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Tag: Obaseki

  • Obaseki’s Beaten Path to Electoral Disgrace

    Obaseki’s Beaten Path to Electoral Disgrace

    By Ufuoma Thomas

    History has a cynical way of repeating itself. A few months to the 2018 governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Lagos State, it had become crystal-clear to former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode that the party was not keen on returning him for a second term.

    The party was unequivocal in its stance that Ambode had towed the path of dishonour by abandoning an otherwise flourishing and effective Lagos developmental blueprint but running a one-man show in government.

    Indeed, at the time, Lagos had virtually retrogressed to its pre-1999 days, when humans jostled – breath to breath – with mountainous heaps of refuse for space on the streets; traffic was chaotic and virtually all the roads in the state had become deplorable. Crime and insecurity were pervasive and the people lived in constant fear.

    Ambode had lost his marbles and Lagos was no longer working but he was adamant on a second term. Yet, a negligible section of
    the populace was still sympathetic to him. They believed, rather that, he was being unfairly treated by his godfathers, and party leaders, until that Sunday afternoon in late September 2018.

    He had called a press conference to speak on the forthcoming primary election and other topical issues in the state. The media had congregated on the lawn of the Governor’s Office, Alausa – a typical American tradition. Without much formality, Ambode burrowed into his prepared speech and it read smoothly until he segued into spilling dirt about his major contender, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

    He told a bewildered populace on a live television that Sanwo-Olu did not have the mental capacity to run Lagos, because he previously underwent treatment for mental health challenges and challenged curious residents to proceed to Gbagada General Hospital to obtain the records by themselves.

    Until he decided to contest for the governorship seat, Sanwo-Olu was an appointee of Ambode as General Manager of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation.
    Ambode also stated that Sanwo-Olu had a criminal case in the United States of America for spending counterfeit notes in an American club. If Lagosians were shocked, Ambode’s aides, who were privy to the original script, were mortified. That wilful resort to personal attacks and character assassination was not part of the script, some of them confided in close associates. His fate was sealed therefrom.
    Even after leaving office, Lagosians never forgave him. For a governor, who also started pretty well, succeeding the iconic Babatunde Raji Fashola, Ambode decided to go rogue, dismantling structures and processes laid by his predecessors to the detriment of the people of Lagos State. It is so bad now that his name has become a euphemism for regressive politics.
    Alas, it is this same pathway to political and electoral hara-kiri that Obaseki has chosen to tow, warts and all, forgetting that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it as the guinea pigs of history.
    Ordinarily, by now, he should be on the home run, with his catalogue of achievements enough to earn him a second term rather, his sordid stewardship continues to haunt him and dog his electioneering.
    More perplexing is that his Make Edo Great Again MEGA slogan is an appropriation, showing lack of ingenuity and perspicacity, of American President, Donald Trump’s campaign slogan four years ago. Obaseki had four years to make Edo greater but he frittered the opportunity away on the altar of paranoia and power-drunkenness, electing to fight rather than work with party leaders and state stakeholders.
    Whilst he hasn’t publicly described his opponent in the September 19th governorship election in unsavoury terms, his proxies are out in full force with their puerile and purblind propaganda.
    Days back, a news report surfaced on social media claiming that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was HIV positive.
    A phantom test result to that effect also made the rounds while one Dr. Lizzy Oghenerume, purportedly an official of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), where Ize-Iyamu’s wife, Prof. Idia Ize-Iyamu, is a Consultant Orthodontist, has claimed that she had been diverting anti-retroviral drugs “meant for poor people who have the disease in the state to her husband to keep him alive, so it is no news that the APC candidate has the disease.”
    The Ize-Iyamus have graciously ignored the so-called Oghenerume and her repellent and reprehensible tales in the understanding that if she truly existed, she was just a pawn in the hands of Obaseki and his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, acolytes.
    These are, indeed, desperate times for Obaseki, who is staring defeat in the face and like a drowning man, is clutching at everything in sight to stay afloat. Unfortunately, for him, and his cheerleaders, this is a lost cause. Edo State indigenes have their minds made up on a change of government and Pastor Ize-Iyamu ticks all the boxes in what they desire in a candidate.
    So, no matter how much mud is splattered the APC candidate’s way, the people can decipher the truth. Even Obaseki’s immediate family members know the truth; they have seen the light and have unanimously declared that it is either Pastor Ize-Iyamu or nobody.
    So, Obaseki deserves pity. The ringing endorsement of his opponent by his relatives further underscores this. At Ize-Iyamu’s private residence in Benin City recently, some of the governor’s relatives led by his first cousin, Victor Obaseki, admitted that although the governor was their kin, he would not get the support of the family.
    Victor stated: “I am here today in the company of my cousins to support Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, the executive governor, is our cousin. Generally, the Obasekis have their way of doing things. We are a different branch of faith. We are supporting our brother, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, with unalloyed support fully for him. I have supported him before, and I would continue to support him. We would do all our campaigns for him without let or hindrance, fully from the bottom of our hearts.”
    Following suit was the Deputy Speaker of the Edo House of Assembly and member representing Akoko-Edo Constituency I, Hon. Yekini Idiaye alongside four other members of the Assembly, who pledged their support to Pastor Ize-Iyamu, bringing the number of elected members, who have done likewise in the Edo Assembly to 17.
    Barely 48hours after declaring his support, Idiaye was impeached by the Assembly, a sad testament of Obaseki’s intolerance and imprudence that have blighted his administration and which would ultimately cost him the election. No doubt, the September 19 election is already lost and won. Congratulations to Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu!

