…No rift with Oshiomhole – APC chieftain

By Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu

SUPPORTERS and members of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s government of Edo state woke up a few days ago to see a press statement from the Oredo leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC,  adopting Obaseki as its sole candidate for the Edo State governorship election which is due by 2020.

Obaseki

The leaders and members, in the said meeting, also showered encomiums on the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who they described as an uncommon leader that is leading the party on the right track going by the outcome of the just concluded general elections.

The press statement also said the decisions were reached at an expanded meeting of the leaders of Oredo LGA APC, held on March 31, in Benin City, which was attended by party leaders where they said they unanimously endorsed Governor Obaseki’s candidature.

Apart from Oredo APC, the governor also got the endorsement of the Edo in Safe Hand Group, whose Spokesman, Mr Nosa Idele Ogbeide, said the group threw its weight behind Obaseki because of his unprecedented development and focused leadership,  as well as the Obaseki/Shaibu Movement, OSM, which said the governor and his deputy must get their second term tickets.

Shortly after this, the state executive committee of the APC also passed a vote of confidence on the governor and his team for the successes they achieved in the recently concluded state House of Assembly election where the APC won the 24 seats in the House.

The endorsements is causing some ripples among some aspirants who are believed to be waiting for a nod from the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to launch their ambition.

Three persons said to be interested in the position are Oshiomhole’s former deputy, Hon Pius Odubu, 2012 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Major General Charles Airhiavbere, retd,  and a former Minister of State for Works, Dr Chris Ogienmwonyi. Of these three only Airhiavbere has publicly indicated interest to contest.

The decision of Oredo APC which is the home local government of the governor immediately sparked a similar action from one of the leaders of the APC in Edo North, Senator Domingo Obende, who in a telephone conversation, said Obaseki has done well to merit an automatic ticket for a second term.

Allow free democratic process in APC, Ex Aspirants urge Oshiomhole

Obende who represented Edo North in the Senate from 2011 to 2015 said with the performances of Obaseki in the last two years, “there is no vacancy in Osadebey Avenue and to whom much is given much is expected. Governor Godwin Obaseki has given his all to us and I believe that is not the finality of his capacity. The only good thing that can happen to us in Edo State is for him to come back for the second term so that he can download all his investment experiences and the opportunities so that Edo State can be better for it.”

He said Obaseki has demonstrated the positive sides of continuity as he has been able to take the state successfully from where Oshiomhole left it to a new level.

Barely 24 hours after these endorsements, some members of the APC in Oredo started kicking claiming that the issue of adoption was not in the agenda in the said meeting.

It was gathered that when somebody in that meeting was made to move the motion, it was not seconded.

Investigations by Vanguard revealed that some of the architects of the endorsement did that to curry the favour of Governor Obaseki because of the ignoble role they allegedly played during the presidential and National Assembly elections where they under-disbursed money released for them to mobilise members of the party and party agents for the election.

It was reliably gathered that the sum of N38 million is yet to be accounted for by some leaders of the APC from Oredo local government area as at the time of this report.

A source told Vanguard: “While leaders of some other local government areas added to what has released some leaders in Oredo chose to release far below what was budgeted for them.”

He said the bubble burst when the governor called a meeting to review the election and to know why the party lost particularly in his local government area despite the huge resources released for the exercise.

It was gathered that members of the party in the meeting were shocked when the governor brought documents showing what was released for logistics for every unit and wards and discovered a huge gap with what those given the responsibility eventually gave to unit and ward leaders.

This action was said to have infuriated the governor that he expressed disappointment in some leaders of the party and then set up a 24 member interim management committee which he used to prosecute the House of Assembly election which the party overwhelmingly won. The committee is also to investigate where the N38 million deficit went into.

The source said: “The 24 member interim committee which is made up of two persons from each ward in the local government was shocked at the press release. They wanted to immediately counter the statement but they were advised to be cautious because the situation is delicate. On one hand, if they kick against it, it would be seen as if they are working against the party and the governor and if they embrace it, it will jeopardise the investigation the governor has sent them to do. That is why they have been silent about that but going about their investigation into the N38 million yet to be accounted for in Oredo. So the insinuation that they were sponsored by the governor is not true.”

Obaseki awards N2.8bn contract for construction of Textile Mill Road, Iyoba, Iyobanosa, Omozogie streets

The source said what is not in doubt is that the governor would seek re-election but publicly launching his bid ought to be much later in the year.

On the alleged frosty relationship between the governor and Oshiomhole, he said that is not also true “because these people have come a long way, if there are differences between them, they can always resolve them. Whatever is happening is being largely mis-presented before the public and other party members.”

Similarly, Senator Obende shared part of this view when he told Vanguard on the phone that “It is because Comrade Adams Oshiomhole loves good things, that was why he brought Godwin Obaseki to us in the first instance. Comrade Oshiomhole was governor for eight years, I am very convinced that he is not going to be averse to Godwin going for the second term more so since Obaseki is doing very well. He has been able to sustain Oshiomhole’s legacies which is not common in this part of the world.”