|
BNW |
|
B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I won't surrender AD chairmanship, says Akinfenwa
"I AM fighting for truth and justice. Once I see the truth and I know it is right, I will stand by it. Posterity will not forgive me if I should throw away such mandate given to me by people who believe and stand for the truth."
With these words, Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, the factional national chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) insisted yesterday that he would not relinquish his position ahead of a peace meeting planned for today.
The Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, under the leadership of Chief Abraham Adesanya, will today meet with Chief Adebisi Akande's faction.
The group had at its last meeting in Akure, endorsed Akinfenwa as the national chairman of the party, but the decision was greeted with protests, a situation that necessitated Afenifere to call for a fresh parley.
But the former AD leader in the Senate told reporters in Osogbo, Osun State that he met all requirements as provided by the constitution of the party and was ready to defend his mandate.
According to him, "let them come to me and tell me I've not done right. I think the court will do the right thing, but I feel we can settle it without the court, just as Afenifere has done."
He gave a full account of the events that surrounded the two AD conventions held simultaneously in Lagos and Abuja late last year and pointed accusing fingers at both Lagos State governor, Ahmed Tinubu and Akande over the crisis.
Akinfenwa frowned at the accusation by the Lagos group that he was being sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and President Olusegun Obasanjo, describing it as "absolute and arrant nonsense. That allegation by Akande is the greatest blackmail against a friend."
"They said so because I stood firmly against the impeachment of Obasanjo in 2001. But I was then fighting for the future and destiny of this country. I personally frustrated the impeachment move and I think I should be praised for that," he added.
"The campaign of being an Obasanjo stooge was masterminded by my friend, Akande and that was quite unfortunate. It shows his level of reasoning is zero or minus. I am an honest man by every standard. I have nothing to do with Obasanjo in things of this nature," he stated.
Again, the factional AD chairman faulted the statement credited to the former governor that those who endorsed him as the national chairman were against former Attorney-General and Justice Minister, the late Chief Bola Ige.
He said: "It is the silliest statement that could be made by a person of his calibre. I was the most loyal supporter of Ige in this country. Akande was only loyal to Ige because of what he wanted to gain from our late leader."
He also accused all former AD governors of destroying the party by their attitude. While describing them as "very arrogant" he said that "with my leadership, we will bring AD back to life."
"The current crisis is only delaying our movement, it is not affecting our future. And as far as I am concerned, I am the national chairman of the party, even before Afenifere said that, I had assumed the position and responsibility of that leadership," he stated.
Akinfenwa highlighted his plan for the party, saying he has the needed support from the six geo-political zones and "even if I was in the Lagos charade called convention, I could have defeated Akande, he wouldn't have had 10 per cent of the vote."
On his expectation from today's meeting with Afenifere, he said "I don't think the decision taken by Afenifere in Akure would be altered. It was based on hard facts which cannot be controverted."
|
|
||||||||||||
