APC primaries: I can’t mortgage my conscience for my job — Adams Oshiomhole

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress , Adams Oshiomhole , says he will not mortgage his conscience in order to keep his job .
Oshiomhole spoke to State House correspondents after having a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in Abuja .

Speaking on the fallout of APC primaries , he dismissed rumours that some governors were moblising to unseat him .

According to him , he knows that the job is not a pensionable job , as he will leave it one day ; hence he will do the job according to the rule and his conscience .

He said that out of the 23 APC governors , only three were not pleased with the outcome of the primaries in their states .

Oshiomhole said that no one could begrudge the governors for not being happy if a particular outcome did not coincide with their expectations .

He said that he neither had the power to appoint , nor the power to change anything , particularly when things had been properly done .

According to him , the three governors who are unhappy are his friends .
“So , all I have tried is to find some courage to enforce the rules and I think an overwhelming majority of the governors appreciate that I have done the best, because change is not easy .

“We all want change, but the process of change can be quite traumatising; because it is not painless. People have been used to a particular way of doing things ; to encourage them to do them differently can be a challenge .

“ So , here I am as national chairman conducting primaries , the outcome of which some very powerful people did not see their preferred candidates emerging .

“Let me say that if there is a choice between my conscience — what I believe is right and mortgaging that conscience in order to keep the job — I will have no difficulty resolving it in favour of my conscience .

“And those who know me know that at my age , I cannot learn new tricks ; I am absolutely committed to justice ; fairness ; I a stickler to enforcement of rules; because the source of relevance is derived from rules. I have lived my life fighting for justice and fairness . ’’

The APC national chairman said however , that the issues would be resolved as internal family issues as the three governors were his friends .

He said that in a moment of distress, he believed that the friendship was enough to help them to build reconciliation .

According to Oshiomhole , he respects and appreciates the governors for the fact that but for their support , he would not become APC chairman .

“And you do not go stepping on toes of those who helped you to get into position .

“But however , I thought I was clear and I remain clear that helping me to get to the position , it was to help APC to return to its core values of progressive politics , of fairness , of justice , of adherence to rule of law and total submission to the extant provisions of our party constitution .

“In doing that , you do not look at power ; you look at what is; what is just .

“I think that with time , we will reconcile all these ; Amosun is my good friend ; we have known each other for a very long time ; we exchange personal visits in addition to official visits ; Zamfara governor has been the Chairman of NGF and I was an active member of that forum ; we have wonderful time together and I believe in the future , we are still going to have wonderful time together .

“Governor Rochas Okorocha was one of those who had issues with my predecessor and I did my best to try and resolve those issues in a way that has been given him a new platform .

“And I am happy that God used us to do that not by cheating in his favour but by doing what is right ; it is just that once you stick to the goal , sometimes , you either get caught on the right side or the wrong side , ’’ he said.

He said that some Abuja -based politicians were not known in their villages and they thought they were popular ; but when their ` loudness ’ in Abuja failed to translate into electoral victory ; they looked for who to blame.

( NAN )

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