Adams Oshiomhole is the senator representing Edo North Senatorial District and a former governor of the state. In this interview, he speaks on the emergence of Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda as the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the chances of the party winning under his leadership in 2027, among other issues. ANAYO EZUGWU writes

Given that you were once the national chairman of the APC, what is your reaction to the emergence of Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda as the new national chairman of the APC?

I think it’s quite exciting. First, as a former labour leader, I need to remind you that the labour law in Nigeria does not allow for forced labuor. So, we had a situation where my very good friend, former colleague, former governor of Kano State and later chairman of APC, for personal reasons, had to resign. And there can be no vacuum.

And because of the way in which our political system is structured, I try to be sensitive to the feelings of our party members and the Nigerian people. In other climes, it will not matter if the chairman leaves, the deputy chairman takes over. That is actually what an ideal political system should be.

But in order to sustain the diversity of the political leadership, you have to ensure that if one chairman leaves, because that place is zoned to a particular part of the country.

You make effort to replace it with somebody from that side. And that means going beyond the normal routine of a deputy having to act in the absence of the substantive official there. So that vacancy arose from the resignation of a former chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, who is a former governor of Kano State.

And it was important that position is filled. If it wasn’t filled immediately, people are going to say in Borno State, you have the vice president and Borno also has the national chairman of the party. And before you know it, it’s becoming a big issue. I think the party acted proactively by calling an emergency National Executive Council meeting.

And I said, look, we have to fill this vacancy and do a lot of behindthe-scenes consultation to say, okay, we must see the vacancy, who, where does it come from, and how do we ensure the balance, take into account all the Nigerian geopolitical sensitivities, behind-the-scenes consultation. But the truth of the matter is, in the best of democracy, even before the votes are casted, people campaign.

Those campaigns include the one you see on television and the one you never see on television. And so, the outcome is what you saw. That unanimity is a result of, you see, everybody clapping, nobody shouting, it shows that a complete job has to be done. And then the young man is well-prepared for the job.

Do you think Yilwatda has that kind of backbone and toughness to take on the rough and tumble of internal APC politics, as well as the wider Nigerian political landscape, or is he likely to be something of a lapdog for President Tinubu, which some have suggested is why he’s been chosen?

That’s not correct. Even what you said about me, I’m not sure that is complimentary. But the point is that unwittingly, APC was beginning to establish as though it’s a tradition that you must first be a governor, an out-of-office as a governor, before you become chairman of APC.

It just happened that the first founding chairman who laid a very solid foundation in a very complex, complicated circumstances, like, I mean, former governor of Osun State, Bisi Akande was a former governor, and then when we had the first convention, John Odigie Oyegun was a former governor for only two years, and then after Oyegun’s tenure of four years, I also had become a former governor, and I came in through a convention, and then I became the chairman.

And then it was superficial in the party. I was removed in the manner I was removed, and then another chairman was brought in as a caretaker from Yobe State, and even that one was a sitting governor, and then after, you had the former governor, Abdullahi, who again had to resign after President Tinubu came in, and then Ganduje took over, again, former governor.

So, I think it was important, even for the optics, to reassure party members that there is no position that is reserved for, you have to be a former governor.

It’s important for party members to be reassured that no position is reserved for people who have necessarily occupied certain positions before

I think that point has been very well made by the choice of this gentleman. Now, as for your layback, it is too early to say because you can’t know anyone until you give him the key to the vehicle. Looks can be quite misleading.

I mean, if you look at me, I’m very smallish. How could you use the kind of words you use for me? I can’t bully anyone. I’m very smallish. I have a unique experience. But just to go straight to the point, I believe that the gentleman is bringing about his own unique experience.

First, it’s important for party members, this is important, to be reassured that no position is reserved for people who have necessarily occupied certain positions before. It is important that every party member feels he or she can become the national chairman or the overall chief executive officer of the party.

If you look at between the time the former chairman resigned, voluntarily, and when we had to have, because there could be no vacuum, to have a new chairman in his person, I think it’s barely about two, three weeks. I don’t think he was aware that this was going to be a possibility, maybe a week earlier.

And maybe for the first time, being the number one man of the party, and if you watch, and I think that was deliberate, the president’s protocol when he was going to address us, he said, the national chairman of the party, to remind everyone that it’s the party that gives birth to the government. And now he’s sitting next to the number one citizen of the country. Obviously, that’s a huge elevation.

And you need time to adjust to that. And then, minutes later, he’s asked to make a speech. Obviously, this is not an election he had prepared, unlike me, that I had to campaign, I had to persuade those who would go to contest against me, and so on and so forth. So, I have, in a sense, addressed my mind to the possibility that I might be successful in the election. He didn’t have that.

