By Timi Frank<\/p>\n
\u201cThe white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with
\nhis religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay.
\nNow he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He
\nhas put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen
\napart.\u201d – Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart<\/p>\n
Today the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams
\nOshiomhole, has vowed not to eat nor drink until he forcibly removes the
\nPresident of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki from his position. Yet
\nhe is the Chairman of APC and not the Chairman of the National Assembly. He
\nis the head of a political party and not a member of parliament. The former
\nEdo State Governor is boisterous and ready at all times to take on issues
\nhe least comprehends. His ongoing shenanigans bothers on the antics of a
\nshow master who put up stunts to emasculate his obvious flaws of
\nincompetence and lack of understanding of the larger issues in political
\nparty administration. He presently sees himself as both the leader of the
\nAPC and the National Assembly. After vowing not to loose sleep over
\ndefecting APC Senators, he now conducts incessant nocturnal meetings with
\nAPC Governors and Senators in hotels and guest houses in Abuja, on how to
\nraise money to bribe Senators to forcibly and illegally remove Saraki as
\nPresident of the Senate.<\/p>\n
According to Wikipedia, the role of a party chairman is often quite
\ndifferent from that of a party leader. It added that \u201cThe duties of the
\nchairman are typically concerned with the party membership as a whole, and
\nthe activities of the party organization. Chairmen often play important
\nroles in strategies to recruit and retain members, in campaign fundraising,
\nand in internal party governance, where they may serve as a member of, or
\neven preside over, a governing board or council. They often also have
\ninfluence in candidate selections, and sometimes in the development and
\npromulgation of party policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
It must be noted that no where in the above analysis was it mentioned that
\nin a presidential system of government, which we run in Nigeria, that a
\nparty chairman can assume the duties or play the role of a party leader or
\ndirectly assuming leadership of the party caucus in the parliament of which
\nhe is not a member like Oshiomhole has now done. Right from the First
\nRepublic the post of a national party chair has always been reserved for
\ncharismatic personality who through force of personal example and high
\nsense of integrity work to build bridges of unity to weld the disparate
\nmembers of the party together and not those who will ride roughshod over
\nthe membership of the party. Oshiomhole has betrayed the solid foundation
\nlaid by his predecessors in the Office of the National Chairman of
\nfrontline political parties in the country, like Chief Solomon Lar, Chief
\nAudu Ogbeh , Chief Barnabas Gemade, Dr. Amadu Ali, Vincent Ogbulafor,
\nOkwesilieze Nwodo, Chief Bisi Akande, Uche Secondus and Chief John
\nOdigie-Oyegun.<\/p>\n
He may have ridden roguishly to ascend National Chairmanship seat of the
\nAPC merciless plunder of the common patrimony of the good people of Edo
\nState for eight years, the APC ought to have realized following his
\nbalkanizing and authoritarian activities in the last few weeks that they
\nhave the type of Chairman they never bargained for in their wildest
\nimaginations. After Oyegun, they now have a Chairman that is bereft of
\nknowledge about party politics and party administration. He looks at APC
\nfrom the prism of unionism which is his natural turf but I doubt if
\nNigerians will be comfortable with the new unionist bent of the APC
\nmovement as being orchestrated and championed by Oshiomhole.<\/p>\n
In addition, his barbarism as a union leader has failed to serve him in an
\nenlightened setting he now finds himself, yet he continues to cling to a
\ndead horse in his past thinking he can go far in his new assignment riding
\non the same spot. He thinks by his signature verbal effusions, confused
\nideology and undemocratic tendencies, he can run a a political party in
\nthis brave new world. He often attempts to hypnotize listeners with his
\navalanche of words, yet his words drips off like water off the back of a
\nduck. He thinks that by assaulting his hearers with illogicalities, he can
