Ousted national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole has regretted supporting the governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki in 2016.
Addressing a motley crowd that gathered at his Iyamho country home in Etsako West local government area of Edo State yesterday, Oshiomhole said his mission was to ensure Obaseki’s trouncing at the polls on September 19.
“I have made a mistake by supporting a man who has no vision for my people. So, I want to correct my mistakes by making sure a servant of God, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, is elected as governor and kick the snake out of the government house.
“From now till September 19, I am here in Edo State because a political lion that I am, I am not scared of anything,” he said.
Oshiomhole who in 2016 denigrated Ize-Iyamu and alleged that he bathed his fellow student with acid when he was a student at the University of Benin said he (Oshiomhole) and Ize-Iyamu (who is now the candidate of the All Progressives Congress) had signed a memorandum of understanding to ensure Obaseki does noes not return to Osadebe House.
“He campaigned for me in 2012 and I won all the 18 local government areas of Edo State. He knows the roots unlike the current governor, who just became governor and does not know the efforts people made to make him governor. We will kick out this MoU governor and replace him with a pastor who will sweep out the coronavirus party by the grace of God.”
He added that his preoccupation was to see the state returning to the path of development.
“Now the snake that enters our family home, God has driven the snake to where he belongs.
“I have come home to join you and start the process of reclaiming the house back to the family of APC. And if the people say, yes, and God says yes, there is no man born of a woman that can say no.
“So, now I have only one mission and I know it is our common mission: to bring Edo back to the part of sustainable development. “We want to return to the government of the people by the people and for the people,” he added.
Oshiomhole accused Obaseki of highhandedness against APC members in the state.
“The governor was demolishing the houses of our members while some were being jailed for trump-up charges; these are the people who fought for him to become governor.
“I even pleaded with those who were being persecuted to take it easy, that they shouldn’t burn the house we all laboured to build because they wanted to smoke out the snake. But now, the snake has been smoked out of the house.”
He said the campaign would be easy because there were visible projects the APC would use to campaign, unlike the incumbent who had been busy signing MoUs.
In his reaction, Obaseki said he had no regrets resisting to be Oshiomhole’s lackey.
He said the embattled erstwhile APC chairman was unhappy with him because of his refusal to allow him to have a third term by proxy.
The governor, in a statement by his special adviser on media and communication strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, said the Oshiomhole was disappointed because the governor refused to be used in his (Oshiomhole’s) quest to become a godfather in the state.
The statement described the Oshiomhole’s adverse comments as just an expression of his frustration over his failure to achieve his goal to govern the state for a third term using Obaseki as a proxy.
“In 2016 when Oshiomhole nominated and supported Obaseki; his hidden motive was to use Governor Obaseki who he thought would be a pawn in his game to defraud Edo people and enthrone himself as the ultimate godfather of Edo politics at the expense of the will and wishes of Edo people,”
He said Obaseki’s refusal to mortgage the interest of the majority of Edo people for Oshiomhole’s satisfaction was at the root of the ongoing hostility.
“If Oshiomhole had made any mistake in supporting Obaseki in 2016, it is to the extent that he thought that the governor will submit himself as a tool to be used to hold the collective will and best interest of all Edo people hostage and for this Obaseki owes Oshiomhole no apologies because the interest of Edo people is and will always be greater than the interest of one man,” he added.