Just like you’d be called upon now even calling me now, when I saw two people here, I said, I hope it’s just a set-up. If you want me to debate with these gentlemen, then I don’t know what the issues are. So, I think the first, you agree, vice president is a levelheaded person. And the party does need someone with some level of patience.

The patience to listen but also, not being a former governor, people should feel free to be able to talk to him like any other party leader. Not feeling, ah, that was governor who used to have power. I think it has its own advantages. I think it’s his humility, if you ask me, that I saw.

Not a layback. Don’t forget that he’s a professor. So, not just a lecturer and to be a professor, he has had to acquire a PhD, he has lectured and tutored and method younger ones. So, he has his pedigree behind him. So, he’s not exactly a newcomer to leadership. He has led in academics.

What do you think of this development in your home state of Edo where you were once the governor and where the current governor, Monday Okpebholo effectively gave Peter Obi a warning that he must obtain security clearance before visiting the state, do you agree with those who say that that is a baseless and almost politicising of charity?

Not at all and I think the media tried to exaggerate it. People don’t talk too much. They have to choose how they want to communicate. The essential message is clear. But let me tell you this. Peter Obi was my colleague. We knew each other very well. And I liked him. I still do. But politically, we don’t agree. I do not subscribe to his views on certain matters. Now, let me tell you this.

On the 4th or 3rd of June, I was invited by the academic staff of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to deliver a lecture. And that is in Enugu State. I was once a governor. I’m no longer a governor. I know what the protocol is. It’s not written. It’s a matter of common sense and decency but also in my Latin selfinterest.

I told my orderly, can I reach the governor of Enugu State because I don’t have his number. He said doesn’t have it and I said go and look for it. Eventually, he was able to get the ADC. And he gave me the phone. And I spoke to the ADC. ADC, please, can you connect me with the governor? I want to speak with him.

He said he’s not available. Can you help me convey a message? I have this invite, which I have accepted to honour. And I will be coming to Enugu tomorrow or the next tomorrow. I will be grateful if His Excellency is informed of my visit. Number two, I will be even more happy if he can assist me with a vehicle and to provide me with security from the airport to Nsukka.

There is no law in Nigeria that says I must do that. But have you been a governor? Even though now, no more a governor. I understand. But the governor of Enugu State needs to know I am in his territory. Not that the Nigerian constitution says I should say so. It’s a matter of personal discipline and protocol.

When I was governor of Edo State, President Olusegun Obasanjo, if you do remember President Olusegun Obasanjo, he was described as behaving as an alternate president. Arranging things like a parliamentary government, wanting to overthrow his government.

He accused me of treason. So we were not best of friends. But there was nothing personal. It’s just that I questioned and I fought against some of his policies.

But when, after being president, I now became governor, and even at that, I believe I was rigged out of, not that I believe, I was rigged out by his party, the PDP, or their policy of do or die. But I went to court and I defeated his party and I was sworn in as former president of Nigeria. Not just for a former governor, former president of Nigeria that combined the amount of respect that you have acknowledged.

He was coming to Edo, he informed me that I would be coming to Edo and he said he was going to do SYZ. And he would like to see me. So we arranged to get a vehicle to the airport to receive him, to accord him all the necessary respect, provide all the logistics he required, as well as security.

nd he even humbled me by coming to my residence. I immediately asked him, why are you here? He said, to quote, whoever you think you are, when you are going to a state, there is a constitutional authority in that state and you are a politically exposed person.

It is just normal and out of respect that you go, even if that person is your grandson, to say, Mr. Governor, I am in your territory. That is why he has come to inform me he’s in Edo and to share with me what so much he wants to do and for me to accord him all the respect. That is the way it should be.

Now, let’s face it. The property of Edo State government is entrusted in the hand of Edo State Governor. So, if anyone, myself included, and I believe you included, if I go to Enugu State or Anambra State, where Obi was governor, and I want to visit a government-owned facility like a nursery institution, it’s a matter of decency and self-respect to say, I will be visiting not a private facility. That school is built, equipped, and owned and funded by the state government 100 per cent.

So, Peter Obi’s handout is not in any way compared to what the government institutionally provides every year in the budget to support that institution. So, it doesn’t matter the fact that it has good intentions. But Obi as a former governor, shouldn’t allow that to be the case. Maybe. what you might argue is how you interpret choice of words.

But the intention of Governor Monday is clear to me. If you are coming, it’s just nice that you inform me. If you ask Obi, now, what I’ve just told you now, I gave an example of myself. I’ve given you an example of Obasanjo. What is wrong with Obi? I heard you saying that the Edo State Government issued a statement that what the governor implies is not to say you must take permission.

