APC Chair: Oyegun To Withdraw For Oshiomhole, says party source

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Oshiomhole, right, with President Buhari

The race for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmanship is getting interesting as the interim chairman, Chief Odigie Oyegun, may eventually withdraw from recontesting for the post following alleged intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Sources said that Buhari, on Tuesday, officially declared his support for Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as national chairman.

It was gathered from party sources that Buhari declared his preference for Oshiomhole, a former labour leader and former governor of Edo State when he met with about 16 governors elected on the platform of the party on Tuesday night at the presidential villa. The governors were led by chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.

We further gathered that the president called the meeting to ask the governors to work for the emergence of Oshiomhole as leader of the party when the party holds its elective convention on May 14 in Abuja.

State governors are the most influential block in Nigeria’s political equation and they wield a lot of influence in affairs of the party and nation.

It is believed that Oshiomhole also enjoys the backing of a major leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who had earlier called for Odigie-Oyegun’s resignation following the chairman’s handling of the governorship primary of the party in Ondo State.

However, Odigie-Oyegun, who spoke with correspondents in Abuja, yesterday, on Oshiomhole’s endorsement by the South-South caucus of the party, said no support for the former labour leader from Edo State government house can deter him. he said;
“It is childish, absolutely childish. The voting is done at the convention and not in state houses, not in government houses.”
He revealed that he had concluded consultations on his re-election bid;
“Well, I am going to know when the convention committee announces its programme and when I’m going to buy my form if I will re-contest, I will let you know. The consultation, I think, is concluded,” he said.
He also commented on his lack of acceptance in his state, saying: “They have their reasons for what they did and you have to respect their reasons however wrong it is.”
He added that he was not bothered by the support Oshiomhole was gathering;
Oshiomhole, right, with President Buhari

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