A support group of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted reports suggesting that immediate-past national secretary of the party, Senator Iyiola Omisore, was not pressured to resign over allegations of financial impropriety,
The group under the auspices of Conference of APC Support Group Coordinators (CASGC) noted that Senator Omisore’s decision to resign from office was voluntary and done in good faith and in the interest of party.
Recall that embattled former National chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and national secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore last Monday tendered their resignations as members of the party’s national working Committees in what many saw as the peak of a leadership crisis that engulfed the party shortly after it won the presidential election.
In a statement issued Sunday and signed by the spokesperson for the group, Comerade Musa Otigba, the group noted that it became necessary to correct the erroneous narrative that has been circulating following Omisore’s resignation.
According to the statement titled: “Omisore’s resignation: Correcting the erroneous narrative”, the Conference described the allegation that Omisore was pressured to resign alongside former national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, on a trumped up allegations of financial impropriety, maladministration and high-handedness as misleading, mischievous, baseless and unfounded.
The group asserted that the skewed narratives were “purposely concorted by mischievous individuals to mislead the general public by providing a wrong premise for his noble action.”
The Conference went ahead to explain that some concerns within the party which it described as ‘anti-progressive elements’ who weren’t pleased with Omisore’s emergence as national secretary at the elective national convention of March 2022 were behind the campaign of calumny and character assassination against the person of Omisore.
“For the record, what led to Omisore’s resignation has nothing to do with the above neither was he indicted or found complicit in any ‘infractions’ allegedly committed by Adamu. It was simply a personal decision done in good faith and for the progress of the party.
“Even the party has debunked the claim when the acting national chairman Senator Abubakar Kyari said the party has no case of financial impropriety against former national chairman Adamu and national secretary Omisore.
“While addressing journalists at the party’s national secretariat on Monday, Senator Kyari maintained that the party wasn’t investigating the duo.
“Perhaps we should quickly take you down memory lane to refresh your mind on how Senator Omisore emerged as the national secretary of the party.
“Recall that in the build up to the party’s elective national convention in March 2022, there were pressures from ‘powers’ in the presidency to foist an ‘anointed’ candidate on the Southwest as the president’s choice for the position of national secretary but this was heavily resisted by the five APC governors in the region. This was coupled with efforts by us and some of our colleagues in the Conference of APC Support Group Coordinators, where we mounted massive media campaign through issuiance of several press releases, organizing several press conferences and granting several interviews on radio and TV.
“We marshalled cogent and unassailable arguments on why Senator Omisore should be the national secretary of the party, and because the forces behind Omisore were so strong, the presidency budged and couldn’t have their way. That was how Omisore emerged the national secretary against the wish of powers that be.
“Undoubtedly, it was expected that there would be certain detractors within the party who were not pleased with his emergence. These anti-progressive elements would stop at nothing to hit at him and part of their shenanigans included mounting of campaign of calumny and character assassination against the person and character of Senator Omisore.
“However, beyond these spurious allegations, it is important to emphasize the monumental and unprecedented achievements recorded within the short-lived tenure of Senator Omisore as the national secretary of the party.
“Aside the very visible structural changes that saw the party’s national secretariat given a facelift, there were several administrative reforms brought about by Omisore.
“Worthy of note is the fact that when Omisore came on board, he was instrumental to the construction of the elevator at the party’s secretariat. He constructed it so that the party secretariat can have a facelift.
“Also, going into the presidential election, before now, there are some administrative challenges that the party used to encounter such as delay in submission of candidates documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and untimely substitution of candidates but under Omisore, all these didn’t happen, he tidied up every lose ends. The party submitted all necessary documents of candidate on time. He made sure all correspondences from INEC were appropriately handled and timely dispensed with, and made sure that all INEC requirements, guidelines and regulations were promptly met.
“For the naysayers and negative ad peddlers, Senator, Omisore was not pressured to resign, rather he took the noble action voluntarily based on his conviction, principle and integrity as a loyal party man to pave way for easy resolution of the crisis within the party.
“Senator Omisore should rather be commended for this noble act as not many people have that kind of heart to do what he did at the time he did it.
“Omisore’s hands are clean. He stands tall with his shoulders raised high. He wasn’t accused of any embesselment, he resigned because he was loyal to the party and his boss, Senator Abdullahi Adamu. Nobody forced or pressured him to resign. He resigned as a loyal party member with his integrity intact,” the statement read in parts.
