By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY – LEADERS and stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo state have called on President Muhammadu Buhari and a national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to intervene in the crisis rocking the party in the state as they alleged that Governor Godwin Obaseki was tormenting them with draconian style of governance.

Addressing a press conference in reaction to the recent suspension controversy that trailed a court order that restrained Comrade Adams Oshiomhole from functioning as the National Chairman of the party, a former Attorney General of the state and chieftain of the party, Hon Henry Idahagbon said “I want to make an appeal to the National Leader of the party, President Muhammadu Buhari and our National Leader Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu that we the APC members in Edo state we have suffered for too long under the dictatorship of ‘Major General’ Godwin Obaseki. The National Leaders should not wait for all of us to be crushed before they come to our aide. We are preparing for election and we have aspirants that can win election and manage the party”

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On his part, a governorship aspirant, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu who said he was speaking on behalf of other aspirants who all sent representatives to the conference accused Obaseki of introducing violence into the politics of the state but also said they would defy Obaseki’s orders that there should not be rallies whereas he is holding rallies across the state.

He said “Out of desperation, the state governor announced that he has banned rallies in the state where that authority for him to say that came from, I don’t know. We need to make him know that in a civilian dispensation, there are procedures so we don’t understand where he got the authority to ban rallies but the funny thing is that the same rally that he has banned, in the past one week, the governor has flouted that decree, he has held a rally at Irrua, he has held a rally at Auchi only yesterday he held a rally at Urokpota Hall in Benin. The governor cannot be doing rallies and tell us that we cannot hold rallies so we want to put him on notice that we will begin to hold rallies and we are waiting for him as the emperor of Edo state to put us to jail.”

Vanguard Nigeria News