Disgruntled politicians behind rift between Obaseki, Oshiomhole, APC insists

Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has refuted claims that Governor Godwin Obaseki and National Chairman of party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole were at loggerheads over control of the state and leadership crisis in the House of Assembly.

State Chairman of APC, Anselm Ojezua who disclosed this in an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, blamed the crisis on deception of ‘third parties’ in the state’s political space.

He pointed out that the state has been in the news for the wrong reasons because certain individuals who had hijacked the state’s resources resorted to blackmail and misrepresentation of facts.

He insisted that the ‘third parties’ became bent on straining the relationship between Obaseki and his predecessor when the present administration stopped them from collecting and diverting revenues meant for the development of the state.

Ojezua maintained that the challenges before the party in Edo State were beyond the leadership tussle in the state’s House of Assembly.

“It is just that third parties are trying to create problems between Oshiomhole and Obaseki. Developments in recent times have whittled down the tension created by the crisis,” he stated.

He said Oshiomhole has discovered the ulterior motives of the political jobbers going to him in Abuja to spread all sorts of falsehood that Obaseki has dumped the blueprint prepared to make Edo State attractive for investments to boost its economic prosperity.

He further explained that the attempt was to rubbish Oshiomhole’s administration and that Obaseki was against his people or that the party was bound to lose the next gubernatorial election if he (Obaseki) was allowed to continue in that direction.

“But Oshiomhole now knows better and we are talking and back to where we ought to have started and the APC has decided to support Obaseki because of his resolve to take the state to next level of development,” he added.

Also speaking, Special Adviser to the governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, said Obaseki’s focus is to provide good governance in the state.

Meanwhile, the APC in Oredo Council has passed a vote of confidence on Governor Obaseki, insisting that no godfather could deny him re-election on the platform of the ruling APC.

Its members, who urged President Muhammadu Buhari to take a stand on the issue by calling Oshiomhole to order, said doing so would save the party from losing the state to the opposition as the only APC controlled state in the South-South zone.

APC leader in Oredo West ward II, Baba Franco, who addressed journalists in Benin City yesterday, condemn godfather syndrome in Edo APC and support Obaseki due to his developmental strides and good governance.