Adams Oshiomhole under fire over bribery allegations
President Muhammadu Buhari who has backed estranged Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has washed his hands off his matter. Oshiomhole is currently swimming against the tide of his party leadership over allegations of corruption and bribery in his handling of the party’s primaries.
He is currently on the run after he was invited and quizzed by operatives of the Directorate of Security Services (DSS). His travails started after some aggrieved members of the APC filed petitions against him to security agencies.
A competent party source said some of the petitions were sent to DSS, EFCC and the police, adding that verbal complaints were lodged with the party by the petitioners but Oshiomhole was blocking investigation.
“I think it was the way Oshiomhole treated the NWC and the complainants that made some of them to take the matter to the security agencies. We were supposed to treat and address the matter in-house”, the source said.
A Presidency source said President Buhari was miffed by the stories weaved around the role Oshiomhole played in some state primaries and is in support of a thorough investigation of the matter.
The source said the introduction of two types of primaries – direct and indirect – was at the behest of Oshiomhole, stressing that the APC chairman arbitrarily staggered the type of primaries for the different states.
“Many party members had insisted that if we are doing indirect primaries it should be the same for all the states but this was dismissed by the Chairman and a few of his backers”.
Meanwhile, Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State has dismissed rumours that he and Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo are behind the alleged detention and grilling of All Progressives Congress(APC) National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole.
Oshiomhole was reportedly detained and questioned on Nov. 4 by the Department of State Services (DSS) over the fallout of the APC primaries.
Speaking with State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Amosun said he did not have such capacity.
“I think you are giving me an oversight role.
“I am not a security person; so, clearly, that question will probably not be for me.
“I don’t hide under a finger and fight; if there is need for me to put my views across, you know by now, I will do it.”
The governor, who sounded evasive, said that all that needed to be said about the APC crisis had been said; hence no need to sound like `a broken gramophone’.
Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) Mr Osita Okechukwu, has said that the only way out for the embattled National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, is for him to resign.
Oshiomhole is under fire over allegations of corruption arising from the recent conduct of party primaries.
According to Okechukwu, the national chairman could be stoned by the public should he accompany President Muhammadu Buhari to Enugu during the electioneering campaigns.
Okechukwu is an aggrieved Senatorial aspirant in Enugu state.
He urged the Department of State Services DSS and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to immediately probe the call logs of Oshiomhole in recent times.
Addressing a press conference at the party national secretariat on Thursday in Abuja, Okechukwu said it is imperative that Oshiomhole resigns forthwith to save the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari on the eve of a crucial general election.
