John Odigie-Oyegun, former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says Adams Oshiomhole, his successor, is the biggest distraction to the administration of Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo.
Odigie-Oyegun was reacting to the crisis rocking the Edo state house of assembly.
In a statement by Ray Murphy, his special adviser on political affairs, the former national chairman accused Oshiomhole of engaging in anti-party activities, saying he is the one distracting Obaseki from focusing on governance.
He described what is happening in the state as “unfortunate”, adding that Oshiomhole is heating up the polity since he does not want the governor to be reelected.
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“This party must be stronger because we cannot go into the 2023 general elections with these discordant tunes especially as President Buhari will not be contesting. We need to get our acts together,” he said.
“Oyegun has no personal grievances with Oshiomhole but Nigerians must know that he cannot go to equity with unclean hands.
“Today, there are all kinds of rancour coming from Edo State. They all boil down to attempt by godfather and godfatherism that is hitting up the polity in the state.
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“Obaseki is the executive governor of Edo state and he should be allowed to exercise the powers vested in him by the law. To what purpose is this idea of the APC chairman putting the state under tension?
“As a governor under APC platform, he should be allowed to run out his tenure before they decide whether to bring him back or not. There are so many antics going on and you don’t need to be a prophet or babalawo to trace where they are coming from. They are coming from the APC.
“I want to think that they are all targeted at weakening the governor of Edo state. Ordinarily, the man in Edo should be given every support so that he can succeed to fend off the opposition PDP already around the corner.
“Ask anybody from Edo state, what is Obaseki’s biggest distraction and they will tell you that his distraction is not whether he has governed well or not, but from his immediate predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole.
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“It is very unfortunate especially considering the fact that he is the national chairman of the same party with the governor. I have not heard that PDP or Edo leaders want to remove Obaseki. What has been trending is how his predecessor who happens to be the party chairman does want him back in the office.
“If his actions against Obaseki is not antiparty, someone should then explain to me what is antiparty. The problem of the APC is from a singular man, the national chairman who runs the party like an executive chairman. The idea of working singlehanded and inducing the party members to endorse is the problem of the party.”
On Monday night, nine house of assembly lawmakers, said to be loyal to Obaseki, had edged out their colleagues by taking oath of office “secretly”.
A “cold war” between Obaseki and Oshiomhole reportedly split the assembly into two.
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Oshiomhole is reported to have been perfecting strategies to oust the governor since he had the majority of the lawmakers in his camp.
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