Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has said that he has no iota of regret for whatsoever action he took while presiding over the affairs of the party, including those he stepped on their toes, stressing that as a leader he would not have pleased everyone.
Speaking at a world press conference in Abuja yesterday, Oshiomhole, who yielded some states to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said that he was happy to have recorded resounding achievement by recovering Kwara State from the Saraki dynasty.
Accepting in good faith the dissolution of his National Working Committee (NWC) during the emergency virtual National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party on Thursday, he disclosed that he would not go to court to institute any legal action.
The former Edo State governor also noted that he took difficult decisions in line with the mandate President Muhammadu Buhari gave to him to reform the party when he convinced him to contest in 2018.
Oshiomhole, who fought several battles while in the office, said that despite sacking him after convincing him to take up the chairmanship mantle, he would not hold anything against Mr President, saying that he is very proud of his achievements within the two eventful years he spent in office.
Announcing that he had equally withdrawn his case over his suspension at the Supreme Court, Oshiomhole who was very sober, alluded that he is leaving office with his shoulders and head high.
Asked if he has any regret, he said: “The process of leadership require that you take decisions. I am a man of very strong conviction. I lead by what I believe in. I recognize that for every decision you take, particularly when you want to embark on radical results, you are going to step on toes. That was meant to be and I am not assuming leadership for the first time.
“I am happy with the decisions I have taken and at the end of the day how do you judge the performance of a party other than by electoral outcome. I believe that it is convenient for people to point at few areas where we have challenges, especially the few states that we lost, forgetting that there are also states that we won.
“For example, and it doesn’t matter what anybody wants to say, I remain proud that we were able to recover Kwara State which was an extremely important one for reasons I need not to enumerate. I am happy that we recovered Gombe State; these are very strategic states. There are couple of other things we did, but today is not the day to celebrate. As for regret, I have none of it because you cannot lead a party as large as the APC in a country as diverse as Nigeria and expect that everybody will be happy with you.
“In life, for every one thing people are clapping and some are not happy. It is like a football match, you score a goal, people are jubilating while others mourn as if it is the end of world.”
Speaking earlier on his decision to accept the dissolution of the NWC, he said: “I thought that it is important that I formally react to the recent events as it affects our party. We are all aware that on Thursday, a special NEC meeting was called and was attended by Mr President, governors, APC leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly and some other leaders of our party.