No third-term agenda for me – Buhari; Resign, aggrieved APC NEC members tell Oshiomhole

By Deji Abdulwahab
Abuja, Nov. 22, 2019

President Muhammadu Buhari says he will adhere to the provisions of the constitution by not attempting another term in office.

Buhari said this on Friday at the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive Council Meeting (NEC) in Abuja.

This is as some aggrieved members of the APC NEC have called on the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, to resign his position.

The Chairman of Zamfara chapter of the party, Mr Lawal Liman, who led the aggrieved NEC members, made the call on Friday, while speaking with journalists in Abuja.

Liman said Oshiomhole’s resignation would help in stemming the slide and provide an enabling environment for genuine healing, reconciliation and the practice of true democracy within the party across the country.

Liman, who is also the spokesman of APC State Chairmen’s Forum, said Oshiomhole had usurped the powers of the party’s NEC due to his dictatorial and despotic tendencies.

“Most of the goodwill acquired by the party, by reasons of its religious adherence to the provisions of its constitution and the tenets of internal democratic practice, has taken a downturn principally due to the dictatorial and despotic tendencies of Adams Oshiomhole, who has usurped the powers of NEC.

“This may have been responsible for the admonition of Mr President, who insisted that the party organs at the state, local government and ward levels must be strengthened and accorded due respect, with regard to the powers and responsibilities conferred on them by the party’s constitution,” he said.

Addressing the NEC meeting, President Buhari said: “I’m not going to make the mistake of attempting a third-term; besides age factor, I swore by the Holy Book that I will go by the constitution and the constitution says only two terms are available.

“I know that I’m in my last term and I can’t afford to be reckless, I’m not going to ask for anybody’s vote.

The president urged the NEC members to be conversant with Nigerian constitution to avoid factors that made the party to lose election in some states.

Buhari also urged the members to ensure that they were respected in their constituencies.

”Yesterday at the meeting of the caucus, I made some comments which are still relevant here.

“But to me, the most important is that every member of NEC should reposition him or herself to make sure that he has dominated his constituency politically.

“The aim is that, as I mentioned yesterday, history will not be fair to us outrightly, if the APC collapses at the end of this term.

“History will be fair to us, if the APC remain strong and not only holds the centre but make gains.

”People will reflect with nostalgia that once upon a time, the builders of APC made lots of sacrifices, worked very hard.

“The sacrifices are physical, material and moral to make sure that we maintain the leadership politically.

“This is what we should all aim at and ensure that our constituencies understand us and follow us to this great objective,” he said.

Buhari described what happened to the party in Imo, Bauchi, Sokoto and Zamfara states as unfortunate.

He urged the NEC members to discharge their responsibilities in line with the constitution.

“NEC members must make sure that people elected are responsible from polling units to wards, local governments and states in their constituencies.

“If for any other reason you divide the party at any constituency and it causes failure, then be prepared that history will not recognise you as a leader at any level at anytime,” he said.

Earlier, National Chairman of APC Adams Oshiomhole said: “I have chosen to amplify where we lost but we also made some gains that are quite understanding.

“I think our victory in Kwara for me was most outstanding; we now generally refer to Kwara with pride as the Otooge revolution.

However, besides their disenchantment with Oshiomhole’s manner of running the party prior to the NEC meeting, Liman also angrily lambasted the party chairman over how he conducted the NEC meeting.

He said it was unfortunate that “he (Oshiomhole) completely ignored Mr President’s advice and defied all known rules for meetings by precluding contributions  from members and ending the meeting abruptly, without achieving anything. This is most unfortunate and undesirable.

“Arising from the foregoing and having regards to the huge responsibilities bestowed on us as officers of the party and in the overriding interest of our members, we are left with no option than to demand that Oshiomhole resigns his position as national chairman.

“This will stem the slide and provide an enabling environment for genuine healing, reconciliation and the practice of true democracy within the party across the country,” he said.

Present at the NEC meeting were former interim National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande, Secretary to Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmed Lawan and Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege, among others.