Edo 2020: Oshiomhole suffers ‘internal political bleeding’, ambush against Obaseki backfires

The former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, may currently be undergoing a bitter wrangle over the battle for the soul of Edo State in the September 19 governorship election. There are indicators that the former APC chairman may be suffering seeming ‘internal political bleeding’ losing crucial support bases to incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and hypothetically, affecting the election fortune of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, APC candidate.   

The APC candidate and the former chairman encountered unexpected humiliation from traditional rulers in Esan Land in Edo Central on Monday. Besides, some other silent discontent APC leaders who have been passive in the electioneering campaign of Ize-Iyamu include two former Governors of Edo State, Chief Odigie-Oyegun and Professor Osunbor. National Daily inquiry found that the two former governors had earlier declared their support for Governor Obaseki before his defection from APC to PDP. They are still standing by their words and have not been participating in Ize-Iyamu’s campaign.

National Daily learnt that Oshiomhole suffered a devastating setback when one of his former aides, Andrew Momodu, dumped the APC for the PDP. Momodu did not only decamp from APC to PDP, he further donated N5 million to Obaseki’s campaign. National Daily also learned that Momodu further promised to deliver 6,000 votes from the polling units within his constituency to Obaseki.

Oshiomhole had earlier laid ambush for Obaseki, poaching the governor’s appointees, which were attributed to the reported resignation of some political appointees from the state government and their defection from the PDP to the APC. The pendulum appears to be swinging in the opposite direction now. The former chairman’s men are beginning to voluntarily dump the APC for the PDP and supporting incumbent Governor Obaseki.

Moreover, National Daily gathered that the traditional ruler of Anwain Kingdom in Etsako East Local Government Area, Edo North, the Eramah Anwian, His Royal Majesty, Mufutairu Oare, has promised incumbent Governor Obaseki the support of the people in his kingdom. The royal father was said to have made the promise when Governor Obaseki visited his palace on Tuesday during the PDP campaign in the wards of the local government.

“Mr. Governor, we are assuring you that you are at home. This community road has been a disaster for over a thousand years until your intervention.

“We were cut off from Edo State until you gave us a good road that integrated us back as members of the state. We cannot forget such a gesture,” the royal father was cited to have declared. He affirmed that the time to compensate Obaseki for his good works have come.