Edo boils: Party leaders warn Obaseki, PDP is not APC

The ambition of Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State to take over the hegemony of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the founding members has set the state on fire. PDP leaders agitate that Governor Obaseki was given the party’s governorship ticket on a platter of gold after his political quagmire with former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, who used the APC structure to frustrate Obaseki out of the governorship primary of the party, yet, he still wants the soul of the party. They berated the Edo governor for “trying to illegally take the soul of a party which accommodated him and his followers who were tossed out of APC when they noticed he was an ungrateful human being.”

The PDP leaders challenged Governor Obaseki over his inordinate ambition  towards illegal dissolution of the PDP executives after he joined the party as a defector from the APC. They challenged Obaseki to concentrate on the insecurity and development crisis in the state.

They, however, acknowledged that the purchase of 17 refurbished Sienna vehicles ‘running into billions of Naira from the security votes he gets monthly’; noting, however, that some states are buying armoured vehicles to complement the federal government’s security provisions.

The PDP leaders chided Obaseki for dissipating energy on the party’s state executive when all state institutions are being shut down. They further berated the governor
for making a law to take over Ambrose Alli University under the guise that the institution is in crisis, then, appointed his stooges as the sole administrator.

They challenged Obaseki if the PDP state executive is his main problem while infrastructures in Edo State are decayed across the state. They referred Governor Obaseki to secondary schools and hospitals in Edo State where there are no government teachers and resident doctors. They added that the buildings are derelict.

The PDP leaders decried that Governor Obaseki destroyed the APC in Edo State which wrongly offered him ticket against all odds to become governor, “now, Obaseki is desperate to destroy PDP who also offered him governorship ticket, while negotiating and encouraging PDP aspirants to step down for him, after his defection from the APC.

They accused Governor Obaseki of showing ingratitude to Edo PDP leaders.

They admonished the governor that the strategy that has been working for him cannot work in the PDP, noting that it may lead him to political tragedy.

PDP leaders noted: “the governor would recruit some party leaders to help him step up. When he is there, he burns the ladder with which he climbed and discards those who had helped him.

“He then employs new members to help him climb to the next level. “While employing the new members, he demeans the old members by casting aspersions on them to the unsuspecting public and the new recruits.

“That is his strategy.”

They noted that after Obaseki had used the APC ticket to become governor, he went to town to destroy the characters of the party members, claiming “he was asked to share the state’s money.” “Till date, he never pointed to those who asked him.

“He was successful in piquing the public against the party members and the Edo State people saw them as public enemies,” the PDP leaders declared.

They questioned what Governor Obaseki did with the Edo State government fund in his first tenure of four years.

They alerted the Edo people that Obaseki “has brought that ‘pull them down syndrome’ to PDP;” simply for the reason that  “he is keen on taking over the structure of the party forcefully and illegally.”

They emphasized that the governor has started peddling sick narratives that he bought the ticket, so he should be given the PDP structure.

“The Edo State people won’t buy into these lies this time. Stories told very often normally get stale. His story is stale,” the party leaders declared.

They declared “Governor Obaseki cannot take over the PDP  under any guise, with his ‘pepper dem oh’ deputy governor, who is as intellectually empty as a coin. Let him assemble all the Dokpesis, Ogiadomeh and co, who don’t win elections in their constituencies to take over PDP, it will fail. He should know PDP is not APC. PDP is a constitutional party.”