Screening: Again, Obaseki’s credentials spark up crisis in PDP; members, candidates protest, hammer NWC

There’s no breather yet for Edo Gov. Godwin Obaseki even after he seduced the PDP National Working Committee to secure a waiver to contest the party primary whose screening ended weeks ago.

About the time the APC defector was going through screening, youth and women in the PDP sprang out yesterday—in protest against the waiver the party national headquarters granted him.

Protesting, the PDP Youths for Justice, in a statement by its coordinator, Musa Kadiri, worried how the party failed to reward loyalty, and, instead, is fishing for opportunities.

According to him, the three aspirants already screened before Obaseki hopped in – Ken Imasuagbon, Gideon Ikhine and Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama – are capable of defeating any candidate the APC would present.

Kadiri warned that the PDP might witness implosion if Obaseki got the ticket.

“We, the youths on ground in Edo know that the PDP has positioned itself to win the forthcoming gubernatorial election. We do not need Obaseki who is chased out of the APC based on questionable credentials,” he said.

Obaseki’s academic credentials and affidavit have become a problem that won’t disappear easily—plaguing his candidacy asfar back as 2016 when the PDP itself took him to court over the matter.

The PDP women wing in the Egor Local Government also insisted the party does not need Obaseki.

Mrs. Imuwahen Osasu said the election provided another opportunity to reward those that have been loyal to the party for over 12 years that the party has been out of power in the state.

Earlier, Imasuegbon, one of the aspirants, has vowed he will not take it sitting down if Obaseki arm-twists the party to get the ticket.