Edo APC Crisis: My relationship with Oshiomhole still frosty, says Obaseki

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Edo Governor Godwin Obaseki has said the relationship with his predecessor and National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, remained frosty.

The Governor, who spoke to State House Correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House on Monday, however, assured that he was willing to do anything lawful to ‘buy peace’ and stave bloodbath away from his state.

Obaseki, who visited the President to intimate him of his intentions to run for the office of Governor again, also said he had the full support of other Governors on the platform of the All Progressives Congress(APC), adding it was a principle of the party’s governors’ forum to rally round an incumbent who desired to return to office, especially when such a person had a good scorecard.

Speaking about the frosty relationship between himself and his predecessor, Comrade Oshiomhole, Obaseki said the party chairman had stuck to his guns because he had been wrongly guided.

“The problem in Edo is not from within Edo, it is from outside. So the person I am competing or contesting against is not in Edo, he is Abuja.

“It is unfortunate that he’s taken the position he has taken. I believe that he was not properly guided and as Governor and his governor and it’s my responsibility to seek peace for my state and with all my citizens.

“I will continue to strive for peace, I’ll continue to pursue peace, seek the interest of our people. I’m open, I will always call that we should talk about how to move things forward. We cannot turn back the hands of the clock. So there’s certain things we just must accept and see how we can move forward and build on, where we are.

“So the relationship is still frosty. I’m doing all I can, doing my best to try and make it warm, just for the sake of Edo people. Whatever it will take to have peace, you know, whatever it will take not to lose lives in Edo, I am committed to,” he said.

Asked how far he was willing to go to find peace with Oshiomhole, the Governor said: “Whatever I can do that is within the Law, whatever I can do that is constitutional, I will do”.

Speaking further, the Governor said his works in various sectors of the state would speak for him in the coming election, adding that the people would want him to conclude most of the programme and policies his administration had initiated for their benefit.

“Well, I believe having been governor of the state for three years and the jury’s out, you can check with Edo people whether as Governor, I have served creditably, I have served the people of Edo.

“The general consensus is that we have done well as a government and that people would like us to continue with the laudable programs and policies which we have been taking over in the last three years.

“If you recall when I got into power as governor one thing Edo was noted for was human trafficking. We had over 30,000 of Edo citizens, who were at Libya waiting to cross into Europe. Today in less than 3 years we have stopped it.

“We’re celebrated globally, across the continent in terms of the reforms we’ve undertaken in basic education in this country.

“Those children, I can’t abandon them. We can’t stop what we have achieved to date. So based on that, we believe that because of a connection which we have created with our people, we have no doubt in our minds that we’ll win any elections, direct/indirect, general elections in Edo state”, he said.

The Governor also said over 300,000 of the Edo indigenes have been screen for COVID-19 out of the 500,000-target set by the state government.

The Governor assured citizens of the state that he has vowed to ensure that the killers of the 100-level student of the University of Benin, Uwaila Omozuwa, are tracked and brought to justice, describing the crime as heinous.