Oshiomhole On Defections: A Senator, President Or Journalist Have Just One Vote Each

Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has played down the recent defections of top members of his party to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying that at the end of the day, it is one man one vote at the polls regardless of whether the person in question is a senator, a president or a journalist.

On Wednesday, Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of APC; Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State; Hafeez Abubakar, Deputy Governor of Kano State; 23 of the 24 members of the

Kwara State House of Assembly and 18 of the 30 members of the Sokoto State House of Assembly all crossed from the APC to the PDP.

However, fielding questions from State House correspondents after leading some APC senators to a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Oshiomhole said the beauty of democracy is that it is one man one vote on election day.

“Nobody in the APC will be surprised about the development. In fact, they have stayed a little bit longer than we thought,” he said.

“Last week, the Kwara State Governor said he was leaving, but he didn’t say when. So, we are not surprised at all.

“These are what I might call temping moments because I had faced similar situations in my state, when people were leaving. But the beauty of democracy is that whether big or small, it is one man one vote, on election day. There is no difference between a senator, a president, a journalist and any other person.

“In a sense, we have to accept that once a couple for one reason or the other find out that they are not compatible, the only honourable thing is to go.”

Oshiomhole also urged Saraki to vacate the seat of Senate President, having crossed to the other side.

“Whatever is the reason, we can decamp from party, but we can’t decamp from Nigeria,” he said.

“The only thing is that there are other consequential issues that every man or woman of honour who has taken such decisions would be expected to follow through.

“I mean, you should not collect a crown that belongs to a family and wear it on behalf of the family if for your personal reasons, which he has enumerated that he has gone to another family. It is just a matter of honour to leave the crown in the house that the crown belongs to.”