War of Words between Oshiomhole, Okorocha and Amosun Takes a New Turn with New “SECRETS” Leaked
The battle of between the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, Governor of Imo State Rochas Okorocha and the Governor of Ogun State Senator Ibikunle Amosun takes new dimension as each person continues to expose dirty secrets about each other.
The Chairman of the ruling APC gubertorial primaries election committee in Imo State, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, yesterday accused that Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha offered him a $2million bribe for the purpose of returning Uche Nwosu, son in law to the governor, as winner of the primaries.
Gulak, a former political adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, said in Abuja that he turned down the offer. The party has since forwarded the name of Senator Hope Uzodinma as its governorship candidate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), leaving Nwosu fuming with anger yesterday.
Nwosu wondered why APC national chair, Adams Oshiomhole, frustrated his governorship ambition after making his own son a member of the Edo State House of Assembly.
Okorocha, meanwhile, fired back at Gulak yesterday on the bribe allegation, dismissing it as an afterthought, while Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, whom Oshiomhole accused of running the APC in his state as an emperor, said yesterday that the APC chair “lacks respect for truth and decency.”
Gulak who had alleged that he was kidnapped on his arrival for the primary in Imo State also claimed that officials of the state government offered to convey him and his team to Owerri from Abuja in a private jet, an offer he claimed to have rejected because he did not want to be compromised.
He told reporters in Abuja that Okorocha’s plan was to turn the state into a family estate with his son in law as governor, his (Okorocha’s) son as deputy governor, his wife as a member of the House of Representatives and himself as a senator without considering the fact that it is the people of the state that will be the ultimate decider.
According to him, “The NWC approved our appointment, myself as the chairman and returning officer and six other members including the secretary making us seven as enshrined in the guideline. We went to Imo against all odds. We stood our ground, elections held, results collated and the winner announced.
“After the collation, I and few others escaped because the governor himself came to arrest everybody in the hotel. But before he arrived, about four of us escaped and he arrested other members including the secretary.
“He took them to Government House and they read a prepared speech declaring his son in-law the winner of that exercise. But I had already left Owerri for Abuja where I submitted my result.
Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State also reacted angrily yesterday to the Friday comments by Oshiomhole in which he said the governor was running the affairs of APC in his state as an emperor.
Amosun, in a statement by Information Commissioner Adedayo Adeneye, said Oshiomhole “lacks respect for truth and decency.”
The governor alleged plot to hand the state over to what he called a gang of rapacious expansionists in the Southwest. He said the plot would fail.
Adeneye, in the statement, restated “the contention of the APC leadership in Ogun State that the only gubernatorial primary held in the State was that of October 02, 2018 which produced Adekunle Akinlade as winner.”
He added: “the emergence of Akinlade was initially through a consensus arrangement as allowed by the party constitution but was nevertheless subjected to a primary election when some gubernatorial aspirants disagreed with the outcome of the consensus arrangement.
“This is, however, without prejudice to the sanctity of the consensus arrangement which Adams Oshiomhole hypocritically tries to demonise.
“The primary was conducted on October 7 by the State Electoral Committee headed by Col. Ali Ciroma. This is despite the fact that the State Chairman of the party had kept vigil at the national secretariat of the APC in the last two weeks to collect the forms.
“If Oshiomhole is denying the outcome of the gubernatorial primaries because the State Electoral Committee shied away from announcing the result, what is the reason for denying all the 26 candidates for the House of Assembly freely elected by members of the APC in Ogun State?
“We want Nigerians to note the duplicity and meddlesomeness of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and his gang in the affairs of the APC in Ogun State.
“In yet another instance in Ado Odo – Ota Federal Constituency, Oshiomhole substituted the winner of the primary for the House of Representatives, Rotimi Rahmon with the name of Jimoh Ojugbele, who did not even contest to go back to the House of Representatives but contested the primary for the Senate and was defeated.
Governor Amosun concludes the statement with an advice for Oshiomhole: “To Oshiomhole and his motley crew of co-travellers in ignominy, be assured that the music has just begun and we hope that you will enjoy the macabre dance to the music of justice.”
“By the Grace of God and the support of the good people of Ogun State, Adekunle Abdulkadir Akinlade will be sworn in as the new governor of Ogun State on May 29, 2019.”
