Comrade Oshiomhole: Progressive governors forum using DG against me
Former National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja on Monday, alleging that some governors in the Progressive Governors Forum are using the Director General (DG), Salihu Lukman, against him.
Responding to an assertion made by the forum that he might be attempting to stage a comeback as the party boss, Oshiomhole accused Ekiti State governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Dr Kayode Fayemi, of unilaterally appointing Lukman as the Progressive Governors DG.
He told State House correspondents that he would not engage in a dirty fight with the DG. According to Oshiomhole, “What they don’t understand is that it is not the office of chairman that made me who I am. It is my pedigree from my days as a labourer in the textile industry to be the general secretary of textile workers all over Nigeria and becoming the president of NLC. There is no village I go to that people do not know me and it is this that I used to override the godfathers in Edo State for two consecutive terms, no violence before becoming the national chairman.
“So, my attitude is not to reply to the noise and it is coming from somebody who says he is an employee and appointee of Progressives Governors Forum. He contested for senate against Makarfi, he lost. He even contested against governor El-Rufai during the primaries and he lost before Fayemi unilaterally appointed him the DG”, he added.
Recall that while advising the new national leadership of the APC in a letter last week, the DG had accused Oshiomhole of frustrating the newly inaugurated National Caretaker Committee to ensure that he is returned as the party’s chairman.
The former Edo governor said he was at the presidential villa to appreciate the president and pledge his absolute loyalty to him. He also revealed that he requested for security for the conduct of the September 19, 2020 poll, saying that whoever is found wanting among the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or the APC should be brought to book.
