The suspended National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has accepted the decision of the National Executive Committee (NEC) dissolving the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
Oshiomhole, who addressed a press conference in Abuja on Saturday, said he had also directed his lawyers to withdraw his appeal pending at the Supreme Court.
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He said he had no regrets for the role he played in the party and highlighted his achievements.
Oshiomhole said: “You know that reforms are challenging and it will entail taking difficult decisions.
“Mine has been a life of trouble and I accepted this and I believe I did my best.
“I’m happy that at the end of the day, 2019 elections have come and gone, thanks to Nigerian people, our president had more votes in 2019 than we had in 2015.
“We have more members in the Senate and House of representatives.
“I’m not going into the question of legality or illegality.
“The bottom line is that the president who invited me to lead the party and who mobilised all the support for my emergence as chairman also presided over the meeting where the NWC has now been dissolved.
“As a demonstration of my loyalty to Mr President, loyalty to our party and loyalty Nigeria nation, I have decided to accept the decision in good faith and to maintain my loyalty, my respect and admiration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Accordingly, I have instructed my lawyers to withdraw my case that is currently pending at the Supreme Court which has to do with the issue of my suspension.
“To sustain the legal action would be tantamount to disobeying one of the decisions that the president has made.
“I have a duty to live by example. I have taken a bow and accept the decision of the NEC.”
Before Oshiohmole announced his decision, five members of the sacked NWC had declared support for the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee of the party.
They are: a former National Publicity Secretary, Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu; former National Disable Leader, Mushibau Lawan Didi; former National Youth Leader, Alhaji Sadiq Abubakar; former Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yekini Nabena; and former National Organizing Secretary, Emma Ibediro.
Alhaji Sadiq Abubakar in his remarks, said the APC remained a progressive and veritable platform for the realization of political ambitions of youths.
He said: “If our party must move forward, we must support the fatherly admonition by President Muhammadu Buhari to the effect that all those who instituted various lawsuits against the party and its leadership drop same forthwith.
“For, if we tear the party apart, we would have played into the hands of the opposition whose sole agenda is to “capture” power at the centre and again return the country to the years of the locusts.
“It is neither in our interest nor in the interest of electoral democracy to seek to destroy our party and the legacies of Mr. President by instituting lawsuits in the aftermath of a troubleshooting NEC meeting which outcome turned out a win-win for all sides.
Also speaking yesterday, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Nabena, urged aggrieved party members, state factions and members of the dissolved NWC among other stakeholders to drop cases against the party in the courts in line with the admonition of President Buhari.
Ibediro thanked the president for his intervention to save the party, saying his loyalty to him was unshaken and the belief in his ability to steer the ship of state was unalloyed.
A statement jointly signed by former acting National Chairman, Prince Ntufam Hilliard Eta, and former acting National Secretary, Arc. Waziri Bulama, pledged the loyalty of the dissolved NWC to the president.
The statement read: “The feedback from our consultative engagements is that we wholeheartedly accept the decision of the National Executive Committee of the party. In specific terms, our decisions are as follows:
“That as party men and stakeholders.
“We do not intend to sustain a group agitation against our party.
“We appreciate the intervention of our revered leader, President Muhammadu Buhari which must have been difficult for him but indeed the action of a true statesman.
“We reaffirm our unalloyed loyalty to our great Party and accept the authority of our father and preeminent leader, President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We have already begun engaging the care-taker committee led by His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni and assure all that we will not contest their authority but instead work selflessly with the team in its peace and consensus building efforts within our party.
“We confirm our availability to support the party’s electioneering efforts in the forthcoming Edo State gubernatorial election on September 19, 2020.”
We are ready to withdraw court cases – Ojezua
The Edo State chairman of the APC, Aslem Ojezua, expressed readiness to withdraw all the cases instituted in courts as directed by the president.
Ojezua, who disclosed this yesterday in Benin in a telephone interview, said they were working on clarification on how to proceed about the withdrawal of the cases.
“I agreed that all cases should be withdrawn.
“But I think it would be nice to review each case and see how many of this can be resolved outside the court before people can withdraw such case,” he said.
He promised to resolve all issues that made people to go to court, saying it would not be in the best interest of the party to continue the cases in court.
We have not been contacted – Lawyers
One of the lawyers representing Oshiomhole at the Court of Appeal in Abuja in the motion seeking to stop the execution of the court’s judgment of June 16 affirming his suspension by an FCT High Court, however, said he had not received any instruction to withdraw the case.
The lawyer, who spoke on the grounds of anonymity, said he only read the directive from news platforms.
Another lawyer, Wale Afolabi Esq, informed Daily Trust on Sunday that the parties were still in court over the chairmanship dispute, adding that he read about the issue of withdrawal in the newspapers.
Afolabi’s clients are members of Oshiomhole’s Ward 10 in Etsako West Local Government of Edo State, who brought the suit which was upheld by an FCT High Court on March 4 suspending Oshiomhole as chairman of the APC.
“When we get to the Court of Appeal on Monday, we will see what will happen,” he said.
The judgment of three-member panel of justices led by Justice Eunice Onyemenam had on June 16 held that Oshiomhole’s suspension on November 2, 2019 at his Ward 10 in Etsako West Local Government Area in Edo State was ratified by the ward, local government and state chapters of the party.
Subsequently, Oshiohmhole filed two appeals including: Appeal no: CA/A/187/2020 and CA/A/188/2020 challenging the decisions.
It’s a show of loyalty to President – Nkire
A chieftain of the APC and member of its national caucus, Chief Sam Nkire, commended Oshiomhole and members of the NWC for accepting the decision in the interest of the party and country.
Chief Nkire said: “This is heart-warming and a show of the highest degree of loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari and our great party.”
Dissolution of NWC not punitive – Yusuf
A member of the party’s Caretaker and Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee, Senator Yusuf A. Yusuf, says the dissolution of the National Working Committee (NWC) was not to punish anyone.
The senator, who represents Taraba Central in the Senate, told journalists in Abuja that the NEC decision was not only to solve the crisis rocking the party, but also to save the country.
“This is not to say there is a victor and a vanquished, no.
“It is just a way of making things to move forward so that we can all sit together in one house, reconcile with one another and then carry everybody along,” he said.
He added that the NEC’s decision to dissolve the NWC was right to further create an enabling environment for other political parties to flourish.
He said the committee had started reaching out to those aggrieved with a view to bringing everyone to the negotiation table.
