… As NASS finalises moves to take over state assembly
- Presidency drops Gov’s ministerial nominee
- APC shops for new candidate for Edo 2020
- Blame Oshiomhole for current crisis – ADP
By OSEMWENGIE BEN OGBEMUDIA, BENIN
These are indeed not the best of times for the embattled Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, as his path to having a second term in office is continuously being strewn with thorns and thistles with the raging battle between him and his predecessor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, taking a new dimension at the weekend.
Investigations by The Point revealed that Oshiomhole’s foot soldiers in the ruling APC in Edo State had already set machinery in motion to either get the state House of Assembly to impeach the incumbent Governor Obaseki or shop for a replacement for him in next year’s gubernatorial election in the state.
It was also gathered that the National Assembly might move against Obaseki by taking over the functions of the Edo State House of Assembly before the end of this week.
A reliable source at the National Assembly specifically told The Point on Saturday that the National Assembly would, on Wednesday this week, take over the state Assembly if the governor failed to heed its earlier directive to issue a new proclamation order for a fresh inauguration of the state’s legislature by the end of Tuesday (tomorrow).
Already, higher authorities in the country might have taken the wind out of Obaseki’s sail as the governor, last week, received directives from the National Assembly leadership, the Inspector General of Police, and the Director General of Department of State Security to, within a week, issue another proclamation letter for a fresh inauguration of the state’s House of Assembly. But as at the weekend, he had yet to heed the advice.
Our investigations further revealed that Governor Obaseki’s candidate for a ministerial position in the next cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari has been dropped, as he could not pass security screening.
Obaseki’s candidate was, however, said to have been immediately replaced by the only one submitted by Oshiomhole, who might have scaled through the screening.
It was learnt from impeccable sources that Obaseki’s alleged alignment with the forces plotting to oust Oshiomhole, his immediate predecessor and godfather, from the office of the national chairman of the APC, might have worsened the current squabble between the two of them.
But Oshiomhole, said to be really enraged, has allegedly set a booby trap for the governor through impeachment moves, The Point gathered at the weekend.
Only last week, embattled Governor Obaseki sacked Oshiomhole’s loyalists from his cabinet, for fear that they could play Judas. He has also failed to inaugurate the state’s House of Assembly afresh due to what top sources in Edo described as “fear of impeachment while the stand-off lasts.”
Virtually all members of the Edo State House of Assembly are loyal to Oshiomhole, it was learnt.
Also, it was reliably gathered that prominent politicians and traditional rulers in Edo State, who have sympathy for Oshiomhole, might have withdrawn their support for the embattled Governor Obaseki.
WE’VE BEEN DIRECTED TO FIND REPLACEMENT FOR OBASEKI – APC PRESSURE GROUP
Already, a pressure group under the ruling APC in the state, Edo Peoples Movement, has begun to shop for another governorship candidate to replace Obaseki in the 2020 governorship election in the state.
A chieftain of the EPM and former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Mr. Henry Idahagbon, told The Point in Benin that his group, which is an offshoot of the APC in the state, had the mandate to look for another governorship candidate that would fly the flag of the ruling party in next year’s governorship election in Edo.
Idahagbon said that the APC in Edo had the conviction that it would lose the governorship of the state if it fielded incumbent Governor Obaseki for a second term in the 2020 gubernatorial election.
He stressed that the APC in the state had made up its mind on Obaseki and that there was no going back on the decision to have a replacement for him in next year’s governorship poll.
“If he wants to kill us, let him go ahead. They can come and kill us; but we remain committed to the two ideas of EPM, which are to resuscitate the party in the state and to restore it to its winning ways. Our mandate is to shop for a credible alternative to Godwin Obaseki for the 2020 governorship election because the party will lose if we field him,” he said.
Speaking with The Point in Benin, Idahagbon accused Obaseki of creating conflict in the state chapter of the APC.
He, however, stressed that for peace to reign in the APC in the state, the governor must eat the humble pie by apologising to the party stakeholders he had offended and wronged by his actions and inactions, alike.
