Odigie-Oyegun Bombs Oshiomhole as PDP Exposes Buhari on Judiciary

Pioneer National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Edo State Governor during the Ibrahim Babangida inconclusive transition programme, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has taken on his successor, Adams Oshiomhole, claiming that the ex-labour leaderdoes not have the capacity to run a political party.

The Odigie-Oyegun bomb was dropping as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was busy exposing President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on the Judicial arm of government.

PDP said for the administration to allow the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof Itse Sagay to continue casting aspersions on the integrity of the Justices of the Supreme Court over the apex court’s widely accepted judgment on Rivers and Zamfara states elections does not portend good for Nigeria.

PDP, according to their Spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, holds that Prof. Sagay’s resort to incitement and hate language against the Supreme Court justices further exposes the desperation of the Buhari Presidency and the APC ‘’to cow, blackmail, intimidate and attempt to annex the judiciary’’, particularly, the Supreme Court, ahead of the determination of the party’s Presidential election petition, now before the Court of Appeal.

Continuing, the party noted that Sagay’s comment has also revealed the level of condescension, derision and contempt the Buhari Presidency and the APC have for the Justices of the Supreme Court, adding, ‘’by declaring the upholding of justice by the Supreme Court as a national tragedy and unimaginable injustice, and suggesting that, we (probably, his party members) should not allow the judgment as delivered, Sagay is calling for anarchy and rebelliousness against our constitutional democratic order and rule of law.’’

According to Ologbondiyan, ‘’our party believes that such intentional attack on the integrity of the Supreme Court can only emanate from feverish apprehensions by the Buhari Presidency and the APC that they might not have their way in the Presidential election petition, hence this resort to blackmail.

‘’As a law-abiding party, the PDP holds the integrity of the justices as well as the institution of the judiciary very high and do not support this attempt by agents of the APC to clip and sequester the judiciary for their partisan interests.

‘’There is no way Sagay, a professor of Law, can justify his call for the rejection of the Supreme Court judgment on Zamfara and Rivers states, as the judgments are in  protection of rule

of law, democratic ethos as well as the wishes and aspirations of the people over the attempt by the APC to take control of their states through manipulations and awarding of fictitious votes to their candidates.

‘’We are therefore, calling on the Supreme Court Justices to note the machinations of the APC and continue to be firm in upholding justice as has been demonstrated in the judgments on Rivers and Zamfara states elections, which serve as lessons to political parties to adhere strictly to rules of internal democracy in our electoral processes.’’

In the mean time, the former APC National Chair spoke following the position of the South South Caucus of the party that he laid landmines for Oshiomhole before quitting as the big boss.

But, the Odigie-Oyegun bombshell is coming a few days after the APC National Deputy Chairman (North), Senator Lawan Shuaibu, demanded for Oshiomhole’s resignation, insisting that the former President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) does not have the temperament to run a political party.

Firing back on Sunday against the backdrop of his indictment by the six South South states APC chairmen, Odigie-Oyegun who spoke through his Media Aide, Ray Morphy, said Oshiomhole failed because he lacks the temperament to manage different interests in the party.

While blaming the crisis in the party on Oshiomhole, who he said engages his mouth before engaging his mind, he added, ‘’Oshiomhole fails because he lacks the temperament required to run a political party. He lacks the capacity to manage different interests and tendencies that constitute a political party.
He engages his mouth before engaging his mind, so he offends party members, so how does that constitute traps by Odigie-Oyegun?’’

Faulting the indecision of the national chairman with regards to adopting a uniform template for the conduct of the last primaries of the party before the general elections, he said  Oshiomhole led the party into its current wave of crises, .

‘’How will you not have crisis in states with the confusion that Oshiomhole created when he gave them freedom to choose their methods of picking candidates for elections. Much of the crisis in states arose out of sheer incapacity on the part of the current chairman. How does Oshiomhole’s incapacity become booby traps by Odigie-Oyegun?

‘’Many party men were aghast at the unfairness and injustice meted them during the primaries process. Oshiomhole and his chairmen should leave his predecessor out and face his duties of running the party which seems to be overwhelming him. He should face the dwindling fortunes of the party which he himself created.

‘’Only a bad carpenter quarrels with his tools. Indeed, Oshiomhole is degrading and de-marketing the party. Rather than seek to bring more people on board, he is rather chasing people out of the party with his agbero style of engagement’’, the former APC Chair said.

Subscribe to our newsletter for latest news and updates. You can disable anytime.