    *Thomas, a public affairs analyst, wrote in from Benin City, Edo State

  • (Video) Obaseki’s supporters storm House of Assembly, protest invasion by security operatives

    (Video) Obaseki’s supporters storm House of Assembly, protest invasion by security operatives

    ALSO READ: PDP begs IGP to stop invasion of Edo Assembly

    The crisis that has engulfed the Edo State House of Assembly took another turn on Thursday after loyalists of Governor Godwin Obaseki stormed the premises of the assembly’s complex in protest of a forceful takeover by security agencies.

    Watch video:

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports security agencies, believed to be drafted from Abuja, on Thursday, stormed the Edo Assembly complex to provide security cover to 17 lawmakers loyal to All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

    The move, TNG gathered, which was to allow fresh inauguration of the APC loyalists, and the impeachment of the Speaker, Frank Okiye; the Governor and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, was however foiled when Obaseki, Shaibu and supporters stormed the complex.

  • Obaseki redeploys aide for ’embarrassing’ him at Oba’s palace

    Obaseki redeploys aide for ’embarrassing’ him at Oba’s palace

    Governor Godwin Obaseki has ordered the redeployment of his Director of Protocol (DoP), Government House, Benin, Aisagbon Osayande, to the Ministry of Culture and Diaspora Affairs.

    He was replaced by Mosis Obakpolor of the same ministry.

    The redeployment followed the July 25 embarrassment suffered by Obaseki and other Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) leaders, who came to Edo for the kick-off of the governor’s campaign.

    They visited the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, but the customary kolanut and gin, usually brought by guests for royal blessings, were not brought by Obaseki and his aides.

    The PDP chieftains were embarrassed when the first-class monarch asked for kolanut and gin to offer prayers for the visitors to have a successful electioneering, but none was provided.

  • Obaseki’s Exasperating Desperation

    By John Amenaghawon

    Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki’s recent recourse to threats of retaliating violence against his perceived political opponents is rather unbecoming of someone occupying an exalted office as the governor and whose primary responsibility is to protect lives and property.

    By many of his actions, outgoing Governor Obaseki has shown very poor temperaments that are not gentlemanly enough for his current job, the latest being his threat to resort to violence if his perceived political opponents perpetrated violence any.

    Though some news media reported that the governor issued warning to perpetrators of violence, however, watching the governor’s statement on national television it was obvious that instead he threw caution to the wind while he vowed to unleash violence in retaliation for violence.

    Governor Obaseki’s words were clear. “Nobody has monopoly of violence. If they want violence, we will show them violence. So, if you see anybody smashing any car because my poster is on the car, let us know and we will show that person that we are in government,” he said.

    He did not stop at that, the governor indicated that his response would be lawless but even at that he would be protected by the immunity that exempts state executive and their deputies from facing the legal consequences of their actions while still in office.

