Governor Godwin Obaseki has finally lifted the lids on his travail in the ruling All Progressives Congress [APC] and how he was forced out of the party after falling down the pecking order, oyogist.com reports.
It would be recalled that Governor Obaseki, in a renewed effort to establish his re-election bid, officially defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday, June 19 , at the party’s secretariat in Benin City, the Edo state capital.
Governor Obaseki tendered his resignation from the party after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, June 16, at the State House, Abuja. This decision came amid a frosty relationship and unresolvable differences between him and the former national chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
The political feud between Gov Obaseki and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole climaxed on Friday, June 12, as the governor was disqualified from the APC governorship ticket race.
Among top reasons, Gov Obaseki was shown the exit door by Jonathan Ayuba_led screening committee over an alleged defective certificate in what looked like a final effort to shatter his re-election bid.
The immediate national chairman of the party later said the governor was disqualified because the APC is not a party of ‘big men’ where rules can be remodeled to favour the interest of powerful individuals.
Speaking with BBC Pidgin, Gov Obaseki said he was gang forced out of the ruling party as All Progressives Congress did not deem him fit for re-election 4 years after he contested and won.
”They said I was not qualified after 4 years. I qualified in the first time, but this time I was not. That was when I see that for APC, they are doing things anyhow.
”The leadership can just come and disobey the party constitution and court order. They’re just doing as they like because they’re in government.
”Since all of them said I was not qualified, I left and PDP which saw that I’m qualified gave me the opportunity to join them,” Obaseki said.
However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Edo state governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress [APC], Pastor Osagie Ize_Iyamu, of parading plagiarised or fake campaign document.
The party’s campaign council for the Edo governorship election in a statement on Friday, August 14, alleged that Pastore Ize-Iyamu’s campaign document tagged SIMPLE agenda is empty.
The opposition party accused Pastor Ize-Iyamu of being desperate to use the Edo state governorship position to evade prosecution for alleged corruption.
The statement read: ”The APC has destroyed its own campaign as the people of Edo state can-not abandon a performing govt under the PDP candidate, Godwin Obaseki, with his highly acceptable, practical and development_driven MEGA manifesto, and go for the discredited APC with its candidate that has no plans to develop the state.
”The Edo voters have distanced themselves from the APC because the Pastor Ize_Iyamu’s deceptive agenda has proven to be nothing more than empty headlines without content or any commitment from the makers.”
The Peoples Democratic Party also accused the APC of not engaging in issue-based campaign, but allegedly resorting to violence.
According to the opposition party, the antics of the APC can-not stop the people of Edo state from re-electing Governor Godwin Obaseki in the forthcoming election.
