- As Presidency taught him bitter lesson on limit of impunity
The inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, May 29 provided an opportunity for the Presidency to deliver a lesson on the limit of impunity of the All Progressives Congress (APC), national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole. The former Governor of Edo State had imposed himself on the official line up of top federal government officials at a location he did not deserve, either consciously or unconsciously. But the Presidential Guard did not hesitate to get the APC national chairman out of the location for breach of protocol at the President’s swearing in ceremony at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
The telecast of the incident in Abuja monitored by National Daily from Lagos relayed the urgent intervention of the Presidential Guard to move Oshiomhole away from standing in between the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mohammed Tanko, and top military brass in the lineup for the official ceremony of the president’s inauguration.
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It was observed that as heads of the two arms of government, the Legislature, and the Judiciary, stood in a file to welcome the president along with service chiefs, Oshiomole stood in between the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria and the service chiefs. It was noticed that immediately, “one of the service chiefs walked up to Oshiomole and walked him out of the waiting line because he bore no constitutionally recognized position to stand in as part of the parade.”
The APC national chairman had to comply urgently as it became obvious that he was breaching protocol while the occasion was not about APC leadership hierarchy.
Oshiomhole is still contending with the neo crisis in the ruling party where the APC Deputy National Chairman, North, Senator Lawali Shuaibu, on Tuesday told him to resign from office immediately. Other northern leaders in the APC were not left out of the new battle to unseat Oshiomhole and reposition the party for future electoral activities after the tragedies in Zamfara and Rivers states.