National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, has said despite the misunderstanding with Governor Rochas Okorocha and other State Govenors, he remains optimistic that they are good party men who would support the party and its candidates in their respective States.
The Chairman spoke as guest on the morning show broadcast on Arise Tv.
Oshiomole has been up against Governors Okorocha (Imo), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo State) and Abdulziz Yari (Zamfara) for not recognizing their choice candidates.
“As for my friend Rochas Okorocha, who talked about nepotism, well as the head of the family, I do not want to continue to bring family matters to the market. At the end of the day it makes sense to keep it in the family, that is what maturity and responsibility imposes on me.
“So I won’t join issues with him, but the truth is that while I was in government, there was no other Oshiomhole in government. This is not something to hide, as a journalist you can go to Edo State and ask how many Oshiomholes were in government while I was at Osadebe House.
“Well, Okorocha is a great guy. He is one of those who left APGA to join APC. It is on record as having contributed his quota to the formation of the APC.
“We also have to accept that a tree cannot make a forest and we have to encourage those who think otherwise to recognise that this is a fact.
“In Imo State we have big names but it is not about big names, it is about big numbers. And the big numbers in Imo State are with us and I think governor Okorocha appreciates this fact.
“Now as for whether people will decamp or not I am not so sure. Even if they do, they will not make history, after all, in recent past, sitting governors decamped for one reason or the other because they want to be president. Having decamped they found that there are so many aspirants, they have since reconciled themselves with the reality that though they decamped from the APC believing that they are going to be presidential candidate of the PDP, they got there and found an over-crowded house.
“I think some of them have quietly taken the governorship ticket and some have even taken the senatorial ticket and they are living with the new reality. I think that is the way it is.
“In a democracy it is a game of numbers and in Imo State we have the numbers and I am sure that Okorocha, when he overcomes his disappointment with regard to whom he would have preferred to succeed him, he will recognise that as a democrat that is the way these things work sometimes. Outcomes can be predicted sometimes but it could be shocking some other time. I think Nigeria’s democracy is evolving but we are not running traditional rulership.”
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