A total of 14 out of the 19 state governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have endorsed the formal removal of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as the National Chairman, a party chieftain said on Sunday.

In a statement he released in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze gave this as one of the main reasons why the suspended Oshiomhole no longer deserves to retain his position.

In the statement issued two days to the forthcoming emergency meeting of APC National Executive Committee (NEC), Eze said that the governors’ stand “coupled with his rejection by most APC stakeholders in Edo State and entire South-South region, it is obvious that instead of indulging in fruitless propaganda, Oshiomhole should take honourable option by handing in his resignation.”

Continuing, he said: “The embattled national chairman should also apologise to party men and Nigerians, for the shame and embarrassment his untoward style of leadership has caused the party, especially the loss of some key states formerly under the firm grip and control the APC before his emergence as national chairman, especially Oyo, Bauchi, Adamawa and Zamfara states.

“At this point I also wish to commend Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, for distancing himself from the damaging style of the outgoing national chairman, which goes to prove that the embattled Oshiomole actually wreaked serious havoc on the soul of the APC.

“While it is obvious that Oshiomhole would not continue in office as national chairman under the present circumstances, the purported query issued to Chief Victor Giadom, the interim Coordinating Officer of APC by Oshiomhole is childish and laughable, because being suspended, he lacks the power to do so.

“Oshiomhole should be advised to stop making further mockery of himself in order not to murder what remains of his person and integrity.”

Eze commended the South/South APC Caucus “for its single minded resolve to support Chief Victor Giadom’s nomination as Acting National Chairman, having proved himself capable to run the party creditably and in line with the zoning of the post to the South/South region at the moment.”

The party, according to him, needs “a fearless, but humane and committed democrat like Giadom to grapple with the onerous task of repositioning the party according to the visions of the founding fathers and in accordance with the APC manifesto.

“We also use this opportunity to caution those who have taken the party’s internal matter to court in a vain effort to scuttle the emergency NEC meeting to withdraw them immediately to avert the severe sanctions of the party’s disciplinary procedure.

“It is the height of indiscipline for aggrieved party members to rush into litigation without first exhausting the internal dispute resolution mechanism of APC. This class of litigants whose intendment is to abort the emergency NEC should know that their action amounts to an affront to the leader of the party, President Buhari, who has given his nod to the event.”

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