By EBEN ENASCO KINGSLEY, Benin City
AHEAD of the 2016 gubernatorial election in Edo State, an aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Casley Omon-Irabor, has cautioned party stewards to be mindful of anointing a particular aspirant to ensue free and fair change mantra of the party in other to avoid terrible crisis if Governor Adams Oshiomhole went ahead to give his assent ahead primaries.
Barrister Omon- Irabor reacted to recent report that there was tension in the state chapter of the APC, following the governor’s alleged support for Mr. Godwin Obaseki, an aspirant in the governorship race.
Speaking shortly after the award of an achiever, from a non-governmental organization, The Achievers, the activist and legal practitioner, said: “I hope Governor Oshiomhole was not quoted right when he said that all those who are aspirants to the governorship ticket on the platform of APC should go home because he had given it to Godwin Obaseki.”
If what the paper reported is true, then they are looking for trouble that they cannot carry. “They should be prepared for war because this is democracy where one man cannot dictate to others. If it is true that Aliko Dangote has already told the governor of his interest in the Edo
State governorship race, let me tell them that they cannot buy over the state,” he said.
He added: “Let me warn the governor to learn from Delta State where a former governor tried to impose a governorship candidate on the state. Not only did he lose the governorship, he lost the senatorial ticket too. If we repeat that here, there will be no election, we will be in court, in the streets and we will fight to the last man.”
However, Governor Adams Oshiomhole, while presenting the state’s 2016 budget to the House of Assembly on Monday dismissed the report on the alleged tension in the state saying that the state was the most peaceful in the geo-political zone.
A statement by a Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media, said, “The reported heightened tension in the state over alleged endorsement of a governorship aspirant in the 2016 election cannot cause tension in the state or in the APC.”