    “We will show that we are in government and I am governor and Philip is the deputy governor. We will show them we are the only two, who have immunity in this state. We are the only two today, who have immunity and I am sending a very clear warning,” Obaseki further explained.

    The signal the governor sent was that he could use state apparatus to retaliate violence. But that is wrong! As a governor, he is the Chief Security Officer and as such, must not be seen to be perpetrating or encouraging violence for whatever reason. Rather, he is expected to take all necessary actions to move against anyone instigating violence.

    By his statement, Governor Obaseki ran foul of Section 12(2b) of the Nigerian constitution, which provides that security and welfare of the citizenry is the basic purpose of government. So, referring to the president as Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces and governors as Chief Security Officer is not by choice. It is a constitutional responsibility to which they swore an oath to uphold.

    The governor’s utterances have continued to elicit responses and increase tension. He has been at loggerheads with his predecessor, Comrade Adams Oshiohmole, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a cross section of Nigerians, who had already taken to their social media accounts to castigate him for stooping so low in his desperation to return for a second term.

    Speaking against the backdrop of the fracas between the governor’s supporters and his party supporters recently at the palace of the Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, the former APC national chairman said the governor should have selected better words to quell possibility for violence and not elect to stoke it by his uncouth statement.

    “If they want violence, we will give them violence, a leader does not talk like that. All he should say is that those merchants of violence I am pleading with them whether they are in my party or in another party they should take it easy. When a leader on live television says we will give them violence, fire for fire…” Oshiomhole said, noting with disdain that the governor should have been a peacemaker.

    The APC Campaign Organisation for the Edo State governorship election, which has maintained that the governor was up to no good and that he plans to unleash violence on it members, described Governor Obaseki as a confused man, who is only speaking out the criminal plans he and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are hoping to executive before, during and after the election.

    The party said the governor and his party, the PDP are aware they had been rejected by the people of Edo State.

    The APC explained that it was the only party campaigning on its documented manifesto, because its sole strategy to win the election is by winning the hearts and the goodwill of the people through well thought-out programmes and policies that will bring relief and erase the failures of the past four years.

    Former media aide to the governor, who is presently the APC Campaign Organisation spokesperson, Prince John Mayaki, said: “Despite spending four years in office, Obaseki has neither achievements nor plans to show. He is campaigning largely on empty rhetoric, revisionism, and shameful blackmail and propaganda.

    “Election may be weeks away, but the truth has finally dawned on Obaseki. He is on his way to a sound, comprehensive defeat so like all failures, he is already preparing the grounds for his defeat with false, ridiculous accusations.”

    Meanwhile in the fallout of the violent exchanges outside the Oba’s palace, Vice Chairman, Media and Publicity Committee of the APC Campaign Council, Mr. Patrick Obahiagbon, raised the alarm, alleging that the governor has sinister motives towards Oshiomhole and a business mogul, Captain Idahosa Okunbo.

    Obahiagbon claimed that after the palace incident, APC supporters were attacked on the streets of Benin, saying it was “unacceptable to us as a party. How long more can we persuade our teeming party loyalists to hold back?”

    The former House of Representatives member, who said the opposition PDP unleashed terror on the citizenry by enlisting the support of renowned cultists in Benin, further alleged that Obaseki is working on plans to arrest the duo of Oshiomhole, Okunbo and other APC leaders on the eve of the election for not supporting him. He also claimed that there was a plan to set Okunbo’s farm on fire.

    “The PDP and the governor were planning to arrest and detain the former National Chairman of the APC Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on the eve of the election and also set fire on the farm of billionaire businessman, Captain Hosa Okunbo for refusing to back the second-term agenda.

    “Obaseki is planning to continue his persecution of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole with trumped-up and inconsequential charges at the eleventh hour of electoral politics. His plan is to arraign Oshiomhole for a probe that has been revealed as nothing but a targeted political witch-hunt and then deny him bail on eve of election to paralyse the APC.

    “He is planning to use COVID-19 as a ruse to neutralise grassroots leaders of our party, the APC on the eve of the gubernatorial election by abducting and detaining them in isolation centers. This way, disenfranchising them and forestalling the political force they would deliver in pursuant of APC’s victory,” Obahiagbon alleged.

