I Won’t Mortgage My Conscience Over APC – Oshiomhole

The National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has said that he would not bow to pressure that will make him act against his conscience over the crisis in the party.

He made the declaration after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Speaking with State House corespondents at the end of the meeting, he said that only three APC governors were unhappy with his running of the party while the majority are confident that he is doing his best.

According to him, he would rather obey his conscience than succumb to pressures that will make him do what is wrong.

He said: “Let me say that if there is a choice between my conscience-what I believe is right and mortgaging that conscience in order to keep the job, I will have no difficulty resolving it in favour of my conscience.

“And those who know me know that at my age I cannot learn new tricks. I am absolutely committed to justice, fairness, I am a stickler to enforcement of rules; because the source of relevance is derived from rules. I have lived my life fighting for justice and fairness.”

The problem he has with the aggrieved governors, he said, is a family matters which he is confident will be resolved.

He added “Three governors are not particularly pleased with the outcome of the primaries in their states. Change is easy, we all want change but the process of change can be traumatizing.

“These are internal family issues; they are my friends, and that is important , even in moment of distress, that friendship is I want to believe is enough to help us to build a reconciliation.

“There is no running away from the fact that we are the governing party who has a higher stake; we are the one in the news; if we were in the stock market, our shares would have increased considerably.

“So, it is not surprising that there is some disquiet but I remain a friend to this governors, I respect them; I appreciate them for the fact that but for their support, I will not be chairman and you don’t go stepping on toes of those who helped you to get into position..

“But however, I thought I was clear and I remain clear that helping me to get to the position, it was to help APC to return to its core values of progressive politics, of fairness, of justice, of adherence to rule of law and total submission to the extant provisions of our party constitution.

“In doing that, you don’t look at power; you look at what is; what is just."