate on the party, this was challenged by party members as well as received the censure of Oshiomhole. We are living witnesses to the infamous “If he know his mother- father born him he should send those people to Zamfara and see” speech, unfortunately made by a then sitting governor in the person of Abdul’azeez Yari. Same goes for Rivers State, which was due to a power tussle between Rotimi Amaechi and a former ally of his, Senator Magnus Abe. Matter of fact, the issue in Rivers preceded Oshiomhole’s emergence as National Chairman, emanating as a fallout from the Congresses which were supervised by Oshiomhole’s predecessor, John Oyegun.
Governor Fayemi surprisingly has accused Oshiomhole of not having the temperament to run a party, but Fayemi must know that the office of the National Chairman of a party, a ruling one for that matter is not a beauty pageant, if it is, we all know that the “good looking “Oshiomhole will not qualify, yet even the nation’s combustible political outlook will not permit such temperance not with an opposition party like the PDP lurking around.
Even in Edo State, Oshiomhole’s only sin is in his insistence that the State Governor in the person of Godwin Obaseki must carry every party man along! If that is not the basis or essence of partisan democracy then I wonder what is. Is it not Governor Obaseki that is in manners similar to Fascism swearing in a minority of House of Assembly members in the dark of the night, banning rallies and barricading the homes of his opponents?
It is now crystal clear that the reasons for the Oshiomhole must go dance is all directed at 2023, Fayemi and his fellow coupists (El Rufai, Bagudu, Badaru and co) seem to be uncomfortable with an Oshiomhole who they feel may not stomp into their shindig of handing over the presidency to them on a platter of gold, so they seek the slipperiest of means to acheive their aims, forgetting the consequences that may befall the party should they have their way.
Governor Fayemi disappoints me, how a pro-democracy fighter readily metamorphosed into a coupist is rather alarming, but he should know that unbridled desire for power is not a mistress but a monster, for even Napoleon was to come to terms with such reality.
