Senator Ibikunle Amosun, immediate past Senator of Ogun Central Senatorial District has described as lies from the pit of hell, a statement credited to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who is the incumbent senator representing Edo North in the Senate. The purported statement by the erstwhile governor of Edo state pointedly accused Amosun of being the mastermind of his removal as National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Oshiomhole reportedly made the statement that Amosun considered as disparaging on Tuesday at the public presentation of a book written by former Director-General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Salihu Lukman in Abuja.
He was alleged to have accused Amosun and Kayode Fayemi, former governors of Ogun and Ekiti states respectively for being the arrowheads of his removal as national chairman of APC.
But in his unsparing reaction on Wednesday, an obviously angry Amosun, admonished Oshiomhole to stop feeding the public with lies, half truths and disinformation.
In his piercing statement, Amosun declared: “It’s been a struggle since yesterday on what to make of the ‘tales by moonlight’ that Senator Adams Oshiomhole treated the audience of Dr. Salihu Lukman, to at his book launch, “APC and Transition Politics,” in Abuja.
“This apparent struggle was not for want of a proportionate response to his deliberate drivel, but because not only was his story fraught with lies, but also because he did not boast the requisite integrity to say the truth.
“Besides, it is not in my character to join issues with people I consider qualified enough to be called leaders of our party, APC and of this great country, Nigeria to which I believe Senator Oshiomhole belongs.
“However, given his antecedents and penchant for careless and most times, baseless and unverified public statements, and also considering my duty to the country and the public in particular, it will be uncharitable if I fail to put the records straight.
“What Senator Oshiomhole was alleged to have said, apart from being far from the truth, is a calculated attempt to present water while drinking wine. The Yoruba adage says ‘if you let a mad man bury his mum the way it pleases him, he could roast her for a meal.’ At that point, the community is to blame for his choice.
“Indeed, listening to him yesterday, his utterances represent some inherent inadequacies, which he vented, not just at inauspicious times, but without basis while predicating such simply on lies just to hoodwink the unsuspecting.
“It is not in doubt that I have participated fully in the formation and sustenance of our party, the APC, and I can boldly say that the party under Adams Oshiomhole conducted one of the worst primaries in the history of Nigeria’s contemporary politics and ended up shopping for his own enemies thereby leading to his eventual removal as chairman of our party. Nigerians should not be in a hurry to forget the allegations that preceded the conduct of those primaries and his eventual invitation by the Department of State Service, DSS, to clarify certain grave allegations.
“No one can doubt the fact that Senator Oshiomhole posed the biggest and most destructive threat to the existence of the APC at that time, and the party’s best bet was to dispose of a canon fodder that he was and unfortunately still is. His utterances and grandstanding on Tuesday at an occasion to find solutions to our democratic and party challenges is a vindication of our party’s decision to remove him as chairman.
“If he wanted to insult our leader, former President Muhammadu Buhari, he could have come out boldly to do so. But his subtle attempt to pass snide remarks at him failed the simple test of loyalty because the former president also moved from his own party to merge with other like-minds to form the APC.
“Also, if he is seeking favour from the presidency, why not come out and say so? But to tell barefaced lies that “You are working for your paymaster in Lagos, paymaster in Bourdillon,” is cheap but typical of an individual, who suddenly found himself where he never dreamt of, despite his obvious limitations – education and exposure.
“If the public will remember, soon after Senator Oshiomhole was sworn in as a Senator, he alleged that members of the 9th Senate vandalized their offices before leaving; only for him to eat the humble pie by later apologising when it became obvious that the allegations were baseless.
“My honest advice to him is to carefully and soberly sit down to take stock of his past so that it will continue to serve as a guide for him in his future public utterances rather than dragging the names of innocent people into needless controversies because in Africa, age and leadership are associated with wisdom.
“This is also why I have consistently brushed aside and intentionally scoffed at his tongue-in-cheek apology, which he had extended to me several times. I am now convinced such was not genuine.
“In the final analysis, background matters, Amosun concluded.