    Everyone in the governor’s camp who is familiar with some of his major mistakes would agree that apart from setting out to wage a protracted war against his predecessor, his attack on Captain Okunbo is perhaps another major mistake he made in his quest to return to power in the September 19 election.

    Though the governor is not without one or two of his supporters cheering him up on his violence agenda, his handlers should be smart to enough to evaluate the negative public opinion that trailed his unfortunate and irreversible commentary on the social media.

    A France-based Nigerian scientist, Mr. Oshinubi Kayode wrote: “I just watched ObaGone (Obaseki) on Channels News saying, ‘if they want violence, we will give them violence’. This is coming from a sitting governor and number one leader of Edo State. His handlers should let him know it is a reckless statement. He will lose this election and heaven won’t fall!”

    A public affairs analyst, Christopher Sunny was of the opinion that “Obaseki doesn’t know anything about politics and it’s late to start learning. From what is happening now, and for the real and verifiable fact that Oshiomhole alone has won over the voters to the APC candidate, Obaseki now speaks like a frustrated person. He’s lost already.”

    For Tunde Olamide, who said he previously has some degree of sympathy for the governor, his position that he would match anybody violence for violence, deprived him of that support.

    “I had sympathy for him going into this election, but that was a reckless and irresponsible statement coming from the Chief Security Officer of the state,” Olamide stated.

    Kelechi Onyeaka was particularly appalled that rather than issuing threats, he should be convincing the electorate on his policy statements and realisable campaign promises.

    “These are some of those issues. No policy informed debate. This has become a norm among those vying for elective offices. No plan for post COVID-19, economic recovery, security and education,” he said.

    Soji Oladejo, who is an advocate for good governance said: “When I heard him say that, and the way he looked charged and aggravated, I knew he had lost it. Completely reckless and a grossly irresponsible thing to say by a sitting governor.”

    Judging from the governor’s utterance, Kalita Aruku feared that Nigeria might not be ripe with state police yet despite the advocacy by many Nigerians, noting, “You can imagine! Those are the characters we want to give state police to?”

    Whatever are the governor’s arguments he should not be carried away with so much rage as to throwing caution into the wind! His ambition is not worth anybody’s life. He could take a cue from a former president of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who saw defeat and bowed out honourably rather attempting to force himself on the country thereby provoking violence and avoidable bloodshed.

    *Amenaghawon wrote from Owerri in Imo State

  • Edo 2020: My deputy, others free to back Ize-Iyamu – Speaker

    Edo 2020: My deputy, others free to back Ize-Iyamu – Speaker

    The Speaker of Edo House of Assembly, Francis Okiye, on Tuesday said there was nothing unusual about the lawmakers backing the candidates of their choice for the Sept. 19 governorship poll in the state.

    Okiye was reacting to the Monday endorsement of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Osgie Ize-Iyamu, by the Deputy Speaker, Yekini Idiaye, and two other members of the house.

    The speaker in a statement he signed and made available to newsmen in Benin said: “It is imperative to state the actual position of things in Edo House of Assembly right now.

    “It is not unusual for legislators and indeed politicians to engage in political re-alignments in this part of democracy like in Nigeria.

    “That the Deputy Speaker and 2 other lawmakers chose to support the APC governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, is within their constitutional right,” he said.

    According the speaker, the lawmakers said they merely declined moving to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and chose to to work for the candidate of their party, the APC.

    Okiye stated that the three lawmakers still remained members and part of the 10 lawmakers in the Edo house of assembly.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the house had declared vacant, the seats of the 14 members of the house who were not sworn in, following the crisis that had bedeviled the house for years.

  • Obaseki: An ugly glimpse of what to come

    Obaseki: An ugly glimpse of what to come

    Yusuf Biliaminu

    The re-election campaigns of Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, and his new political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recently suffered a major setback, when they were totally disgraced penultimate week outside the Palace of the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II.

    The governor’s convoy was blocked. The angry residents numbering hundreds booed and jeered at him and his guests. They called him various derogatory names, particularly “thief.” It degenerated into violence, scores were injured and properties vandalised.

