The Executive Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki says the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole was broke before he became the governor.
He said this while speaking with reporters after he submitted his nomination and expression of interest forms for the 2020 governorship election to the APC national organising secretary Emma Ibediro on Wednesday.
Obaseki said those who accused him of betraying Oshiomhole were wrong.
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The governor said he played roles in making sure that Oshiomhole became the governor in 2007 and also helped in his emergence as the National Chairman of the party.
Obaseki said “In life, everybody gets helped, everybody gets assisted. The person you talked about (Oshiomhole), he had no money when he left labour to contest. We knew what we did to make him Governor.”
“I sacrificed eight years of my life pro bono, I collected no kobo to serve him in Edo. Today, we know what we have built because of where we started from. So, when you talk of betrayal, the biggest betrayal can be when people betray a cause when they betray an idea.
“So, when you talk about betrayal, let us be very clear. I want to put it on record that I am grateful, he assisted me just as I assisted him. I know the sacrifices we made to make him national chairman.”
Oshiomhole was a former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) who ran for governor on the platform of the Action Congress (AC) against the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Oserheimen Osunbor.
After losing to Osunbor, he challenged the outcome and was later declared the winner a year after.
NAIJA CENTER had reported on Wednesday that Obaseki warned his former boss to recuse himself from the Edo governorship primary election.
The governor stated that Oshiomhole is an interested party and should not have a say in the primary election process to promote fairness.
“I am using this opportunity to call on Comrade Oshiomhole to recuse himself from the Edo nomination process because he is an interested party,” Obaseki said.
“It is against natural justice for a man to be a judge in his own case. So I think the honourable thing to do is to recuse himself and let us have a free process and let us reconcile and build our party.
“I believe that ours is a lawful party and we will do things according to the Constitution of our party. So, direct or indirect, I am certain I will win the primaries but we have to respect our constitution and follow our constitution.”
Obaseki argued that a single term is not enough to consolidate on his achievement of four years.
“Three years is not enough, four years is not enough to crystalize all these reforms. So, another four years will give me that opportunity to consolidate on what we have done and that is the promise of APC. We are a reformist party, we are a progressive party,” he said.
“That is why I am here today to indicate my interest and my desire to run for another term as governor of Edo so that I can continue in the service of my people.”
The primary is scheduled to hold on June 22 2020 and Obaseki is likely to run against Osagie Ize-Iyamu who recently defected to the party and has been rumoured to be Oshiomhole’s favourite.
Obaseki had contested against Ize-Iyamu in 2016 when he ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
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