National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole has described former President Olusegun Obasanjo as the organising secretary going about recruiting tired players for his rejected third term agenda.
He said this while rejecting the notion that the ruling party is losing members to the opposition, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Oshiomhole said that instead of losing members, the ruling party was actually growing in strength while many founding members, including Prof. Jerry Gana, have abandoned the PDP.
He added that people like Obasanjo were going about trying to create an impression that APC is unravelling while the party is not.
The former Edo State Governor urged Nigerians to disregard the antics of politicians like Obasanjo.
Reacting to insinuations that members were defecting or threatening to defect from the APC, Oshiomhole said, “I think this is what you should ask the PDP, they are the ones who have suffered huge mass defection even of the so-called founding fathers.
“In those good old days people like Professor Jerry Gana will tell us that we are the founding fathers, people like President Obasanjo will tell you that ‘I was the first president’ and all those stuff, all of these people are gone.
“I think the media should get more engaged and scrutinise those of us who are political players, especially when we speak from both sides of our mouths, or we know are turning the truth upside down.
“And there is no better proof than that old man who is going round as an organising secretary, recruiting people, looking for tired players to continue with his third term agenda which Nigerians have rejected.
“By whatever form they come in, Nigerians have spoken and they are not about to return to the era where NNPC and Central Bank and security money is shared to people based on the philosophy of PDP, share the money, they won’t do that.
“It is very easy for robbers to forget the robbery they have committed but the victims of robbery hardly forget.”
On the victory of Dr Kayode Fayemi in the gubernatorial election in Ekiti, Oshiomhole said that the residents of the state voted ‘wisely’.
He stated, , “We are very excited that the good people of Ekiti State voted very wisely. I think the people of Ekiti having recalled the good days of Fayemi and comparing them to the level they were reduced to under the present government voted wisely for change and for Fayemi to continue his unfinished business. And for us we are very very happy and that Ekiti people will be the better for it for the decision they have taken.”
Oshiomhole, who spoke after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, said he visited the president to bridge any gap between the government and the party.
He declared, “Well, as the national chairman of the governing party, I have responsibilities to administer the party and party matters in a very dynamic political environment such as the one we are in, that there are issues from time to time and I have come here to meet with Mr. President, who is the head of the federal government and the executive, elected on the platform of our great party, to share with him what we are doing in the party and also learn from him what he is doing in government, so that there is no gap between party and government. That is the way it should be. I am very excited that we had a very brief and business like meeting which has been the president’s tradition.”