National chairman of the All Progressives Party (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has insisted that he will remain firm to ensure justice, fairness and equity in running the affairs of the ruling party. Oshiomhole, who stated this yesterday after a private meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja said he will not mortgage his conscience to satisfy the interest of a few aggrieved party members.
Speaking to State House Correspondents, the APC chairman while reacting to calls for his removal said ”if there is a choice between my conscience- what I believe is right and mortgaging that conscience in order to keep the job, I will have no difficulty resolving it in favour of my conscience.
He went on: “And those who know, know that at my age I cannot learn new tricks. I am absolutely committed to justice, fairness, Iam a stickler to enforcement of rules; because the source of relevance is derived from rules.
I have lived my life fighting for justice and fairness.” Oshiomhole explained that it was unfortunate that the political system in the past was run in such a way that a few persons were so powerful to determine the fate of others. Oshiomhole said: “So, here I am as national chairman conducting primaries, the outcome of which some very powerful people did not see their preferred candidate emerging.
“Three governors are not particularly pleased with the outcome of the primaries in their states. Change is easy, we all want change but the process of change can be traumatising.
“These are internal family issues; they are my friends, that is important , even in moment of distress, that friendship is what I want to believe is enough to help us to build a reconciliation. “There is no running away from the fact that we are the governing party who have a higher stake; we are the one in the news; if we were in the stock market, our shares would have increased considerably.
“So, it is not surprising that there is some disquiet but I remain a friend to this governors, I respect them; I appreciate them for the fact that but for their support, I will not be chairman and you don’t go stepping on toes of those who helped you to get into position. “But however, I thought I was clear and I remain clear that helping me to get to the position, it was to help APC to return to its core values of progressive politics, of fairness, of justice, of adherence to rule of law and total submission to the extant provisions of our party constitution.