Factional chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Barr. Anselm Ojezua, has blamed a former National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, for the APC loss in Edo state.
Igbere TV had reported how Governor Godwin Obaseki defeated Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the APC candidate in the Sept. 19 Edo Governorship election, to win a second term on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Obaseki was a governor under the APC platform before dumping the party to contest the election on the PDP platform, following a prolonged battle with Oshiomhole, his former benefactor.
Following the party loss on Saturday, Ojezua said Oshiomhole abused his office as APC national chairman, pushed Obaseki out of the party, “and you can now see that the beneficiary is now PDP”.
“Oshiomhole factionalised the party, created a faction in the name of EPM(Edo People Movement), brought a candidate(Ize-Iyamu) from outside the party and forced him down the throat of the party. They campaigned without the party behind them and they expected to win. This is the result,” Ojezua said.
Insisting that the APC lost the Edo governorship seat to PDP in the State as a result of Oshiomhole’s “illegal actions”, the factional chair said he doesn’t see how the party would recover from the loss.
“I think the position of Edo APC, prior to the disqualification of Governor Godwin Obaseki has been vindicated. Before that, the Edo APC had already reached a consensus with Obaseki as the candidate but Oshiomhole thought otherwise.
“That was why I said I will not speak until after the election and now I have been vindicated. If I spoke before the election, they will say it is anti-party. Now we know who has done anti-party.
Ojezua, who is chairman of the APC faction loyal to Obaseki before his eventual decamping to the PDP, threatened to expel Oshiomhole from the APC in Edo if the national party refuse to sanction him.
“Honestly, if the party does not do anything to sanction Oshiomhole, then we in Edo APC will have to review our membership of that party, because we gave notice, we warned the party, we petitioned the leadership; there is nothing we did not do to salvage the situation within the last 15 to 18 months.
“The party only took steps after Obaseki had left which is an irredeemable loss. Everyone can see the result now,” Ojezua lamented.
Igbere TV reports that Governor Obaseki, candidate of the PDP, secured 307,955 votes to defeat Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the APC candidate, who got 223,619 votes, in the Sept. 19 Edo Governorship election.
