Stop attacking Buhari to get Tinubu’s favour, Amosun tells Oshiomhole

A former governor of Ogun State and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, on Wednesday, accused ex-governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, of insulting former President Muhammadu Buhari to curry the favour of President Bola Tinubu.

Amosun, in a statement on Wednesday, said Oshiomhole lied about how he was removed as APC National Chairman, adding that he should not blame Buhari for his removal.

Amosun’s statement was a response to Oshiomhole’s claim that Buhari never intervened in the political crisis that led to his removal as the APC national chairman.

Oshiomhole spoke at the public presentation of a book titled “APC and Transition Politics,” authored by an APC chieftain, Malam Salihu Lukman, in Abuja on Tuesday.

At the event, Oshiomhole had accused Lukman and a former governor of Ekiti, Kayode Fayemi, and his counterpart in Ogun (whose name he deliberately didn’t mention), as being the architects behind his controversial removal from office.

Oshiomhole said, “Lukman wrote several letters, dismissing my leadership without calling me. When you ride on the back of a tiger, there is only one destination. I wrote to the governors for a meeting. The governors said no, I should come to Imo House, not the APC office. He (pointing to Lukman) was there. He did not see anything wrong with that.

“It felt as though I was in a military barracks. But I told them none of you can lecture me about the power of a governor because I have been governor twice; eight years uninterrupted. At a point, I told Fayemi, ‘You did a resit. You were elected and by the second term, you lost. That means you failed’. I did not do a resit, and you are lecturing me about power. I can mention some of them.

“The man in Ogun State, he told me if not for the President, he would have left the party. Some of them told me ‘You are working for your paymaster in Lagos. Your paymaster in Bourdillon.’”Midway through his speech, Oshiomhole turned to warn the current National Chairman of the party, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, to be prepared if he didn’t want the APC governors to pull the same political intrigue against his leadership.

“Mr Chairman, sir, if you have not faced it already, you will face it. The only difference is if the President decides to intervene and moderate. In my own case, we have a President who was not ready to intervene,” he said.

But reacting on Wednesday, Amosun said it was obvious that Oshiomhole was merely trying to warm himself into the good book of Tinubu by dragging the name of Buhari into his drama.

This was even as he described the narrative of the Edo senator as falsehood peddled to amuse the Nigerian public in vain.

Amosun said, “It’s been a struggle since yesterday on what to make of the ‘tales by moonlight’ that Senator Adams Oshiomhole treated the audience of Dr. Salihu Lukman to at his book launch in Abuja. This apparent struggle was not for want of a proportional response to his deliberate drivel, but because not only was his story fraught with lies, but also because he did not boast the requisite integrity to say the truth.

“Besides, it is not in my character to take issues with people I consider qualified enough to be referred to as both leaders of our party, the APC, and of this great country, Nigeria, to which I believe Senator Oshiomhole belongs. However, given his antecedents and penchant for careless and most times, baseless and unverified public statements, and also considering my duty to the country and the public in particular, it will be uncharitable if I fail to put the records straight.

“It is not in doubt that I have participated fully in the formation and sustenance of our party, the APC, and I can boldly say that the party under Adams Oshiomhole conducted one of the worst primaries in the history of Nigeria’s contemporary politics and ended up shopping for his own enemies, leading to his eventual removal as chairman of our party. Nigerians should not be in a hurry to forget the allegations that preceded the conduct of those primaries and his eventual invitation by the Department of State Services, to clarify certain grave allegations.

“If he wanted to insult our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, he could have come out boldly to do so. But his subtle attempt to pass snide remarks at him failed the simple test of loyalty because the former President also moved from his own party to merge with other like-minds to form the APC. Also, if he is seeking favour from the Presidency, why not come out and do so? But to tell barefaced lies that, ‘you are working for your paymaster in Lagos, paymaster in Bourdillon,’ is cheap but typical of an individual, who suddenly found himself where he never dreamt of, despite his obvious limitations – education and exposure. This is why I have consistently brushed aside and intentionally scoffed at his tongue-in-cheek apology, which he had extended to me several times. I am now convinced it was not genuine.”