Adams Oshiomhole has blamed his travail on the activities of those who had tried unsuccessfully to weaken the institution which he represents as the All Progressives Congress, APC, chairman, in order to have their ways.
Oshiomhole made this assertion on Thursday while speaking with journalists after he held a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He spoke against the backdrop of the order of a Federal Capital Territory High Court suspending him from office as the national chairman of the ruling APC, on Wednesday.
Recall that a Federal High Court in Kano has on Thursday insisted that he remained the national chairman.
Explaining why there were efforts to force him out of office, Oshiomhole said he refused to be controlled by forces which wanted to misuse the institution.
His words: “Why they want me out? You see there is an issue in this country. People want strong leadership, the average Nigerian wants to have a strong leader for Nigeria; they want to have strong leaders in various institutions, they want institutions that are strong enough that cannot be controlled by individuals. That was why President Obama said, what Africa needs are strong institutions not strong persons.
“Unfortunately, very few sections of our elite want to weaken institutions so that they can control, and if you refuse to oblige them the misuse of your institution, then they go for the jugular. That is the only thing.”
He explained: “Remember the confusion we had at the last NEC meeting; that meeting took place exactly a week or about 10 days after we had won Kogi election, Bayelsa election before the court took it and donated it to somebody else. Yet, in the face of this victory, people said Oshiomhole must be removed, precisely because we won more.
“But you see whatever you do, those who want to fight you will fight you. I know that my tenure will be defined by God not by man. And I worry more about what I will be remembered for when I was chairman rather than how long I was chairman. And I am convinced that I have done my very best.”
Oshiomhole said he must have made some mistakes though, that should be taken as human nature.
“Mistakes would have been made and I want to see the one person who will say he has never made mistakes. But if there are mistakes of the head we have the capacity to correct mistakes of the head. But I know I have not set out to make the mistakes of the heart. It is just that by the reason of the position that I occupy, it is not quite appropriate for me to join at this hour in explaining who is responsible for the losses that people point out and they want to heap on my head.
“Even when we have lost some states, I ask you, did you see one newspaper that congratulated Oshiomhole when we won in Kogi, Bayelsa before the court took it back?
“But look at the narrative, once it goes the other way. If we succeed it is not me, if we lose it is me. I know even in corporate organisations, we have what we call profit and loss account. You have profit and loss. That is what is call balance sheet. If you look at my balance sheet, I know I am not the best chairman in the world but I believe I have given my all even at the expense of my family’s wellbeing and family life to support my party, to ensure that I work sometimes almost 20 hours a day to ensure that I provide the desired leadership that APC.”
He said he was proud of the support he had been getting from the ordinary majority of the party and majority of the leaders of the party.
He said it was unfortunate that “if you have out of 100, 90 people are happy with you, call and say well done, those 10 who are not are the ones that will call press conference to denounce.”
He added: “They are the ones who will hold midnight meetings in a minister’s house to say how do we bring him down. They are the ones who will plot how do we get rid of him because they want to be president in 2023 even when their hold on their state at the moment is doubtful.”
Despite the travail, Oshiomhole expressed the belief that God would see him through.
“God will see me through, He knows my heart, He knows my conscience and He knows the wishes of the overall majority of our members and to them I remain ever grateful,” he said.
