Adams Oshiomole, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, has said the Department of State Security, DSS, is not obligated to demand for his resignation.
“I wasn’t hired by DSS and I cannot be requested by DSS to resign or to retain the job. APC is a structured party we have organs. I know the processes and procedures,” Oshiomhole said on Channels Television’s Politics on Monday, November 12, 2018.
“I believe the DSS also understand their own role in the system. It is not up to them to demand the resignation of a party chairman whether that party chairman is that of a ruling party or the opposition.”
The leadership of the ruling party is currently facing backlash over the recently concluded state primaries. Some state governors, namely, Rochas Okorocha of Imo, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun and Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo are aggrieved over the outcome of the primaries in their respective states.
In the last few weeks, there have been protests against Oshiomhole and the party hierarchy on allegations the former labour leader meddled in the primary election of some candidates in some state chapters of the party.
The rancour-filled primaries in Zamfara saw the Independent National Electoral Commission banning the APC from presenting candidates in the next 2019 general elections.
States like Rivers, Kaduna, Adamawa and Ondo also have unresolved cases that some stakeholders involved have accused the party leadership of not managing well.
Earlier in October, Nigerian First Lady Aisha Buhari criticised the party for removing some aspirants’ names from the lists of persons to contest in the primaries.
Mrs Buhari said the party primaries were against the tenets of the party such that it would not be difficult to dissociate her from the process.
One of the aggrieved governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo State accused the APC chair of deliberately scheming out his preferred governorship aspirant Uche Nwosu from emerging APC’s governorship candidate in the state.
Oshiomhole was also accused of collecting bribe from a chieftain of the party during the party’s primaries.
Following this, the party chairman was allegedly arrested, detained and granted administrative bail by DSS, after a nine-hour marathon interrogation over allegations of collecting bribe during his party’s primary elections.
He left the country for the United Kingdom after he his purported interrogation and has visited the DSS office on Sunday after he returned to the country on Saturday.
Oshiomole, however, claims his two encounters with the DSS is a mere routine of visiting the security agency to discuss security issues in the country.
“I believed it is their right to have a conversation with anyone who in their opinion can assist them in their mandate in ensuring Nigeria is save and secured as we moved towards 2019 election,” Oshiomole affirmed.
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