Edo 2020: APC Govs In Last-Ditch Effort To Rescue Obaseki

Alarmed at the fast pace the condition of the party was de­teriorating ahead of Edo gov­ernorship primaries, gover­nors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) met virtually on Saturday in what appears a last-ditch effort to rescue Governor Godwin Obaseki and stop the imminent loss of the state to the opposition.

The meeting, it was gath­ered, also deliberated on the situation in Ondo, and re­solved to intervene in the lin­gering crisis which has seen the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) disquali­fying a sitting governor from participating in the June 22 primary of the APC in Edo.


A statement conveying the decision reached at the meet­ing and signed by Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, who is the chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Fo­rum, disclosed that the gover­nors had “collectively agreed to work to ensure strengthen­ing fair and democratic inter­nal party mechanism for the selection of party candidates in all elections, especially in respect of Edo and Ondo states 2020 governorship elec­tions”.

Recall that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC had on Saturday ratified the disqualification of Governor Obaseki of Edo State and two others following their earlier disqualification by the APC Screening and Appeals Committee.

The other two disqualified aspirants in the exercise were Chris Ogiemwonyi and Mat­thew Aigbuhuenze Iduori­yekemwen.

The statement assured that the governors would resolve all current challenges and that the party would emerge stronger.

The forum said it had resolved to “unanimously reaffirm the commitment of all progressive governors to work for the unity of our party”.

It added: “Forum members are confident that the party will resolve all current chal­lenges and emerge stronger.”
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A source close to one of the governors hinted that most of the APC governors were not happy with the overbearing stance of Comrade Adams Os­hiomhole and the action so far taken by the APC leadership, stating that the NWC had glar­ingly usurped the powers of the party’s NEC and breached the APC constitution.

However, according to the source, the situation was still redeemable.

“I know there are several engagements still going on to resolve some of the con­troversial steps taken by the APC NWC.

“We might likely see some of these decisions reversed be­cause the feeling is that NWC does not have the power to do some of the things they did regarding Edo.

“So, the governors are still engaging with all the con­cerned stakeholders,” the source said.

Wherever Obaseki Goes, We Will Go— Idahosa

Meanwhile, Chief Charles Idahosa, a former Commis­sioner for Information, on Sunday said leaders of the APC are united with Gover­nor Godwin Obaseki on any decision he takes on his polit­ical future.

Idahosa, who condemned the disqualification of the governor by the APC screen­ing committee from the gov­ernorship primaries, said leaders of the party were not surprised by the devel­opment as Oshiomhole had carefully planned the hatchet job from the onset.

“It didn’t come to me and many of us who are support­ers of Governor Godwin Obaseki as a surprise.

“It is a hatchet job carried out by a stark illiterate who calls himself the national chairman of APC when in the real sense of it, he is not the national chairman. He has never respected the con­stitution of the party.

“It is just unfortunate that I have always repeated the way the party hierarchy is al­lowing one man who doesn’t even have a primary six cer­tificate to be bastardising the party through illegality.

“I felt so sorry for APC. It was a charade and I’m happy that coincidentally it happened on Democracy Day, June 12. On this day, we saw the exhibition of undemo­cratic actions by a man who doesn’t know his left from his right.

“APC is dead and the un­dertaker to carry its corpse is Oshiomhole. Because you have hatred for one man and then you use your official power against him”.

On those advising the gov­ernor to take the Ambode op­tion by opting out of the race, Idahosa said what happened in Lagos during the gover­norship primaries is not the same with the situation in Edo.

According to him, Am­bode bowed out of the race easily because he doesn’t control the APC structures in Lagos, which, according to him, is under the firm grip of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the party.

He, however, said the sce­nario is different when com­pared to Edo State as Gover­nor Obaseki controls all the party’s structures from state executive to ward level.

He said that was why Adams Oshiomhole, APC national chairman did ev­erything to bar him from contesting the primaries on the party’s platform.

“We’ve always said that Edo is not Lagos. What hap­pened in Ambode’s case was that Ambode depended hun­dred percent on Tinubu. All the structures of the party are in Tinubu’s hands. That was why on the day of the primary, the Deputy Gov­ernor, SSG, all of them ran away from Ambode and he lost woefully.

“But in Edo State, the whole structure is under the control of Governor God­win Obaseki. We control the whole 18 local governments unlike Ambode who doesn’t have any control but was waiting for Tinubu to do ev­erything for him. We control the executive of the party and all other apparatus of the party.

“When Oshiomhole was contesting for governor and he was asked to present his certificate, he had nothing to show for it. The APC has never been a political party; it is an amalgam of people with different reasons to come to power by removing PDP at all cost.

“After achieving that, they didn’t know what to do with power at all. APC will die be­fore 2023 and after Buhari’s tenure, there will be nothing like APC again.

“So, we are not afraid at all because the situation in Edo and Lagos are not simi­lar. That is why you see Osh­iomhole doing everything to stop the governor from con­testing. Governor Obaseki is the one keeping us in APC. Obaseki is the one insisting on APC. Wherever he goes, we go. We are united on this, wherever Obaseki, Shaibu go, we go”.

SOURCE : Independent