Obaseki’s defection sparks up crisis in PDP

Finally, Edo Governor Godwin Obaseki has defected to the PDP, and his coming has turned things around in the opposition party.

The governor declared his defection Friday at the party’s state secretariat in Benin.

“The Governor of Edo State, H. E. Governor Obaseki has defected to our great Party, the @OfficialPDPNig. The declaration was made this afternoon at the state Secretariat of our party in Benin city, Edo State. Power to the people,” a tweet by the party confirmed.

As a result of that, the party has postponed its primary election slated for June 19 and 20.

The postponement has been interpreted to mean some sort of consideration for the drop-in governor—since the party already concluded its screening.

But the change of date to accommodate him might have triggered an accident waiting to happen.

The party had screened its candidate before Obaseki crashed in, and the state chairman has stated there will be no special consideration.

“I can also say that there is no automatic ticket in the offing for him at all,” Sunday Azigbemi told the NAN days ago.

Even the screened candidates are not going to sit down and watch Obaseki jump the guns and grab the ticket.

Ken Imasuagbon, an aspirant, said he is prepared for open contest, provided his opponents will be ready to subject themselves to the party’s rules and regulations.

Imasuagbon, however, vowed to “resist any attempt to hand over the party’s ticket to him, preparatory to the governorship election slated for September 19”.

Even after horse-trading, and Obaseki is able to butter up the others—or negotiate the ticket—the problem wot go soon.

The APC is ready to fly to court to challenge Obaseki qualification even in the PDP.

“Fortunate enough, it was the PDP that exposed him [Obaseki’s certificate forgery that disqualified him in the APC] in 2016,” said Adams Oshiomhole, the suspended APC national chairman who has fallen out with his godson Obaseki, days ago.

Oshiomhole noted that the APC just managed to escape that because PDP filed out of time and the case was struck out.

“Now, the case has life so when they field him, we will be at the court to adopt what PDP filed before the court against him with additional evidence we now have against him. So, we can’t wait to have PDP field him as their candidate,” he said.