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| Edo Governor Godwin Obaseki |
Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State have reiterated their support for the second term bid of Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu.
The leaders dismissed reports credited to Ward 3 chairman, Raymond Osumah, that all APC Ward Chairman in the locality did not endorse Obaseki.
A former lawmaker in the House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku, said only three chairmen do not support Obaseki but others are driving the Obaseki/Shaibu project.
He said: โAPC Owan West is with Obaseki. I and other leaders are supporting Obaseki. The coming back of Obaseki is a task that must be accomplished. It is sacrosanct. Any individual saying rubbish in the papers means nothing to us. In my area, we have good roads; our schools are being renovated so we are with Obaseki based on what he has done.
โThose opposed to the second term of Obaseki are enemies of the government. They should drop their witchcraft mind and let the heart of God go into them to see Obasekiโs project as a sincere project so we can continue to have more development in our area.โ
Ward 2 chairman Aroye Lucky said Osumahโs statements were wrong as there was no time the 11 ward chairmen asked him to speak on their behalf.
He said: โI saw the report that Owan West did not endorse Obaseki. That is a lie. You do not use one interview to generalise the entire local government. APC is one big family in Owan West.
โThere was no time the 11 ward chairman said they did not endorse Obaseki. I am not part of that report. We are fully in support of Obaseki.โ
Chairman of Owan West Ilaboya Frank said the second term of Obaseki was non-negotiable.
โIt is my duty to talk to the party structure and I have been doing that. We the leaders of APC are behind Obaseki. I have been having meetings with stakeholders; I invited the chairmen and they told me there is no problem. No sooner had we taken that report that other people started threatening some of them.
โThis project is what we have to drive. I have no apology for calling anybody. If one chairman spoke because he was threatened that is their headache,โ he said.
The governor has sacked local government political appointees.
Those affected are Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants, Secretary to Local Government and Supervisory Councillors.
The sacking was contained in a three paragraph letter.
It was gathered that the sack was to affect only those in Edo North but was later changed to the 18 councils.
One of the affected appointees in Owan East, Godwin Imoudu, said he received his letter.
Earlier in the month, Obaseki sacked over 300 appointees and also suspended four council chairmen โ Eghe Ogbemudia (Egor); Patrick Aguinede (Esan West); Yakson Musa (Etsako West) and Aremiyau Momoh (Etsako East) โ for alleged corruption.
