Oshiomhole, Obaseki face-off deepen

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole and his estranged godson. Governor Godwin Obaseki took a new twist at the weekend as both continued to dig their heels in on accusations of wrongdoing, particularly, as it concerns the election of the state House of Assembly’s leadership.

While Obaseki accused Oshiomhole of displaying bias in the crisis rocking the Assembly by not listening to all sides in the feud, the APC national chairman said the facts of the case were staring him in the face.

Oshiomhole had fired the first shot on Friday in Abuja while playing host to the Bauchi State APC House of Assembly members at the party’s national secretariat.

The APC lawmakers had gone to complain to their national chairman that only 11 members, comprising eight PDP, two APC and one New Nigeria People’s Party members, out of 31 members, elected a speaker and deputy speaker for the Assembly.

Oshiomhole said: “I am ashamed to talk about it, but there is nothing to hide. We have a similar situation in Edo, where in our case we have 24/24, all of them APC. But somebody wants a particular person as Speaker, 19 out of 24 are opposed to this person.”

Responding, Obaseki, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, said Oshiomhole’s views on Obaseki’s alleged role in the emergence of the leadership of the Edo State House of Assembly exposed the APC chairman’s prejudice.

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The statement said, “We read with utter astonishment a statement credited to the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, with respect to Governor Godwin Obaseki’s alleged role in the inauguration of the Edo State House of Assembly.

“Apart from the fact that he based his conclusion on a totally false and baseless premise, we believe that he could have shown that he does not have a vested interest by simply inquiring from his friend, the governor, directly, or any official of the State Working Committee of our party as to what actually transpired.”

 Continuing, Osagie claimed Oshiomhole’s “failure to satisfy the basic tenets of natural justice, which makes fair hearing from all sides of a matter mandatory, has clearly exposed his bias in this issue.

“For the avoidance of doubt, all the decisions relating to the leadership of the Edo State House of Assembly recently elected by the house were taken by the State Working Committee and leaders of the party from across the state.”

He also said, “In deference to the rule of party supremacy, which the national chairman so eloquently professes, the governor and all party members are obliged to respect the party’s decision, as we expect the national chairman to also do.”

However, in his second response on the matter, Oshiomhole, who spoke last night through APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, said, “There is no dispute about the fact that nine people were involved in it. There is no dispute about the fact that what took place, took place at 9.30pm. So what is there to listen to?