…blames former governor for Edo APC crisis, others
By Calista Amanze
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State and former Political Adviser to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Mr Charles Idahosa, has called for the resignation of his former boss from the position of the National Chairman of APC.
Idahosa, who was Political Adviser to Oshiomhole while the latter served as Edo State governor, noted that Oshiomhole was desecrating the temple of democracy by sponsoring anti-democratic practices.
During a press conference in Benin City, the Edo State capital, he said, “We are all not very happy with what is happening in Edo State today, especially with the political division and the confusion. This is a situation in which we ought to be very happy; it is so strange.
“It is like a tragi-comedy with what is happening. We have a governor who was brought up by a political party and the people out there are very happy and commending this governor for working so hard. He is very popular and you will attest to that but the problem is with the leadership of the party.
“While the voters are very excited, the people who brought him into power are not happy with him because, according to them, he is not carrying them along.”
On the crisis rocking the APC in Edo State, he said that the governor has repeatedly told leaders of the party that he has no issue with the national chairman, adding, “But the National Chairman, Oshiomhole, has refused to say ‘I did not send anybody to form any group against the governor. I have no problem with the governor. Silence means consent. Why has he not said a word. It is a matter of simply saying, ‘I sent them or I did not send them.'”
He said that the disagreement has snowballed into the House of Assembly imbroglio, stating, “I make bold to say that Adams Oshiomhole is responsible for the problem of the APC in Edo State today by his silence and people like us know that these boys on the streets are his boys. I am not his boy because we are contemporaries. Adams Oshiomhole’s refusal to speak means he is supporting them because I do not see anything wrong for him to come out and say he did or did not send them.”
According to the APC chieftain, Oshiomhole is to be blamed for all the crisis in the Edo State APC. He has created division in Edo APC.
He said that during Oshiomhole’s eight-year term, he was the leader of the party and we all referred to him as our leader. How come he is finding it so difficult to allow Governor Godwin Obaseki to superintend over his space as our leader in Edo State?” he queried.
“In any superior democracy, any civilized society, you came in as a national chairman, you lost five states in your first outing. How can we lose Oyo State? The heart of old Western Region. We lost Rivers. The bucks stop on your table, you are the chairman. In a decent society, he should resign. He shouldn’t wait for anybody to tell him. You lost five states. Today we have no foothold in the South East.”
Idahosa decried the unilateral disposition of the national chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, in decision-taking process on strategic issues concerning the party.
He chronicled the antics of Oshiomhole since his appearance in the political landscape, pointing out that the former governor has always believed in suppressing the ideas of others.
He wondered why Oshiomhole has refused to react to claims that there is a rift between him and Edo State governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, which the governor however denied, pointing out that silence is consent.
The APC leader explained that no past governor ever intruded in the activities of Oshiomhole and advised him to allow Governor Godwin Obaseki to continue in his desire to deliver the dividends of democracy to Edo people who voted for him.
While recalling with nostalgia uncomplimentary remarks by Oshiomhole on prominent sons of Bini extraction like the Esama of Benin, Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, his son, Lucky Igbinedion, who is former governor of the state, the late Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, among others, Idahosa said that it was high time the Binis worked together to avoid re-occurrence and put the Binis in the position that rightly fits them.
He stressed the need for the leaders of the All Progressives Congress to check what he called the unbecoming attitude of Oshimhole to protect the party from disintegration.
He traced the loss of many states to the People’s Democratic Party to the leadership style of the national chairman of the APC, maintaining that if this is not urgently checked, it may infiltrate into Edo State.
Idahosa averred that Governor Godwin Obaseki has impacted positively on the socio-economic wellbeing of all Edo people and deserves another four years in office.
He urged the Binis as majority tribe to maintain leadership as governor of the state.