\nhide his shallow academic assets. Let Oshiomhole wake up to the realities
\nof the times we live in. He is not conversing with textile line workers
\nhuddled in a side caravan to sip from their beer mugs. Nigerians have read
\nhim and they have discovered rightly he has nothing to offer. He has sold a
\ndummy to APC authorities which they bought hook, line and sinker. He is
\nhere to destroy and not to build and I dare say that that we are are
\nlooking for doers and not talkers like Oshiomhole. He needs to wake up
\nright now. It is no longer might but right that triumphs.<\/p>\n
Oshiomhole is like a novice captain who has commenced the process of
\nruining the APC\u2019s unstable ship. Oshiomhole is the white man in \u201cThings
\nFall Apart\u201d. He came stealthily and today he has exalted himself far and
\nabove those who he begged to make him Chairman of APC. He is not
\naccountable to anybody even Buhari. Recall that barely a few days after he
\nassumed Office, he had threatened to expel Ngige from the APC while hinting
\nthat Buhari condones disrespect for his office. He has no place among
\nrespected former and contemporary chairmen of political parties in the
\nnation\u2019s history who were thoroughbred and refined administrators, built
\nbridges of unity, valued internal party cohesion and religiously adhered to
\ndue process rather than Machiavelli tactics. With only a handful days in
\nthe saddle, Oshiomhole has burned the existing bridges of peace in the APC
\nand has set in motion activities that would sooner than later put the party
\nin total disarray. We thought we saw reached its lowest ebb in Oyegun, but
\nOshiomhole had shattered the records in this Hall of Shame with his
\nthuggery orientation and undemocratic attitude which has set the party
\nspinning dangerously into infamy.<\/p>\n
Like the story of the white man in Things Fall Apart, Oshiomhole has
\nascended the Chairmanship position of the APC through subterfuge. He made
\nhimself beholden to President Muhammadu Buhari, and through the president\u2019s
\ninfluence goaded the APC governors to crown him without any form of
\ncontestation as befits a political party in a democracy. As a misbegotten
\nAPC Chairman, he is now out to ruin the party. That is his style. He
\nbelieves in the principle of \u201cunopposed\u201d which he used largely to his
\nfavour during his unionism days. He is not here to help but to hurt the
\nAPC. As an autocrat and demagogue, he sees himself above the party he was
\nchosen to serve. Little wonder that he thought he could deride Buhari and
\norder the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige and the
\nMinister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika with threats to expel
\nthem from the APC until Ngige publicly cut him to size. Speaking to State
\nHouse correspondents on Monday, July 23, 2018, Oshiomhole accused the two
\nministers of failure to inaugurate boards of parastatals under their
\nministries as directed by Buhari and threatened to expel them from the APC
\nand also prevail on Buhari to sack them from the cabinet. Oshiomhole said
\nof Ngige and Sirika: “If the minister refuses, we will suspend him from the
\nparty. For me it is the height of mischief for any minister, you cannot
\npurport to be an honourable minister and you act dishonourably and nobody
\nis greater than the party. And if the President condones disrespect for his
\noffice, I will not condone disrespect for the party (emphasis mine). And
\nwhen we expel the minister we will prevail on the president that he can’t
\nkeep him in his cabinet…\u201d<\/p>\n
He is a man of many words who is ignorant about the true essence of words.
\nHe claims to be a Christian, but the scriptural injunction in Proverbs
\n10:19, which says that \u201cIn the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but
\nhe who restrains his lips is wise\u201d means nothing to him. He speaks to
\ndestroy and not to build. He intervenes to curry advantage out of any
\ncrisis and not to engender peaceful coexistence between feuding parties. He
\nis an army of occupation and not a benevolent master. He needs a job
\ndescription and a crash course on how to pilot the affairs of a party in a
\ndemocracy. Oshiomhole has become a shame and an albatross in the APC. His
\nvery action may destroy the APC and truncate democracy if urgent steps are
\nnot taken by sane leaders still in the APC\u2019s fold to reclaim the party from
\nhim.
\nEND<\/p>\n