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As partisans begin to make permutations with regards to zoning the Presidency in 2023 to the South, immediate-past Minister of Communications, Barr. Adebayo Shittu has said the north is free to contest the Presidency in so far as the region presents qualified candidates.
Speaking with journalists Thursday in Abuja, Shittu, an ally of President Muhammadu Buhari said he has never been an apostle of zoning, but has always rooted for competent people.
“Honestly, as far as I am concerned, when you talk of national politics, every party must allow for primary election. Whoever is able to emerge should be the candidate. I mean, party leaders from every part of the country will take part in this primary election. Are you saying if my brother from my hometown,
Shaki wants to contest, if I find out that he has no capacity to contest, must I stupidly follow him because he is my brother, when it is not a family business? The constitution does not talk of zoning with regards to presidential election. What the constitution says is wherever the president comes from, the vice president should come from another part of Nigeria. So, it is not about north or south. We did not vote for Buhari because he is from the north. We voted for him because of his pedigree”, he declared.
APC useless without Buhari
Shittu again weighed in on the recent crisis that has afflicted the national leadership of the party, accusing the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of destroying the APC.
He said without President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC would have since disintegrated, fearing the worst for the ruling party in 2023 when the president would no longer be eligible for a reelection.
“Ajimobi got Oshiomhole to disqualify me. Why will you disqualify me? Are you an illiterate? Don’t you have a legal department in the party? If a chairman wants to do anything which has to do with law, he should seek advice from the party’s Legal Adviser. But I talked to a number of people within the party structure and nobody had the courage to challenge him.
“I am hard on Oshiomhole because he has come to destroy our party. How do you justify a national chairman who came to take over our party at a time the party is in power and at a time we have 26 states? How do you now have a situation where we have lost about five or six states?
I mean, if it were in civilized climes, he should resign personally because it has shown that he is a failure and he does not have the capacity to run a civilized political party. He is one person who is a dictator; he is one person who loves to dominate everybody in his environment; he is one person who does not take advice, he is one person who does not even seek advice. How do you justify for instance, in the Southwest, you said every state should adopt direct primary but in Oyo state, it should be indirect primary.
So, what is the standard? Anybody who does not have the capacity of being just, should leave. And let me put this on record; I was the first person to tell Mr President, when Oshiomhole became jobless after his governorship, I advised Mr President to appoint him as his Political Adviser and Oshiomhole knows because I told him I was going to inform the president. So, for somebody who I had done that kind of thing for and who eventually became national chairman, he shouldn’t have behaved that way. In advertising for people to come and pick forms, should you not have really set out requirements and conditionalities ?
Why did you wait until I had paid N22 million for the form only to come out with a baseless allegation? It was not me alone he did that to. He did the same thing to Aisha Alhassan in Taraba. I have been told by people from Taraba that but for the fact that that woman was denied ticket, APC would have won the governorship because the governor was not seen as having down well. But when you take money from people ams balkanize the party, at the end of the day, you have half of your brigade going to war, the other half would perhaps be doing something else.
APC will lose in 2023 if….
“My fear now is this. As of today, it is the personality of President Muhammadu Buhari that is galvanizing the party together. I hate to see a situation whereby in 2023, when Buhari is no more on the ballot, who again will bring UA together to match into the electoral battle as one united front?
“I don’t see us winning. A lot of people will be driven out of the party because he will continue with his injustice. Already, a lot of things have been destroyed. It is commonsensical”, he stated.
Chairmen back Oshiomhole
However, no fewer than 21 state chairmen of the party have expressed support for Comrade Oshiomhole, saying all the accusations levveeksd against him by the Deputy National Chairman, North, Sen. Lawali Shuaibu were without facts.
Secretary, Forum of APC State Chairmen, Dr Ben Nwoye along with some of his colleagues told journalists Thursday evening in Abuja that aside the 21 state chairmen who held a meeting and passes a vote of confidence on Oshiomhole, seven others sent in apologies for not being able to attend the meeting.
“We met with the National Chairman of our great party in company of members of NWC. We talked on relevant issues to the party. We discussed in details on party unity. At the end of the meeting, we were informed fully on party issues and unity of the party. Based on the information we have and the readiness of National Chairman to lead this party to the Next Level, we have all unanimously passed a vote of confidence on the person of the National Chairman and the NWC.
“Any news making the rounds that sometimes, somewhere our National Chairman is facing troubled times, we need to bring that to a rest. He is our Chairman. He is a strong leader. He has all it takes to lead this party to the Next Level”, he added.
On the allegation that the chairman is dictatorial and high-handed, the state chairmen said; “Those issues are untrue. We found out that those issues are without merit. It is to malign the National Chairman. It is a frivolous allegation with no counter evidence. The report came out on the day President Muhammadu Buhari was inaugurated. It was to malign the President, APC, and bring the party down”. (Vanguard)
