TELL Magazine

Former lawmaker representing Oredo East constituency in the Edo State House of Assembly, and Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Political Matters (Edo South), Osaigbovo Iyoha, has warned that the arbitrariness and persistent disregard for the rule of law by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, would cost the party’s fortunes at the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo State.

Iyoha, who spoke to journalists in Benin City, said the National Chairman at the last count had violated 15 articles of the party’s constitution, noting “Oshiomhole has turned the APC to a one-man show. Nothing makes sense to him now except the removal of Godwin Obaseki from office”

He alleged that Oshiomhole was leveraging on his powers as the National Chairman to force the incumbent governor out of the party and the governorship contest, which he said is tantamount to infringing on the rights of the governor to aspire to any office in the land. According to him, “For Oshiomhole, it is either Obaseki goes or he destroys the party. He is destroying the party’s ticket the way he destroyed Zamfara, Imo and Rivers state tickets. I hope the party leaders and the President live up to their responsibilities and put Oshiomhole where he belongs.

“At the last count, Oshiomhole has violated 15 articles of our constitution. The worst thing you can do is to assault the motto of our party. There is no justice in what Oshiomhole is doing. He has become a judge in his own case. Oshiomhole actually created the Edo Peoples Movement (EPM), all in a bid to push Obaseki out of the party.”

On the controversial mode of primary election to be adopted, Iyoha said “NWC does not fix the mode of primary election like Comrade Oshiomhole has done. In the NEC meeting of August 2018, it was agreed that the State Executive Committee (SEC) will decide the mode of primary election and communicate to the NWC, which we have done.

“It is not in Oshiomhole’s power to fix the mode of primary election and impose it on us. That is not what the convention is. He is looking for a direct primary so that he can easily manipulate it, even in the face of this pandemic. He is still thinking of gathering people where the party has over 300,000 people. You want to gather all of these people in one location?

Iyoha insisted that Obaseki would be re-elected on account of his impressive multi-sectoral development. “Even the EPM, the supposed opposition within the party has not accused the governor of under-performance. They only say Obaseki has not given them access to the state’s treasury. You can accuse Obaseki of anything but not under-performance. There is total agreement that he has performed. Even the national chairman says he is proud of the governor’s performance.”