Recalling how the APC national chairman ensured that Obaseki succeeded him as the next governor of Edo State, the EPM chieftain said, “I had the privilege of being one of the first politicians Oshiomhole confided in. The day the governorship primary election held in Yenagoa, where Timipre Silva and Timi Alaibe contested, I went with him to conduct the primaries; when we returned to Benin, he asked me to stay back in his house.
“At about 1.00 am, he took me to the third living room in the Governor’s Lodge and asked me to analyse all those interested in the gubernatorial election. We reviewed the pros and cons of all of them and, at the end, we agreed that the best person among the lot to succeed him was Godwin Obaseki. This was at about 2.30 am and after that, I sought the permission of Oshiomhole to call Obaseki, which he granted.”
He added, “I called him, he was already asleep, but he eventually picked my call. He called me bros and I said I am sorry for waking you up. I told him I just had a meeting with the Comrade Governor and he told me that he would be the next governor of the state. I need to be with you tomorrow so that I can lay before you a template of what we need to do between now and the elections.
“I took him around all the 18 local government areas of the state. I took him to the former deputy governor of the state, Mr. Lucky Imasuen, for the first time. I also took him to Victor Ekhator Blakky and the market women leaders’ houses for the first time. I took him around everywhere because by that time he was not popular. Anywhere we went to, they received us with disdain for they did not believe the deal could scale through. But to the glory of God, we were able to package him.”
Idahagbon, who is also a former chairman of Egor Local Government Council also lamented, “Immediately he became the governor, we saw another Obaseki. After the election before his swearing-in, we started seeing a different person that we did not know and that is why some weeks ago, I said that we voted for a man we did not know. Within the first week of his being governor, he said he was going to retire all old politicians.
“In the first two years of his governance, they invited me to party meetings only two or three times. In fact, he invented a new leadership for the party, where people who are not politicians attend meetings. Truly, Godwin Obaseki constitutes an existential threat to all the politicians in Edo State.”
He stated, “Hon Charles Idahosa, who used to be our leader, said that he was behaving the way he (Obaseki) was behaving because of what politicians did to him. I disagree because there was nothing politicians did to him that I did not know. This man promised each delegate N300, 000 because of the stiff competition he faced from Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi and Rt. Hon Pius Odubu. I coordinated 80 per cent of the delegates in Egor and instead of giving them the N300, 000 he promised, he gave them N150, 000.
“They told them that after the primaries, they would get their balance of N150, 000, but after the voting, Obaseki said no, he was no longer paying and that the process was too expensive. That was the first time I confronted him. On that day, after he left the meeting, I told the people around that we had entered a one-chance bus. I even told him that the delegates were the people who would campaign for him. We eventually had to force him to pay additional N50,000, instead of the N300,000 he promised delegates. Tell me, where did the politicians collect money from him?”
The APC chieftain added that Oshiomhole’s influence greatly assisted Obaseki’s victory at the governorship poll in the state in 2016, expressing surprise that the governor soon forgot this gesture and soon began to bite the finger that fed him.
He said, “I am not aware of any politician that they gave N5 million to N10 million during the campaign because it was the popularity of Oshiomhole that he rode on. Obaseki got his first party membership card a year before his election.
“Obaseki’s transformation from the nice and calm person before the election to what he is now is baffling and unexplainable. I think what has gone wrong is that he has been influenced by two principal officers, who are part of his government; I think he has been influenced by his deputy governor and his Secretary to State Government.
“He promised 200,000 jobs, but I do not think he has created up to 5,000 jobs. I raised this issue at one of our steering meetings, where I said even the Federal Government would find it difficult to create 200,000 jobs. He said no, that I should not worry, that he was creative.
“When the President came to campaign in Edo, he promised the President one million votes even when he knew that the total number of votes in Edo was not up to one million. When the results of the election came, the governor lost his unit, he lost his ward, lost his local government, lost his senatorial district and lost the three metropolitan councils in Benin; Oredo, Egor and Ikpobha-Okha.
“People came out against APC because of the governor; he has alienated the entire political class in the APC. We defeated Pastor Osagie-Ize Iyamu in the governorship election with over 58,000 votes and APC members, who are angry today, are five times that number.”
Speaking further, Idahagbon said Oshiomhole was the most grossly misunderstood person in the ongoing crisis in Edo APC.
