2019: ‘Oshiomhole never planned to be Atiku’s running mate’

Aides of former Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, have risen in defence of their principal, over the raging allegation that Oshimhole had secretly planned to become a running mate to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, while President Muhammadu Buhari was on sickbed in London.
Atiku, on Friday, officially resigned his membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress, laying to rest, months of speculations that he was fed up with the state of things in the APC and was considering defecting to the opposition PDP. While Atiku has not announced a return to the PDP, most of his supporters had flocked to the party, getting involved in preparations for its convention slated for December 9.
Reacting to the speculation that Oshiomhole was once hobnobbing with Atiku while Buhari was undergoing treatment in London, a former Executive Director to the Governor under the administration of Oshiomhole, Comrade John Akhigbe, said the rumour “is not only wicked but a misplaced information.”
Speaking with our correspondent in Benin, Akhigbe, who is the Edo State coordinator of Democratic Youth Alliance for Buhari in 2019, said, “There was no time Oshiomhole discussed with Atiku on the 2019 presidency, much less lobby to become his running mate.”
Lambasting the former VP, who quit the APC at the weekend, Akhigbe said, “Atiku Abubakar has lost his political values. He jumps from one party to the other; he is like a political vegetable that anybody can buy in the market and cook. So, of what value is he?
“My brother, disregard all the information about Comrade Adams Oshiomhole nursing a joint ticket with Atiku. The information reaching me now is that Atiku has defected to PDP. How many times will he jump from the right to the left and back to the right? Is that a man to be taken seriously?”
He, however, said that Oshiomhole would ever remain with President Buhari, noting, “Even when the President was sick, Oshiomhole was loyal to him; is it now that Buhari is strong that Oshiomhole will leave him and join an unserious person?”
Complementing him, a former Legal Assistant to the Governor under the government of Oshiomhole, and, currently, a member of the Edo House of Assembly, Hon. Lawani Damian, described the rumour as laughable, saying, “The Oshiomhole I know will not stake his neck for Atiku who is a political… (Expletives).” He urged the Edo people and Nigerians not to take the information seriously.