Obaseki: Why I shunned meeting of south-south governors

Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo state, has spoken on his absence at the meeting conveyed by his counterparts from the south-south region.

The meeting which held in Abuja on Sunday had four south-south governors in attendance.

They are Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Ben Ayade (Cross River), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) and Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta).

Obaseki was the only governor from the region who did not attend the meeting.

After deliberations, the governors asked Walter Onnoghen, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), not to appear at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over the alleged  false assets declaration trial.

In a statement issued on his behalf by Crusoe Osagie, his spokesman, Obaseki described the  meeting as a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) affair.

“The Abuja meeting of governors of Delta, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states, on the corruption trial of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, was a meeting of governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and not a meeting of south-south governors,” the media aide said.

“Chairman of the Edo state chapter of the PDP, chief Dan Orbih is economical with the truth and most uncharitable to the personality of governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state, with his unnecessary attacks on the Edo state governor.

“Chief Orbih should tell Edo people the last time the south-south governors’ meeting held, how many times the meeting was held in 2018 and its agenda for 2019.

“Governor Obaseki is committed to the wellbeing of Edo people and our brothers and sisters in our sister South-South states and all Nigerians, and will support any meeting, devoid of political colouration, that genuinely seeks to improve the welfare of people of the south-south region and elsewhere in the country.

“Obaseki will not attend a PDP governors meeting like the one held in Abuja last Sunday, but will attend meetings that are not politically-tainted, and called to proffer time-tested solutions to the developmental challenges faced by the millions of Edo and other people of the south-south region.”