The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has fingered his successor, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, among other forces behind his travails in the ruling party.
In his first public reaction a day after the FCT High Court suspended him as the chairman of the ruling party, Mr Oshiomhole said he will overcome his ordeal.
He spoke Thursday to journalists after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso Rock Villa.
The meeting held shortly after another ruling by Justice Lewis Allagoa of the Federal High Court in Kano, affirming Mr Oshiomhole as the chairman of the party.
Although both are high courts, Mr Oshiomhole said the Abuja court that ordered his suspension lacked jurisdiction since the police and SSS joined in the suit are federal institutions.
His words, ‘Oshiomhole: You will recall that I was here two days ago to brief Mr. President as I always on matters affecting the party. Just yesterday (Wednesday) morning suddenly I saw in the news that an FCT High Court has suspended me as national chairman. And that the person who went to court includes one of my vice chairmen, north East, one Mustapha (Mustapha Salihu APC National Vice Chairman Northeast) and four others. I was taken back because in the same suit they joined the APC, the police as the DSS.
‘Our lawyers told me that in law when you sue a federal agency, FCT High Court has no jurisdiction to entertain it. Number two, the purported suspension of my person by my ward, first it’s not even through and I am going to give you a document to that effect so that you can form your opinion. Number three, I am not an officer of my ward, I am the national chairman of my party, elected at a national convention by over 7,000 delegates, so how could nine persons sit down somewhere and purport that they have removed a national chairman? And the court, contrary to all logic, all judicial precedence, found comfort in granting an interim interlocutory order to stop me from functioning pending when the matter is determined. In other words, he has given the order without the facts being laid before him and in the process adjourned the case to 7th of April.
“The calculations are clear that between now and April 7th, my opponent in the system would have had ample time to do all the mischievous plans they have in place to destabilise the APC. Because, some of them have membership of more than one political party.
“But happily this afternoon, a federal high court that I believe that has jurisdiction on federal issues because the DSS, the police are not state institutions but federal institutions, has given an appropriate order to restrain the so-called suspension that was allegedly imposed on me by my ward in Edo State.
“I thought that 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. But I had a duty to inform him about the court order. But happily before coming here, the order from a Federal High Court that has made nonsense of what the FCT court purported to have done has already settled the question.
‘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 vote of confidence on me. How the court can hold a vote of confidence and twist it to mean vote of no confidence, only that judge can explain it to himself. But the good news is that this is not a final court nor is it the only court; incidentally, it is just the court that didn’t have the jurisdiction even to listen to this matter. And our lawyers so pointed it out but the judge was determined to oblige those who want to destabilise the All Progressive Congress.
“Let me also say that those behind this plot, the hands you saw which includes as you saw yesterday, you saw 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 looks 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. But there are other forces who see me for whatever reason as threat to them. And those leading this anti-Oshiomhole campaign, some of them I emphasise, cannot even boast of a councillor in their states even as they lay claim to leadership position in our party.
‘I am proud to say that I have done my best not only when I was a governor, I have done my best as chairman of this party, I have worked not only along members of the party and with support of the good people of Nigeria for the president to be re-elected, for us to have majority in the two chambers of the National Assembly, I also worked hard to deliver my unit, my ward, I worked hard my local government, I worked hard my federal constituency three of them in my senatorial zone, I also worked hard my senator. Those fighting me couldn’t deliver even a councillor of a local government in their unit. And they 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 him down.
“I can’t say more than that. Those who are parading themselves, holding meetings at night, my prayer to my God is that let them meet at night, what they do at night will be destroyed by light in the day time. I don’t go for night business I do day business. They know themselves, they know me and I know them.”