Edo: What Obaseki Needs To Win Under APC – Oshiomhole

Adams Oshiomhole has said that Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State needs a united All Progressives Congress (APC) to secure a second term in office.

Oshiomhole who is the National Chairman of the APC and Obaseki’s predecessor said a divided party will make it hard for the Edo leader to return in 2020.

According to him, what Obaseki needs to do is bring all aggrieved members of the APC in Edo State together.

He told Daily Trust that a “divided house cannot stand. And the house remains divided if we do not make conscious effort to bring everybody together.

“So, what I am doing is to encourage him and all our leaders to have an all-inclusive meeting of all APC leaders. Lock the door, speak truth to ourselves.

“What is simply happening is that there are people who think that their access to bread and butter will end if there is peace and so they encourage the governor wrongly.”

He added that, “I have had meetings before where I urged the governor to carry people along. Whether you like it or not, if there is one business where one tree cannot make a forest, it is politics.

“But do you think you will support him again as you did the first time? If we have this meeting of all the various tendencies within the APC and remind ourselves of what unites us, rather than what divides us working together wholeheartedly, everybody being given a sense of belonging, there is no reason why we cannot continue to defeat PDP and there is no reason why Obaseki cannot win election.”

Rift With Obaseki

Oshiomhole, has said that the rift between him and Obaseki is not about monetary gains.

According to Oshiomhole, his differences with his successor was all about issues relating to governance and not carrying political players and leaders in the party along.

Oshiomhole, during an interview with Channels Television, also denied not wanting to support Governor Obaseki to run for a second term, saying he has nothing to gain in doing so.

He added that at a meeting both politicians held with four governors, Obaseki confirmed that the APC chairman nominated only one out of over 20 commissioners into his cabinet.

The former governor noted that Obaseki later removed the commissioner he nominated along with seven others but he didn’t take any offense because he was out of government.

Oshiomhole had called Obaseki, his ‘brother’ despite reports insinuating that the two political leaders are not on good terms.

There was a reported face-off between Oshiomhole, who is the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and Obaseki, resulting in the factionalisation of the Edo State Assembly.

Speaking after receiving Obaseki, who led members of his cabinet to celebrate the Eid-el-Kabir festival with the APC leader at his Iyamoh residence in Estako West, Oshiomhole said that meeting Obaseki was not “unusual.”

It was learned that their meeting – a closed-door one – lasted for about an hour.

“From time to time, we have always been meeting. It is not an unusual visit, the meeting afforded me the opportunity to meet with my brother and with people I have worked with,” the former governor said, dismissing the aforementioned face-off.