    That development did not go down well with the governor and the PDP and has generated different reactions from both parties, because of the potential implications it has on the governor’s political fortunes. The direct interpretation of the incident could that he had been rejected by the people and that his defeat is not just imminent, but would be overwhelming.

    Not anybody could fathom that level of outrage outside the Benin palace against an incumbent governor and the implications are huge. For one, if it was just the youth, who reacted like that, they had sent a clear signal to the Oba that they weere done with Obaseki.

    The reason was simply because in Edo State, the Oba of Benin is well respected in political decisions and a politician, who does not have the backing of the palace would find it very difficult, if not impossible to garner the support of the people.

    The PDP claimed that the APC sponsored the attack and that the grand plan was to eliminate the entire opposition leadership, because Obaseki had the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, members of the PDP National Working Commissttee (NWC), Governor Neysome Wike (Rivers State), Governor Ifeanyi Okowo (Delta State), Governor Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto State), Governor Seyi Makinde (Oyo State) and other notable leaders with him.

    Earlier, at a press conference, the APC had pointed fingers at Governor Obaseki over the violent incidence at the Oba’s palace. The Vice Chairman, Media and Publicity Committee of the APC Campaign Council, Mr. Patrick Obahiagbon, specifically blamed the clash on the PDP.

    He alleged that the governor resorted to violence, because the duo of former governor and former National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and business mogul, who his government had been victimising for fear that he was planning to pick the APC governorship ticket, Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo.

    Obahiagbon stated that after the palace incidence, APC supporters were accosted and attacked on the street of Benin, stressing that it is “unacceptable to us as a party. How long more can we persuade our teeming party loyalists to hold back?”

    The former House of Representatives member, who said the opposition PDP unleashed terror on the citizenry by enlisting the support of renowned cultists in Benin, further alleged that Obaseki is working on plans to arrest the duo of Oshiomhole, Okunbo and other APC leaders on the eve of the election for not supporting him. He also claimed that there was a plan to set Okunbo’s farm on fire.

    “The PDP and the governor were planning to arrest and detain the former National Chairman of the APC Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on the eve of the election and also set fire on the farm of billionaire businessman, Captain Hosa Okunbo for refusing to back the second-term agenda.

    “Obaseki is planning to continue his persecution of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole with trumped-up and inconsequential charges at the eleventh hour of electoral politics. His plan is to arraign Oshiomhole for a probe that has been revealed as nothing but a targeted political witch-hunt and then deny him bail on the eve of election to paralyse the APC.

    “He is planning to use COVID-19 as a ruse to neuter grassroots leaders of our party, the APC on the eve of the gubernatorial election by abducting and detaining them in isolation center. This way, disenfranchising them and forestalling the political force they would deliver in pursuant of APC’s victory,” Obahiagbon alleged.

    Not unmindful of the attacks on him just on the ground of assumption that he was the preferred candidate for the governorship and his perceived support for the APC candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Okunbo was quick to state that he had no hand in the embarrassment the governor faced at the palace.

    He said: “I condemn the booing of the governor and the PDP team, and the reprisal attack. I am particularly pained that some ungodly insinuations in some quarters have linked me with the unfortunate saga.”

    But away from all the rhetoric, the governor’s goodwill is fast dwindling among the people and so also is his political fortunes.

    In 2016, his cousin, Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki categorically urged the people not to vote for him. He didn’t stop at that, he stepped down his ambition and endorsed Ize-Iyamu of the PDP then on the ground that he was the “best candidate” for the election.

    “I will rather support Pastor Ize-Iyamu, who represents the collective aspiration of Edo people than support Godwin Obaseki, who is being promoted by external political and economic investors,” Obaseki stated in 2016.

    Talking about making a choice between Ize-Iyamu and Obaseki, his first cousins said: “Osagie is actually an uncle and Godwin is a cousin, so both of them are family. But it is not the family I am looking at because I can no longer wish Edo State based on family filiations; I cannot because someone is my brother because we answered the same name wished away the collective patrimony of the entire Edo nation.

