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National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has vowed that despite the crisis rocking the Edo State chapter of the party, there is no chance of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) taking over the State in 2020 gubernatorial poll.
He spoke to journalists in Abuja shortly after he led APC State chairmen to a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Villa on Friday.
Oshiomhole said that apart from the solid foundation he laid for APC in Edo while he was governor of the State, some PDP forces that could have plotted the fall of APC there had either decamped or joined their ancestors.
Nonetheless, he was hopeful that the crisis rocking the party in the state which had pitched him against the Governor, Godwin Obaseki, would be resolved peacefully.
His words: “Let me reassure you, APC is not at risk of losing Edo state in the next election. Edo people have accepted APC as a preferred party since 2008 when I assumed office and if you look at the result of elections, it shows that the people have faith in our party, on the basis of the performance of the government that the party has produced, both when I was there and even after I had left.
“The fact that I come from a place does not mean that the place cannot have a quarrel. You will be exceptionally lucky as husbands and wives if you do not have misunderstandings with your spouses and sometimes, your children.
“If anybody suggests that whenever you have arguments in the family house the family may go under, the person may be a poor student of human history and human organization.
“I believe that the issues in Edo and in any other state, will be resolved peacefully, to the benefit, not just of the party, but of the people in those states.
“We are committed to retaining Edo, particularly now that we have Bayelsa added to Edo, the more reason we cannot do anything which in our opinion, can possibly lead to APC losing Edo State, if anything, if you have been monitoring what is going on, more and more people are coming to join the APC in Edo.
“If they have fears that we may lose, nobody will leave PDP to join APC. So if people are leaving PDP to come and join APC in Edo State, that is the most potent, bold statement, about the level of confidence that even the people in the opposition recognize that if they want to be in government, the party to join is the APC.
“Be rest assured that as the National Chairman, even if I wasn’t National Chairman, I have put in and invested much effort to be able to defeat PDP in 2008, against federal might, when President Obasanjo was the supervisor of that election and I got reelected.
“You know the PDP forces in Edo, you know their names, some have joined their ancestors, if you have invested that kind of effort like I have invested like I have done and God blessed it, you will do nothing that will undermine it.”
Asked why he was absent when the APC governors met with the President on Thursday, Oshiomhole said, “there was no reason other than the fact that the meeting was meant for the governors’ to interact with Mr. President and I was not available to attend the meeting.”
Meanwhile, sources at the meeting hinted that APC state chairmen across the country are divided over whether to remove Oshiomhole as national chairman or not.
It was gathered that Chairmen from the South-South, South East, and North East geopolitical zone of the country are behind Oshiomhole; while those in South West, North Central and North West are still divided on the call for Oshiomhole’s sack.
Interestingly, factional APC Chairman in Edo State, Anselem Ojezua, who is loyal to Governor Obaseki, was barred from the meeting with Buhari; but Col. David Imusa (rtd), who is the factional chairman recognized by Oshiomhole was allowed to attend, a development indicating that reconciliation is not yet in sight.
