Posted by By FRANCIS AWOWOLE-BROWNE, Abuja on
What appears to be final severance of relationship between the leadership of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and its presidential candidate has emerged as the National Chairman of the Party, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, said he was relinquishing his vice-presidential position, asking General Mohammadu Buhari to look for another running mate to join him in his petition challenging the election of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
What appears to be final severance of relationship between the leadership of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and its presidential candidate has emerged as the National Chairman of the Party, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, said he was relinquishing his vice-presidential position, asking General Mohammadu Buhari to look for another running mate to join him in his petition challenging the election of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
'I have relinquished the position. Whoever wants to be vice president in his group can pick it up, election has been held and somebody has been declared winner. We are through," Chief Ezeoke told Daily Sun in an exclusive interview.
He spoke against the background of comments by General Buhari lambasting him for shuttling between his office and the Aso Rock instead of siding with the people.
Reacting to the Buhari's remarks, Chief Ume-Ezeoke told Daily Sun: 'I don't want to be vice-president again. Let him have his position and whoever likes can take it, I am no longer interested. The election is over.
'If he says I shuttle Aso Rock, it is necessary because we have an arrangement to work together. We must talk together. I owe no one explanation."
The ANPP boss argued that it was unthinkable that the Buhari team, or anybody for that matter, would insinuate that our decision to participate in the Government of National Unity (GNU) was informed by hunger or the need to feather our nests.
Said he: 'At my age, what will I be looking for? Is it money or what? We could not have done otherwise. Never. I am above that. We joined the GNU purely on the basis of the need to stabilize our polity and entrench democracy. Some people had canvassed mass action and general protests, but we opposed it in the interest of the wellbeing of our nation.
'They were probably calling us names because we didn't do their bidding to use our party platform to create confusion in the country. Besides, what we did was what our party members wanted across the country. If we had not followed their demands, our party would have been factionalised and then they will begin to make jest of us.
'People easily forget, we actually impressed it upon the general to let us go to court, he said no, we actually filed our petition before him, and now that our party decided otherwise again, they are calling us saboteurs," he stated.
The speaker of the House of Representatives in the defunct second republic maintained that the leadership of the ANPP had done the right thing by subjecting the GNU arrangement to discussion by all decision making organs of the party, and that it was the choice of all of them that the party should participate.
While acknowledging that some few individuals might not be comfortable with the decision, the party leader maintained that that was the unique feature of democracy, adding 'where minority would have their say, but majority will have their way, not minding the calibre of those who constituted the minority."
He stated that he was relinquishing the position of running mate to General Buhari without any apology.