He said, “I feel like weeping for the man because, after the election, we went to him stating what we wanted to be done. However, the man simply said no. I quote him, ‘I am no longer the governor. Please, allow Godwin to do his work, we must allow him to govern and I do not want to interfere.’ Now, the same Oshiomhole is the one people think has been calling and disturbing him.
“On the House of Assembly matter, Oshiomhole is not interested because he asked, ‘What do I want, do I want to be governor again, what will a Speaker in Edo State do for me now? However, the truth be told. As we are today, we do not have a House of Assembly, neither do we have a Speaker. The applicable section is not the section some of them are ignorantly bandying about. It is section 91 and it states that there shall be a House of Assembly whose membership shall be six times the number of the House of Representatives in each state; then there is a proviso that the number shall not be lower than 24 and higher than 40. Therefore, when you have a House of Assembly that is less than 24, it means we do not have a House of Assembly in Edo State today.
“If we are going to sheath our sword, Obaseki must descend from his high horse, he must descend from his Olympian height and wave the olive branch. He has told his kitchen cabinet that he is not prepared to do that; that Ambode lost in Lagos because he did not deploy his powers as governor, bragging that here, he would fight, and use his powers.
“He has marked my private building for demolition, we are receiving death threats every day, but we have told him that he is free to come and demolish. If he wants to kill us, let him go ahead. They can come and kill us but we remain committed to the two ideas of EPM, which are to resuscitate the party in the state and restore it to its winning ways. Our mandate is to shop for a credible alternative to Godwin Obaseki for the 2020 election because the party will lose if we field Obaseki.”
ANOTHER GROUP BACKS EPM ON OBASEKI
Another group within the APC, Grassroots Youth for Change, has also enjoined the embattled Governor Obaseki, to desist from taking actions that could cause the party to suffer defeat in next year’s governorship poll in the state.
The group said that the governor must ensure peace reigned in the state ahead of next year’s election.
The National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Orlu Henry Manuchimso, said that since Edo State is the only state controlled by the APC in the South-South geo-political zone, Governor Obaseki should not, by his actions or inactions, cause the party to lose the state.
The group said, “We have noted the Executive-induced crisis in the State House of Assembly and how the rascally act has caused schism in the party. This, certainly, does not augur well for our party. We had expected that, rather than create a situation of insecurity and unrest in Edo by deploying anti-democratic antics in seizing control of the state Legislature, Governor Obaseki should have worked towards political cooperation and understanding in an atmosphere of peace.
“Governor Obaseki has all it takes to lobby all the members of the state Legislature, as well as leaders of the APC in the state. Besides, he has the financial resources to deploy in reinforcing the security architecture of the state. But unfortunately, he has resorted to intimidation, blackmail and witch-hunt.”
The GYC added, “It is our view that if people talk to people, people would listen. It is not necessarily about financial inducement or sharing of money. Assuming without conceding that it is about using money to ensure that peace reigns, the governor has N6 billion security vote per annum to play with.
“What is the governor doing with the security vote? We have been able to confirm that in the 2018 budget of the state, the sum of N4 billion per annum that the previous administration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole received as security vote was increased to N5 billion. We have also confirmed that in the 2019 budget.”
Speaking in the same vein, an APC chieftain from Orhionmwon Local Government Area of the state, Comrade Dennis Eribo, said no matter the colouration, the nocturnal drama of June 17 at the state House of Assembly was anything but legal, adding that it would not stand when subjected to constitutional scrutiny.
He said when he saw a brand new Pajero SUV shared to induce some of the members-elect, who subscribed to the midnight inauguration, and a confirmed confession by some of the other lawmakers that they received N10million each, “I wept for my country and my dear State of Edo. I expect these guys here to shout blue murder.”
“But what I am reading here is mind-boggling. Imagine a people praising the man who is deliberately destroying the future of their children. Nothing is more absurd as anyone promoting the illegality of June 17 inauguration in the hallowed chamber of the state Assembly. Trust me, this will not stand and I await the end of this in a week. This is the time Obaseki needs to do the right thing,” he said.
Similarly, another party chieftain, Hon A .B Raham from Etsako Local Government Area told The Point that the APC national chairman’s younger brother, Mr. Seid Oshiomhole, had been sent by the good people of his
