Nobody is defecting – Party secretary
There are indications that some aggrieved leaders of the All Progressives Congress in Edo State have concluded plans to dump the party for the Social Democratic Party.
Our correspondent gathered that majority of the aggrieved leaders are from Orhionmwon, Uhunmwode, Ovia North East, Oredo and Ovia South West local government areas, all in Edo South Senatorial District.
Their grouse, according to impeccable party sources, include alleged sidelining by Governor Godwin Obaseki, hijacking of the party structures in their localities and not having a say on who-gets -what in the party.
We have been sidelined in the affairs of the party
One of the aggrieved leaders, who pleaded anonymity, said they had been pushed to the back ground in the affairs of the APC in the state.
It was learnt that what further fueled the decision of the leaders to leave the APC was the alleged decision by Governor Obaseki to allow only party organs in the state to handle members’ affairs.
Last Monday, a chieftain of the APC in Uhunmwode and Political Adviser to former Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Mr. Charles Idahosa, said he had decided to suspend further participation in all APC activities in the state.
Idahosa in a statement issued to journalists said he was not dumping the APC, but needed to take a break “in order to carry out a deeper surgical analysis from a detached point of view.”
He stated that the great relief and comfort in his decision “rests in the fact that human beings may betray you but your heart cannot betray you.”
Idahosa noted that the facts that informed the actions of the Edo APC in recent times were strange to him and that he has struggled to come to terms with those facts and the consequential actions of the party.
He said, “Given the present state of affairs, I have decided to suspend active political and partisan participation in the state. I believe the period will afford me the opportunity to seek an enlightened perspective of the issues, consult widely for clarifications, where need be, and take more informed position on the politics of Edo State.
“For every decision, there are consequences and possibilities. Yet, when a dog begins to bark at its owner, the dog owner should strut around in caution. That is the sobering epiphany of the present time.
“I am a proud and happy man with independent mind of my own. Resistance against curtailments of rights and oppressive tendencies is my second nature. God forbid that I should keep quiet in the face of a charade and injustice perpetrated with savage impunity.”
