Former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was said to have dropped out of the just concluded presidential primary of the ruling party over fear that he will lose out on the senatorial race in his native Edo North district should he fail to grab the party’s presidential ticket.
A source who is an aide to the immediate past governor of Edo State disclosed that it would have been foolhardy for Oshiomhole to gamble with his presidential bid at the expense of the Senatorial ticket which was as good as his following his unanimous endorsement by top APC leaders in Edo North.
According to the source who would not want his name in print, the ex-president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) would surely have met the fate of the immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio who is currently battling for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial ticket against retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr Udom Ekpoudom, if not for wise counselling.
Meanwhile, Akpabio stepped down shortly before the primary election for former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu, who was later declared the winner in the June 8 APC presidential primary.
However, the former Edo State governor won overwhelmingly in the Edo North senatorial primary of the ruling party on May 28 which was held at Auchi following the sudden withdrawal of Senator Alimikhena from the race the day before.
The source added that it was obvious right from the start that the chances of the ex-governor clinching the presidential ticket of the APC was very slim and would have ended up losing out in the Senatorial race after failing in his presidential bid.
He noted that it would have been mission impossible to persuade the winner of the ruling party’s Senatorial primary, most especially the incumbent Senator Alimikhena, to step down for him after crashing out in the presidential primary.
“The Senatorial primary was held before the presidential. There is no way he (Oshiomhole) could have gunned for the two tickets as it would have amounted to greed and resulted in disaffection among the supporters.
“There would have been a lot of hard feelings if the winner of the Edo North senatorial primary was to be asked to step down for Oshiomhole in the event that he lost out in the presidential primary considering the fact that he was initially offered the ticket on a platter of gold.”
The source reiterated that if Oshiomhole had refused to contest, there would have been a disruption of the zoning arrangement as the Senatorial ticket will most likely remain in Etsako East Local Government Area while the House of Representatives ticket would have gone to either Etsako West or remain in Central where incumbent Johnson Oghuma hails from.
According to him, demands for a reshuffle of the National Assembly and presidential primaries, in a bid to accommodate Oshiomhole, would have caused a lot of confusion within the party in both Edo State and at the national level.
He said: “Oshiomhole bowed out of the presidential primary and concentrated on his Senatorial ambition when he realized the implications. His action would have amounted to the proverbial story of the greedy hunter who pursues an elephant and a rat at the same time only to end up losing both.”
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