The immediate past national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has said that his recent comment that the word ‘revalidation’ is not in the party’s constitution was taken out of context.
In a statement he issued yesterday, the former governor of Edo State said that updating the party’s register is not only constitutional but necessary.
Oshiomhole, in the said statement, also insisted that his relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari remains cordial regardless of efforts by some people to misrepresent his views on certain issues.
He said: “I made a comment to the effect that the word ‘revalidation’ is not in the party’s constitution and that the appropriate word should be ‘updating the membership register’ as provided for under section 9.4 (1) which reads that “a Register of members shall be compiled and maintained at the Ward level and be transmitted to the Secretariat of the Party at the Local Government Area, which shall transmit a copy to the State Headquarters, which in turn shall transmit a copy to the National Secretariat. Provided that the Party shall update its membership records every six months and remit updated copies to appropriate Secretariats,” the former Edo State governor said in a clarification.
He added: “Given the above constitutional provision, I emphasised that updating the party register is not only constitutional but also necessary, given the fact that from the time the party was formed in 2014 and now, many people have died, some have resigned and more people have joined the party.
“Indeed, it is as a result of the previous update of the register of members at the ward level, as stated above, that has enabled those who were not members of the party at its inception in 2014 to join the party and contest for various elective offices such as Governor, Senator, House of Representative, House of Assembly among others.”
Oshiomhole wondered how his “advice that the National Caretaker Committee should have used the word ‘update’ rather than ‘revalidation’ is tantamount to ‘Oshiomhole’s crowd reawakening’ to fight the President as being insinuated in some quarters.”
He said he neither has a ‘crowd’ nor belongs to any ‘crowd’.
He said: “My loyalty to Mr. President is unquestionable.
“The President worked tirelessly to persuade and campaign to influential leaders and members of the party in support of my chairmanship candidature.
“Indeed, as I have said before and it bears repeating that I may not have lasted as long as I did in office but for the support of Mr. President who on several occasions resisted pressure on him. “Unlike some others, I’m not an ingrate. I remain appreciative of Mr. President’s commendation of my stewardship as Governor of Edo State, a week to the end of my tenure, where he publicly at two various events in Benin City, including the palace of the Oba of Benin, said that “the APC would need my services in Abuja.
“This commendation understandably triggered mixed feelings – a few saw me as a threat while many others applauded Mr. President’s statement.”