OSHIOMHOLE’S ASPIRANTS ALLEGEDLY WORKING TO FRACTURE APC IN EDO

EDO APC: The Edo State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is appalled and thoroughly embarrassed by the statement published on page 7 of The Nation Newspaper and page 4 of Vanguard Newspaper on Monday, May 11, 2020, by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s governorship aspirants, some of who are not even members of the Party in the State.

According to a statement signed by Pastor Joseph O. Osagiede, Publicity Secretary, All Progressives Congress, Edo State, “The jaundiced statement does not fail to underscore yet again the feeble attempts by these individuals to extricate Comrade Oshiomhole from the irresponsible and insensitive role he played in the violation of the regulations against the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), by organizing the botched Edo Peoples Movement (EPM) mock primaries in the state, thereby exposing Edo people and Nigerians to danger.”

Pastor Osagiede states that, “The views expressed in the statement do not reflect the position of APC in Edo State; at best it reflects the envious and malicious disposition of the authors and their cowardly sponsor clearly intimidated by the towering achievements of Godwin Obaseki in such a short time. They do this without a thought to the damage what they do to the Party in Edo State, a platform upon which they claim they want to pursue their so-called ambitions.”

He continued, “For over a year now, Comrade Oshiomhole, the dramatis personae, has endlessly deployed these cronies of his in a competition of who can do the most damage to the stability of the APC in the State. Some of these persons who are mercenaries from other political parties have, since then, worked tirelessly, each trying to outdo the other, in inflicting damage to the Party.”

“But for the strong support which Governor Godwin Obaseki enjoys from the leadership and members of the party and the overwhelming approval rating from Edo people across party, religious, ethnic and social divides, Oshiomhole and his puppets would have set the party on the path of perdition, as happened in Zamfara, Bayelsa and other states.”

“In terms of financial prudence and efficient deployment of state resources to deliver value to Edo people, Obaseki is light years ahead of Oshiomhole. The difference between them is like night and day.”

Osagiede added that, “As a matter of fact, Oshiomhole should be careful and not take the State government’s benevolence for granted, particularly as pertains the host of financial and legal infractions perpetrated in his tenure.”

“We, however, symphatise with them as their frustration and desperation continues to heighten; all attempts they have made to discredit Obaseki has met with serial failure. This is because anything founded on falsehood and deceit cannot stand; besides our government, in line with the principles and philosophy of our great Party, has placed the people at the centre of its policies and programmes, ensuring that developmental efforts are primed to benefit the people directly and not to service the private pockets of the puppets and their hypocritical master.”

“The clamour by those who signed the statement is further weakened by the fact that most of them are professional aspirants, who re-emerge in the public space every election cycle to seek how they can con unsuspecting patrons to bankroll their ill-fated misadventure. They have no political capital whatsoever to prosecute their ambitions and it is shameful that they are trying to massage their weak egos with their names on the publication.”

“It bears repeating that the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration has re-enacted the basic education sub-sector by training over 11,400 primary school teachers, ushering a digitally-enhanced education in over 846 schools; constructed at least a road in each of the 192 wards in the state; completed two blocks of the Secretariat complex and the Treasury House (abandoned for over 40 years). The governor has completely reconstructed the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, and attracted investments into the Real Estate, Agriculture, Sports, Hospitality and Power sectors to mention a few.”

“The State Government has facilitated the creation of over 157,000 jobs in the formal and informal sectors of the State; ensured the rehabilitation of over 5,000 returnees from different African and European countries and set up of a robust security architecture codenamed Operation Wabaizigan and the Edo State Security Trust Fund.”

“With respect to the COVID-19 fight, it will be apt to state that all relevant agencies of the Federal Government as well as independent observers responsible for interfacing with all the states in response to COVID-19, have ranked Edo as a topflight state in the management of the pandemic in Nigeria.”

“As it stands today in Edo State, Governor Obaseki is a soothing reminder of the glorious days of the Late Prof. Ambrose Alli and Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, who laid the foundation for the greatness of Edo State, upon which Governor Obaseki has built to place the state as a frontline sub-national government in Nigeria.”

“These attempts by Oshiomhole and his cohorts to derail the progress of the party in the state under Governor Obaseki is recklessness taken too far, to say the least, and perhaps a pre-meditated attempt to sell Edo State away to the opposition just as they did in Zamfara, Bayelsa and other states.”

The group therefore call on “President Muhammadu Buhari, the Presidency and the national leadership of the party to call Oshiomhole to order and help him understand that the party would not tolerate the needless loss of the only state which it controls in the South-South region of the country to the opposition.”

“The national leadership of the party and the Presidency should also look into the needless and reckless losses of States hitherto controlled by the APC to the opposition and investigate the possible case of conspiracy by Comrade Oshiomhole to wage an internal war of attrition within the party in order to weaken it, with the hope of jumping ship in 2023 to achieve his personal political ambition at the national level.”