A former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, has said contrary to fears being expressed about the 2023 general elections, he was optimistic that God would not abandon Nigeria.

Oshiomhole said this at the fundraising and Investiture of Mrs. Victoria Unuoarumi as the 10th President of Rotary Club, Maitama, Abuja, on Saturday.

The former Edo State governor said democracy in Nigeria, a nation of over 200 million people, had come to stay.

He said, “I have hopes not fears for 2023. People like to talk about their fears but for me, my life is about hopes.

“I think that by 2023, God will not forsake a nation of 200 million people. Our democracy has come to stay. It is not perfect – a couple of things could be done to strengthen it – but we could move on and get on with the job,

“I strongly believe that God, in His infinite power will help Nigeria to sustain democracy as we move through 2023. As an optimist, I always say that with all the problems that Nigeria has, Nigeria is still much more than the sum total of all these problems.”

In response to a question from reporters about whether he had regrets for his actions which led to his removal from office as the APC national chairman, Oshiomhole said, “No. Life is all about regret. I am a very happy man. Or do you see me looking sad? I might look small but not sad.

“The judgment quashing my removal was not actually delivered last week. It was on July 2, 2020, about two weeks after I was removed from office. The only reason I decided to publish it was because I saw comments suggesting that people were not aware that the case was dismissed.

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“I had addressed newsmen shortly after my removal and said that regardless of the legality or illegality of my removal, I accepted what happened in good faith and resolved I would not contest it. I promised to remain committed, do what I can as a party member to support the party.

“You know in law, you can decide as I have done to sleep on my right. And as I took that decision to sleep on my right, it has remained sleeping. I have decided for the purpose of party chairmanship to sleep on my right and it remains happily so.

“You can see that I have been active since I left office because I don’t think I need to be a chairman to remain relevant. I didn’t join the party to become chairman but because we wanted to form an alternate platform capable of taking PDP out of power and that objective was achieved. It does not matter how it all went, but the important thing is that the primary purpose was not for me to be chairman.”

Oshiomhole commended Rotary International for paying attention to the plight of the downtrodden in society. He explained that if he was asked to compare the principles and objectives of the organisation and those of trade unionists, his primary constituency, he would say they both shared a lot in common.