Hope Uzodinma fingers PDP in plot to remove Oshiomhole as APC chairman

…S/South APC leader urges President Buhari to handle matter with caution

As the battle to unseat the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole intensify within the APC, the Imo state governor, Sen. Hope Uzodinma has assured that the current crisis rocking the party would not consume the embattled chairman of the party.

This is even as a South-South founding member of the APC, Chief Perekeme Kpodoh, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to tread cautiously in handling the crisis rocking the ruling party, as he alleged that persons against the survival of the APC were behind the crisis.

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The Imo State governor also vowed that patriotic forces in the APC would deploy every weapon in their arsenal to ensure that the plan of those plotting Oshiomhole’s removal was foiled, adding that they would not allow Oshiomhole to be humiliated out of office.

Uzodinma, who spoke while fielding questions from journalists in Owerri on Saturday, insisted that the chairman has done nothing to warrant his removal from office, adding that there were clearly spelt out guidelines for the removal of National officers of the party which those championing Oshiomhole’s removal want to circumvent by going through the back door to obtain exparte orders from the courts.

He accused leaders of the PDP of being behind the crisis in the APC, also accusing them of dropping the name of the presidency in vain.

The governor said the guidelines of the party is clear on how the national chairman can be removed from office which must be through the National Executive committee (NEC) of the party, adding that anything outside that was illegal and amounted to a witch hunt.

According to him, the plot to remove Oshiomhole is a clear case of witch hunt, otherwise those behind it would have come through the proper channel which is the NEC of the party, but they have refused to do so because they know they have no genuine case against him

“Many of us, leaders of the party, are aware that those clamouring for the chairman’s removal are working with the PDP to destabilise the party, but they will fail because we will not allow them to humiliate our national chairman out of office through illegal means or allow any action that will bring the party to public ridicule,” the governor declared

Uzodinma stated that President Mohamadu Buhari has always made it clear that as the leader and father of the party he does not interfere in party matters. “So, I advise those dropping the name of the President on their wicked plans to desist forthwith. We all believe in the rule of law and due process which is the hallmark of this administration and therefore cannot bow to any illegality.”

The governor wondered why any true member of the APC will want to remove Oshiomhole who has done so well for the party at this crucial stage in time when the party ought to come together, savour their victory at the last elections and plan how to consolidate for the future.

The Imo governor advised those behind the plot to remove Oshiomole from office to stop because it is bound to fail, adding “Let me make this clear we will not allow Oshiomhole to be humiliated out of office. He has done nothing wrong and no amount of propaganda and illegal plots can succeed in removing him from office.”

In his intervention in the party crisis, Kpodoh, who spoke in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the weekend, said enemies of the party including opposition elements, drafted the scripts to oust the National Chairman, Oshiomhole to create leadership crisis to destabilise the APC ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

He said persons behind the Oshiomhole-must-go campaign were working on the theory that dumping the party chairman would affect the interests of the main APC founders and compel them to engage the party in a prolonged internal battle.

Kpodoh said the forces against Oshiomhole had not given genuine reasons to justify their actions beyond saying that the party chairman was stubborn.

He said the APC had waxed stronger under Oshiomhole winning the presidential election, ensuring majority seats in the National Assembly with most of the states controlled by APC governors.

He said Oshiomhole lived up to his promise of giving President Buhari a better National Assembly leadership, which had been at the vanguard of granting most of the requests of the Presidency.

Kpodoh insisted that the strength of Oshiomhole was greater than his flaws adding that he deserved commendation instead of vilification.

He said for APC to defeat its enemies, Buhari and the core founders of the party must insist that Oshiomhole should finish his tenure as the party’s national chairman.

Kpodoh said most of the people championing the campaign against the party chairman, stood aloof when a former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Buhari and a few others toiled day and night to form the APC.

He said such individuals, who had harvested in a field they never cultivated, were driving the campaign against Oshiomhole to injure the sensibilities of the core founding fathers of the party.

He said such persons wanted the founding fathers and other progressive elements to reason that the APC had been hijacked by anti-progressives elements and withdraw their membership of the party.

He said if they were allowed to succeed, the APC would be weakened ahead of the election to give the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) an opportunity to bounce back to power.

He said: “It is time to save the APC from these evil forces and the hawks gathering to consume the party before the 2023 election. Oshiomhole has done nothing wrong. Generally he has performed very well to protect the interest of the APC against opposition forces.

“The only sin Oshiomhole has committed is to stop some individuals from foisting their selfish ambitions against the collective interest of the party. He has prevented opposition elements from infiltrating the party and the only way to stop him is to remove him.

“I am, therefore, calling on President Buhari to stand against these forces by ensuring that the national chairman completes his tenure to give the party stability it deserves ahead of the coming election.

“We know that the President is serving his second term, his vision for this country will die if he allows this party to implode. Most of these elements are already planning their exit after the collapse of the party. They are deliberately sowing the seeds of discord to facilitate their exit,” he added.