A faction of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Edo State, loyal to the embattled national chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday alleged that Governor Godwin Obaseki is using state resources to ensure that Oshiomhole is removed as national helmsman of the party in a bid to secure a second term ticket.
Factional publicity secretary of the party in the state, Mr Chris Azebamwan, who made the allegation at a press conference in Benin, further accused the governor of turning the state executive committee of the APC into an arm of the state government.
The factional party spokesman said meetings are now held in government house where resolutions drafted and signatures on the attendance list are appended to as if they were signed in support of the resolutions.
Azebamwan said lack of regard for due process, was responsible for the crisis that has engulfed the party in the state and by extension at the national level.
He added that the plot was designed to polarise the party in Edo State which has now led to the alleged suspension of the national chairman of the party in his ward.
He said, “In blind pursuit of his determination to remove Adams Oshiomhole as National Chairman, he has spared no effort or Edo resources in trying to compromise party officials and government appointees. For him, no price is too high.
“Godwin Obaseki has become cancerous in the body polity of APC and the only solution is a clean and surgical excision. He should be cut off cleanly. Again we say, enough is enough.
“We the leaders, officers and party faithful of APC Edo State hereby categorically and unequivocally state for the record that we have implicit confidence in Adam’s Oshiomhole as our National Chairman.
“We also wish to pit it on record that the state Executive Commitee of our party in Edo State stand by the 17 Exco members of Ward 10, Etsako West Local Government Area who have publicly denounced the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole at his Ward level.
“The purported suspension was the machinations of Godwin Obaseki using nine erstwhile members of the Ward Exco who had earlier been suspended by the majority of that organ of the party in the Ward.
“Obaseki believes he is bigger than the party hence his contempt for party structures and party faithful,” he said.
But the special adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, in a swift reaction yesterday absolved his boss of any involvement in Oshiomhole’s travails.
Osagie in a statement urged members of the dissident group, Edo Peoples Movement (EPM), which he stated had been proscribed to accept the olive branch extended to them by the party under the leadership of Governor Obaseki before it becomes too late.
He said the party is ready to re-admit its remorseful members, who were led astray by Oshiomhole and the EPM, noting that the window of opportunity is still open for them to retrace their steps.
“We want to reiterate that the state governor is not behind the travails of the suspended national chairman. Comrade Oshiomhole is only reaping the consequences of his actions and inactions while he served as the national chairman, some which include the efforts to destabilise the party in the state.
“Others are his tactless handling of the crisis in the state chapters across the country, including the conflicts in Zamfara, Adamawa, Taraba, Rivers, Bayelsa and other states where his draconic stance cost the party dearly.” He added.