The aspiration of the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC , Chief John Odigie-Oyegun to retain his plum job suffered setback last night as President Muhammadu Buhari rallied governors elected on the platform of the APC to support former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole as the new national chairman of the party.
COMPLETE NEWS had hinted yesterday of a crucial closed doors meeting with the governors in the presidential villa.
A top level source who was privy to what transpired at the meeting told this newspaper that the president openly declared support for Oshiomhole urging the governors to ensure his emergence as the new chairman of the APC in the convention slated for next month, May 14.
Oyegun who was banking on the support of the governors and other influential members of the NEC has not declare his intention to run again but sources said he was weighing his options before declaration.
“The agenda of the meeting has to do with former governor of Edo State, the President preferred him as the next chairman of the APC”, the source confided in COMPLETE NEWS.
Odigie-Oyegun and Oshiomhole are both former governors from Edo state, South-south, geo-political zone.
Meanwhile, Odigie-Oyegun has described the purported endorsement of Oshiomhole as the next chairman of the party as childish.
Oyegun told reporters in Abuja that, “It was childish. Absolutely childish! The voting is done at the convention and not in state houses, not in government houses”.
On his purported rejection by the Edo State chapter of the APC, the APC chairman said, “They have their reasons for what they did and you have to respect their own reasons, however, wrong it is. Don’t bother about this teaser; I will give a comprehensive interview, to speak with you when the time comes.”
The party chairmen explained that though any member from the zone was free to aspire for the position, it was necessary to give Odigie-Oyegun right of first to contest the national chairmanship position at the forthcoming national convention of the party.
The state APC chairmen; Chief Davies Ikanya (Rivers), Mr. Etim John (Cross River), Dr. Amadu Attai (Akwa Ibom) and Deacon Joseph Fafi (Bayelsa), made this remarks in an electronic mail made available to one of our correspondents on Monday night.
The party chairmen issued the statement at the end of the APC state chairmen and South-South Zonal Executive Committee meeting at Government House, Benin, Edo State.
They said, “The aforementioned four state chairmen out of the six chairmen of the zone and the executive committee members from their states reject attempts by the South-South APC Zonal Vice-Chairman, Prince Hilliard Eta, to railroad members present in the meeting into adopting the former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, as the candidate of the South-South zone for the national chairmanship position at the forthcoming national convention.
“It is our conviction that whereas Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and indeed all qualified members of the party in the zone are free to offer themselves for service to our great party, the zonal committee believes that for the sake of justice and fairness, as always expressed by our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, on all matters, the incumbent Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, should be given the first choice of refusal to contest the national chairmanship position at the forthcoming national convention of our party.”
Also, the Delta State chapter of the APC has disowned the alleged endorsement of Oshiomhole, by the leadership of the South-South.
In a statement signed by the state Deputy Chairman of the party on Tuesday, Chief Cyril Ogodo, the Delta APC condemned the development, describing the adoption as a desperate and despicable move capable of disuniting members of the APC ahead of the 2019 elections.
The South-South zonal leadership of the party led by Eta in a meeting in Benin, on Monday, threw its weight behind Oshiomhole, who is seeking to replace Odigie-Oyegun.
They insisted that Odigie-Oyegun should be given a right of first refusal to seek re-election for the position before endorsing other candidate for the position.
It noted that they were part of those who walked out on the South-South zonal caucus meeting on Monday in protest against what they said were plans by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and Eta to adopt Oshiomhole as the zonal candidate of the party for national chairman.
Similarly, the leader of the party and the 2015 governorship candidate of the APC in Delta State, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, also distanced himself from Oshiomhole’s adoption.
Emerhor, who expressed shock at the action, said leaders and stakeholders of the APC at no time deliberated on adopting Oshiomhole as their candidate.
