The Head of Chamber of Mba Ukweni and Associates, Ntufam Mba Ekpezu Ukweni, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole is not a man that should lead a political party.
Speaking with DAILY POST in Calabar, Cross River State capital on Monday, Ukweni said, “He is not a diplomatic man, he is not a man who would succumb to diplomacy.
“But in Nigerian system of politics, he can’t fit in the management of a political party because managing a political party requires diplomacy which he can’t display.
“It is not in his character, he is a man who is use to fighting, he is a unionist, he is an Aluta man, so if the party feels that, oh we want somebody who is to take us on that collision struggle, Oshiomhole is such a person.
“But if they say, no we are at a stage where we need to mend fences and be diplomatic about certain things and to bring everybody together, the fatherly disposition, certainly that is not in the nature of Oshiomhole, that is my understanding of him,” he stated.
Ukweni further said, “So if they needed somebody who would act fatherly and be able to be diplomatic about things and play politics on certain issues, galvanize the party, put everybody together, they shouldn’t have looked for somebody like Oshiomhole because that is not in his character.
“His antecedent and character are different from that, so clearly when they were bringing him, we who are onlookers felt that it was the nature of the leadership they wanted.
“So they shouldn’t complain, you can’t at that stage, at his age, you can’t say you will put Oshiomhole in a position and start reforming him to leave what has been his conviction and the orientation and what he is used to, so they should expect what they are having now” he maintained.
He said Oshiomhole has a fixed position on things and issues and one cannot easily take him away from it. “He can’t be diplomatic on certain issues, this is what I believe in, I must do it that way and he will go on to do it that way. That is his nature,” he pointed.
The head of Chamber said that the problem with APC leadership was expected because when you put somebody in position, you have to know his antecedent; you have to know his background.
“Adam Oshiomhole came from a background of unionism and then you can’t take it away from him. He is a man of strong character in the sense that, what he believes in, he goes after it.”