President acknowledged that he’s not unaware that in spite of what anybody might say, in spite of all the positive statistics that we can point at, people still feel that things can be better

I am sure Peter Obi knows that this is not a big deal. I was in Anambra when his predecessor, Governor Willie Obiano again I was invited to give a lecture at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Akwa. And I informed the governor I am invited to so I’ll be coming.

And he provided me with some logistics. The only governor who may not wish to be so disturbed because of the nature of his state, I think that would be governor of a Lagos State because if everybody needs to inform him for him to provide vehicles, he won’t be able to.

So, we all go in and out of Lagos. Even now I’m no more governor, I’m not a presidential aspirant and I’m not a presidential candidate but as a former governor, I’m proud to inform any governor regardless of the party platform.

I was in Enugu and know what the governor for me. He sent me vehicles. He sent me security. First they arrived late before I arrived in Enugu and I found my way to Nsukka. But the security came to pick me from Nsukka.

President Tinubu has admitted that the APC governors in particular and governors in general aren’t delivering at the grassroots and he asked them to wet the grass more. That’s an admission that things aren’t going very well on that level, isn’t they?

This is the problem when you should acknowledge and comment, you try to read, interpret it in a negative fashion. Now, for me, it’s a mark of statesmanship. The president said, fortunately for us right now, in this hall, we have 23 now, out of 36 state governors.

And he explained that he took over a very challenging environment, an economy that was in serious crisis. We are beginning to see stability. He acknowledged that more work needs to be done, but a lot of progress has been made, and more work needs to be done.

And he said, in spite of all the effort that he has made, and the stability we are beginning to see, of course, it’s still hears and for me that should be acknowledged. The president acknowledged that he’s not unaware that in spite of what anybody might say, in spite of all the positive statistics that we can point at, people still feel that things can be better.

So, governors, try and do more. To encourage someone to do more is not to dismiss him that he’s not doing anything. And I think what you should say is that he has put you out of business. Because you see, the last time I was here, you had to remind me that things are not perfect.

Nigeria is not heaven. Now, you saw the president of Nigeria saying, I am aware, which means he’s in touch with the grassroots, that the ordinary man is still feeling some heat levels. So, can you do more? You think to ask somebody to do more is to dismiss him, is to say that he hasn’t been doing anything? No.

What the president is saying is, he is first, he’s revealing to us that, don’t think I am not aware. I am aware that it’s part of the effort the federal government is making, and the effort that the state governors are making there is still a level of stress. Please, do more.

The statistics don’t support what you’re saying…

No. It depends on your choice of statistics. You know Donald Trump talking about alternative facts. Don’t be bogged down because if he has the federal units, please, this is my report card and the worst time is over.

We are not yet there, but I can say the worst is over. We have achieved a level of stability, but we are not yet celebrating. Even the best of players can’t see at half time that they have won the match.

Nigerian president acknowledged that he took over the governance of the country at a very challenging time, and he points out that he can see from what has happened that the war is over. We have achieved a level of stability. You can’t question that.

The exchange rate went to 2,000 to the dollar. People thought we were already in Zimbabwe. Now. we have stability around 1,530 to the dollar. I read the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and NECA talking about stability in the monetary policy. Now they can predict.

They can do a bit of planning. Investors are gaining more confidence and all of that. However, he said, what is part of everything? I understand Nigerians are still experiencing some challenges. Governors, together, let’s do more, to use this word, to wet the grass. This is commendable. He didn’t dismiss the governor.

One of the big challenges, one of the big promises in your Renewed Hope manifesto, which I went through again today, is that you’re going to attract enormous amounts of foreign direct investment. You are going to create an ecosystem that supports the creation of many, many jobs. You said in that manifesto that you would raise FDI to the highest level. But far from it, the central bank reported that FDI in 2025 has decreased by 19.35 per cent, with only about $250 million coming in so far…

You see, I come from a world in which I am trained and encouraged to interrogate, to question, and to dispute. But I have also read where some international institutions, although I don’t want to place much emphasis on them, because like I said in many other quarters, we have to read ourselves that have acknowledged that the president is pursuing sensible economic policies.

They have acknowledged that he has removed a lot of some of the disincentives where you have two classes of Nigerians. We are in the name of business.

You can assess, depending on your connections, exchange rate at a certain margin. And I, being the only other man on the street, I go for that exchange rate. I buy what you call black. There’s nothing black about that market. It’s an efficient market. But the margin is almost 100 per cent, which is why a lot of people didn’t need to work.

All you did is to have connection, and you become multi-billionaire, which distort our value system and you hear young people saying it is not what you know that matters but who you know. When you see young people making money without any address and that had to be eliminated by the president.