The ousted national chairman of the ruling APC, Adams Oshiomhole, has vowed never to chair the party again, even if beckoned by party leaders.
Mr. Oshiomhole, who distanced himself from a court process challenging the dissolution of the National Working Committee under his leadership, said in a statement issued Monday that chairing the APC was a closed chapter in his political career.
A former national vice chairman (South South) of the party, Hilliard Eta, had approached the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on November 26, to challenge the constitution of a caretaker committee, which had replaced the disbanded Oshiomhole-led NWC.
Although Mr. Oshiomhole was not joined in the suit, Mr. Eta prayed the court to declare the dissolved NWC as the “rightful leaders” of the APC, citing its dissolution as a violation of the party’s constitution.
Mr. Oshiomhole, however, pledged to resist a second stint as APC chair — irrespective of the legal outcome or resolutions of the party’s National Executive Council.
“That chapter of my political life is closed,” the former APC chief said in a lengthy statement released yesterday.
“Even if another NEC decision or a court order reverses the dissolution, with utmost humility I will decline to return as APC chairman,” Mr. Oshiomhole added.
The former Edo governor, who was stripped of his rights and privileges as national chairman of the APC by the appellate court on June 16 — in consonance with an earlier judgement of the Federal Capital Territory High Court — did not state reasons for his declaration.
