BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

BENIN – DEPUTY Governor of Edo State, Dr. Pius Odubu, has described as baseless, the report that he stopped the appointment of a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr Patrick Obahiagbon, as Secretary to the Edo State Government, SSG.

In a statement by the Deputy Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Kelly Odaro, he said it was ridiculous “for anyone to claim that Mr Obahiagbon lost the SSG position to the cold war between factions in the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN led by him and the one led by South-South Vice Chairman of the party, Pastor Osagie Ize- Iyamu.”

Odubu noted that the suggestion of a power struggle between him and Ize-Iyamu was a figment of  imagination of the reporter, adding that the relationship between him and Ize-Iyamu remains  cordial.

He added that the appointment of an SSG and other personal aides of the governor was the exclusive preserve of the governor and “the governor does not owe anyone any obligation in deciding who he makes the SSG.”

While saying that there was no faction or any semblance of it in the  ACN in Edo State, he noted that he believed in “the unity of this great political party.”