After all the hue, cry, suspense, horsetrading on who would lead the campaign council of the All Progressive Congress presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban Borgu and former Governor of Lagos State; the chicken has come home to roost with the unofficial role of a former labour leader, former Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, as the unofficial spokesperson and “attacker-general” to supposedly antagonists of the Muslim-Muslim APC presidential ticket such as the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal. One could recall a state visit of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, to Edo State close to the end of Oshiomhole’s tenure as governor, where the eulogies of the Edo politician and “retired” textile worker was hyped to the high heavens. The President declared his desire for the completion of Oshiomhole’s second term in office for an assignment in Abuja. Many had expected a juicy ministerial appointment, grade A federal parastatal, international offer as foreign envoy or something close to a multinational offer akin to what the President facilitated for a northern kinsman, the late Dr.Mohammado Barkindo who from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) became the secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC); only for an elusive office of the national chairman of the ruling partyand henchman for the inglorious duty of replacing an Edo brother, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who at that period fell out with the powers that be and had to be replaced by all means.
The acceptance of Adams Oshiomhole as the replacement for Chief John Odigie-Oyegun was the initial hatchet job assigned to him to dislodge some elements within the ruling party who may have given the President some headache ahead of his envisaged second term in office. Unknown to Oshiomhole, he overestimated himself by assuming the national chairmanship offer was a reward or recognition for his eight year tenures as governor of Edo State, not knowing that the ruling cabal needed a politician with a labour mien and thuggery mindset to contend with the enemies of the government, strategy to deal with his kinsman and other political foes in the way to the fulfilment of the will of the power brokers.
Oshiomhole assumed duties as national chairman of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to discover the herculean nature of party management as a different kettle of fishfrom the office the governor had ruled for right years. National party leadership appeared more serious than Edo politics where he would use microphone to abuse the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) late chieftain, Chief Tony Anenih, as “Mr. Fix it” who could not fix any road in Edo State as a former minister of works and other juicy federal appointments, contracts, connections, influence cornered by the late politician and retired police chief. Indeed, the ruling party needed Oshiomhole to be used to sing the song of condemnation and opprobrium against the Peoples Democratic Party whose 16 years of rule in Nigeria was the only excuse for the dismal performance of the ruling party in the first term; until recently when Nigerians could no longer be deceived or confused to accept that PDP is the cause of Nigeria’s problems. The current economic statistics has indicated that the PDP had a shrewd way of ruling Nigeria, skills which some operators of the ruling government have refused to learn especially the fall of the naira from N180.00 left in 2015 to the current embarrassing rate of over N600.00.
Following the heinous muslim-muslim presidential ticket experiment of the ruling party which has raised so much resentment within and outside the Christian community in Nigeria, the ruling party appears desperate to remedy the already battered situation by confusing Nigerians more with whatever would assuage southerners and northern Christians. They appeared to have researched into the directory of southern Christiandom for an adherent with shrewd muslim content to fly a muslim-muslim kite to hoodwink Nigerians into political cooperation. Upon the failure and discovery of the fake bishop show at the presentation of the former governor of Borno State, Senator Kassim Shetimma as APC presidential running mate to score cheap christian endorsement of the warped, and imbalanced political combination of two Muslims for the presidency in a secular country like Nigeria, the last bus stop was the lifting,dusting of Oshiomhole to play odd political cards aimed atdomesticating the hidden islamization of Nigerian politics.
Oshiomhole was born as a muslim on the April, 1952 and at lyambo, his name at birth was Aliyu, he was partially converted into christianity by his late wife, Clara, a Catholic who died in 2010, while his Catholic faith lasted, he was given a Catholic name Eric which is not known to have been recorded anywhere among his documents and hardly mentioned or reorganized in any public event. Whereas he remarried about five years after the death of Clara to a Cape Verdean whose name is only the erasure of the first letter of his late wife’s name; one Lara Fortes, a top model and former staff of Emirate Airlines, an Islamic aviation firm from the Middle East. For more than sixteen years when Oshiomhole lost his catholic faith and marriage to a foreigner who once earned her income from Arabic capitalists, Oshiomohole may not retain any scruple of christianity in him and may only appear with a christian toga with political skills to be used to run a damage control programme for a skewed political ticket to further erode the secularity and unity of the Nigerian state.
Recent or past history have shown that for a northern presidential aspirant, the campaign spokesperson had always been from the south and vice versa. During the first term campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan, Senator Dr. Dalhatu Sarki Tafidawas withdrawn from his juicy diplomatic posting as the NigerianHigh Commissioner to the United Kingdom to lead the campaign, Senator Ahmadu Ali for the botched second term in 2014/2015 and even Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu did so for President Buhari in 2015; Dr. Jonathan Zwingina for the late M.K.O Abiola in 1993 and only God understands the wisdom of the current handlers of APC to use Adams Oshiomhole as the unofficial spokesperson.
For a political desperado of Oshiomhole’s ilk who in his turbulent days as national chairman of APC declared that any corrupt politician who joins the party would be justified,notwithstanding the gravity of corruption charges against him, to recently berate the former secretary to the government of the federation Mr. Babachir Lawal of corruption charges for condemning the muslim-muslim ticket of the ruling party is brazen hypocrisy of a hatchet jobberman. Oshiomhole’sdescription of Babachir as a christian by mouth and devil in heart sounds ironic when their dossiers are placed side by side. They secularity of the ruling party’s muslim-muslim ticket is doubtful and the abdication of northern cum Fulani political pundits such as Governor Nasir El-Rufai of kaduna which many had suspected to lead the Tinubu/Shettima presidential campaign for Oshiomhole is suspicious of a hidden islamization programme, another northern presidency and other sinister plans yet to be unveiled to the Nigerian polity; especially as Oshiomhole had never been known to have flown a successful political kite in recent times.
Archibong is of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.
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