The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, says the issue he has with Governor Godwin Obaseki is because he abandoned his projects, Igbere TV reports.
He said he expected his successor to continue from where he stopped on the said projects, revealing that those were part of the “continuity” campaign promises to the people during the 2016 guber poll.
Igbere TV reports that Oshiomhole, a two-time Governor of Edo State, made the revelation in a special interview with Channels TV’s Seun Okinbaloye, when he appeared before the station’s Politics Today programme, as a special guest.
This will be the first time the former governor will publicly admit to having a misunderstanding with his successor, and even granting an interview with pressmen regarding Edo politics, since the lingering Edo APC/Assembly crisis started.
Igbere TV recalls that the Edo Assembly crisis kick started after 15 of 24 members-elect said to be loyal to the APC national chairman were prevented from the controversial June 17 inauguration, which saw Obaseki’s 9 loyalists sworn in.
Even though the governor and his predecessor have continued to deny existent of any rift, Igbere TV gathered that political actors and heavyweights in the state are shopping for the replacement of Obaseki ahead Edo 2020 governorship election.
This is even as a group within the Edo APC, Edo Peoples Movement (EPM), accused the governor of incompetency, high-handedness, anti-party activities, and abandonment (of those who worked for his emergence as governor).
Speaking with Channels TV on Saturday, Oshiomhole, accused Governor Obaseki of abandoning the Edo five star (specialist) hospital for “crude politics”, insisting that even an opposition successor wouldn’t have done so.
His words: “What I expected the Governor to do, which will be the benefit of continuity, because we told Edo people we are continuing from where I stopped…
“The benefit that ought to accrue is that the Governor continues with these projects, so that Edo people can see the benefits, even if I was succeeded by PDP government, I don’t think they would have shut that hospital for as long as the Governor did.
“So now I will ask you, are these issues personal to me?.
“We have no arguments over money, we have no arguments over appointment, in fact in the meeting that we held with four governors including Gov. Bagudu, I asked the Governor (Obaseki) ‘how many Commissioners did I nominate to your cabinet?’, he agreed that I only nominated one person, only one out of more than 20 commissioners, not many Nigerians will believe that, because for me I was out of government and I have already convinced myself that the day I step out of government, that’s it.
“And after that first meeting the Governor decided to remove even that one Commissioner along with seven others, but that’s not my business, he has the right to appoint, remove, appoint, remove, those are government discretion.
“The Governor can never tell you that I have interfered in his choice of project and so on.
“The only thing I feel a bit worried about is the fact that some of the projects we started together have been abandoned.
“There is no way to solve disagreement without talking to the aggrieved party, let me assure you, this government is not under threat, it is those who make money from crises, what I call merchants of confusion, they are only relevant when there is a fight, who can tell the Governor ‘oh don’t worry they want to impeach you,’ the governor should ask himself what has he done to deserve impeachment.
“What will I gain if Godwin does not run second term?, if I did what I did, whether he acknowledge it or not, but people know what I did to support him to be, what comfort will I have if he is terminated halfway?”, Oshiomhole added.
