The Obaseki/Shaibu Movement, OSM, on Thursday, December 19, 2019, rejected the All Progressives Congress, APC, national reconciliation committee led by Senate president Ahmad Lawan.
OSM works for the re-election of Edo State governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy Philip Shaibu.
The APC National Working Committee, NWC, constituted the committee to resolve the lingering crisis in the APC nationwide.
Obaseki and APC national chairman Adams Oshiomhole have been locked in a bitter power struggle, with factions loyal to each suspending the other.
OSM Convener Damian Lawani said some of the reconciliation committee members had vested interests. He questioned their neutrality.
“We categorically reject the National Reconciliation Committee constituted by the APC NWC because we have seen the duplicity in the act.
“the senate president, Ahmad Lawan and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Wase, are members of the newly-announced committee and their inclusion is not only pregnant with meaning but also symptomatic of the intent of Comrade Oshiomhole to continue the lingering fight against his political enemies.
“Oshiomhole, Nigerians will recall, enlisted the services of Senator Lawan and Hon. Wase to carry out his plan of taking over the powers of the Edo State House of Assembly until they were stopped in their tracks by the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt.
“The National Assembly was, thereby, restrained from continuing in their perfidious ambition, which was to muscle Governor Obaseki.
“The court thwarted this move. Now, Oshiomhole wants to make a mockery of the law by using the National Reconciliation Committee to actuate his plans through the back door,” OSM said.
The group said NWC’s action shows that Oshiomhole was still out to hound his political enemies by conscripting his allies to the committee.
“We are not convinced that the committee will be fair to all parties in the matter, especially as it relates to Edo State, which we know is the main target of the national chairman.
“This is because we suspect that the committee would be presented with a script they would come and act out on the Edo crisis.
“To that extent, we wholesomely reject the committee and request that a committee that will do justice to the matter without prejudice be constituted,” the group demanded.
