Oshiomhole defends Adamu over leaked letter to Tinubu

Deputy Director of All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Adams Oshiomhole, on Wednesday night, affirmed that the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, cannot be held liable for the leaked letter accusing the party’s candidate, Bola Tinubu, of running a one-man show.

Oshiomhole, who appeared on Arise News Television, exonerated the leadership of wrongdoing.

The leaked letter, which further exposed the cracks within the ruling party, was allegedly written on Thursday by the APC national chairman accusing Tinubu, who is still on vacation in London, of running a one-man show.

The scathing note also insinuated that Tinubu deliberately sidelined the NWC in the composition of his presidential campaign council.

The weighty allegation raised in the letter caused a stir as party officials scrambled to douse the tension created by the allegations leveled against the party’s flag bearer.

The letter stated that the newly constituted council membership list was not a true representation of the three-man committee set up to harmonise it.

The three-member committee comprised the National Organising Secretary, National Legal Adviser and Deputy Women Leader of the party.

The letter read in part, ‘’All along, the NWC had been disposed towards the campaign in a cooperative spirit that is driven by the overall interest of the party and the singular desire of victory for our candidates, in the persons of your esteemed self and your running mate.

“It is against this background that the NWC received with astonishment and regret, the press release by the PCC on 23rd September 2022, in which a purported list of appointees was announced, which effectively served as the approved roster of participants in the party’s Presidential Campaign Council.

“The purported list not only came as a complete surprise to the NWC and the party’s leadership, but also contravened the principles and purposes of the arrangements that you and I had led towards the adoption of the organogram of the PCC, and its principal officials.

“Perhaps, it has become necessary owing to the passage of time, that I should draw Your Excellency’s attention to the agreements that we reached in principle around the final adoption of the PCC list, based on the understanding that it was a work in progress, until such a time that the Joint NWC/PCC Committee that was established to formalise the structure and populate the list, submits its report.

“Your Excellency will no doubt recall our meetings in my office and also at the NWC conference room at the party’s National Secretariat, on Wednesday, 7th September 2022, during which we discussed the details of the organogram of the PCC and its composition, as a collaborative project between the two entities.

‘’Our recollection of those meetings clearly leaves us in no doubt that a breach of agreement has occurred, and that a return to the principles of cooperation and respect for each other is required.’’

Hours after it went viral, the ruling party had distanced itself from the scathing letter.

A statement issued in Abuja by the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, stated that the letter did not emanate from the party.

Speaking on Arise News, Oshiomhole disclosed that any letter not authorized by an appropriate authority and not properly signed off should be taken as fake.

He said, “As the chairman of the PGF said, there is always a time for everything. Even for pure administrative work, you asked your secretary to draft a letter (and it is not more than a draft) in a world dominated by social media where everyone is a journalist, somebody will take a picture and publish it in your name. And these are the new reality that we have to deal with.

“But it will not disturb the fact that those leakages are no more than draft. It is the APC that gave birth to the presidential candidate and it was the APC Convention that provided the platform on which the candidate was elected.

“So whatever the candidate is doing, there are huge opportunities for his own initiatives but those initiatives have to be reconciled with the party so that there is a sense of ownership of whatever comes out. I think the interesting thing is that, unlike some situations in other political parties, we are having a candidate and a party in which everybody wants to be seen as participating in the campaign.”

When asked if he was insinuating that the letter purportedly written by Adamu was fake, Oshimhole said that he could not see it from any other direction.

“They are fake in the sense that if it is not authorized and signed off, it is not an official document. You cannot tender it. Until there is a procedure, as we discuss today at the presidential campaign, the party has to own up to it. The chairman of the presidential council has to endorse it and, of course, the candidate.

“So there is no confusion at all. It is just that when you have so much enthusiasm, everyone wants to be part of the action because we believe that we have the candidate who will deliver,” he said.

(Punch)