    “You don’t need to be told I am a very convinced young man, I have come to praising my conviction even as a young boy, when we were fighting as a CLO Director, running radio Kudirat and in Godwin I would not lie, I see nothing that represents my vision to change Edo State.”

    The APC candidate, Ize-Iyamu, also feels there are enough reasons why the people don’t want the governor to have a second term. In a recent interview, he said contrary to claims that Obaseki has been a performing governor, who is hated by a political godfather that is mad at him because he was not allowing the access to the state’s purse, but identified several factors that made the governor ineligible for a second term.

    “They say we have a technocrat as a governor. How can you have a governor, who didn’t pass his school certificate? How was he able to enter university with three credits and none of them were English and Maths? He is always talking about godfather. Who is the godfather? This is the governor, who increased security votes of the state from N6bn to N7.5bn. The money goes to him.

    The APC governorship hopeful said Governor Obaseki is not getting the people’s support, because he has not made good his campaign promises in the education, security and health sectors, and that despite all accolades he receives for his major achievements in the education sector, Edo Best, he did not employ teachers throughout his first term of office.

    While he continues to appeal to his supporters not resort to violence, Ize-Iyamu has repeatedly assured the people of the state that given the opportunity to lead, he would ensure that the people experience economic growth and infrastructure development.

    Thus, from the orchestrated show that held outside the palace of the Oba’s place to the much anticipated election of September 19th, it is evident that the battle is already a lost for Obaseki and that indeed, the governor’s defeat would come handy as a critical lesson in poor and vindictive leadership. Importantly, re-electing Obaseki coud mean rewarding treachery, betrayal and ingratitude.

    *Biliaminu wrote from Kaduna

  • Edo 202: Agbaje, Lawmaker loyal to Obaseki backs Ize-Iyamu

    Edo 202: Agbaje, Lawmaker loyal to Obaseki backs Ize-Iyamu

    Ahead of the September 19 governorship election in Edo State, the lawmaker representing Akoko-Edo II constituency and loyalists of Governor Godwin Obaseki, Hon. Emmanuel Agbaje, has dumped the governor for All Progressive Congress, APC candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

    He apologised to his constituent for his inability to meet his political obligations under the present administration of Governor Obaseki.

    Agbaje is one of the 10 lawmakers that have been sitting since the controversial inauguration of the state assembly last year July.

    Addressing his supporters in Igarra over the weekend, Agbaje said the current system as being operated was strangulating them as lawmakers

    He said: “The only time I can remember that I was a true House of Assembly member was the first one year and five months and that was when Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was governor.

    “In that one year and five months Adams Oshiomhole approved our constituency projects. I sited one in Ward One, I sited a second one in ward 8, Enwan Mixed Grammar school, I sited another in Ososo Secondary school. These projects are all there uncompleted. Oshiomhole mobilised the contractors with 50 per cent of the value of the contracts and that is where the job has stopped till today. Since then, for the past four years we have been begging for those jobs to be completed even when we have not got new ones, is that fair?”

    Continuing, Agbaje said, “Today, I am pained because I have wasted years in the House of Assembly without being able to deliver on my campaign promises to my constituents, without being able to meet the slightest of the projections we promised our people because we have a system that doesn’t care about anybody. Here we have an opportunity and this opportunity is very simple, it is either we want to continue like this, but me I don’t want to end my eight years like this. The opportunity is that we get a change, a new system that will now bring out better governance that will benefit all of us. So the choice is for our people and I know that we are not foolish.

    “They say they did roads in Akoko-Edo, and the World Bank did roads for us. We are happy even though the standard of those roads are nothing to write home about because they are almost all being washed away. I want to appeal to all of us, I will not stick my neck into projecting this same system that has tied everybody’s hand.”

  • Edo 2020: Deputy Governor breaks silence on alleged rifts with Gov Obaseki

    Edo 2020: Deputy Governor breaks silence on alleged rifts with Gov Obaseki

    …Says My Loyalty To Obaseki unshakable
    ….It’s a mere propaganda to distract our supporters
    Deputy Governor of Edo State Comrade Philip Shaibu has called on members of the public to disregard the ongoing propaganda that he is on war path with his Boss, even as he accused former APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and his rejected son Ize-Iyamu of conducting their political affairs as a primitive war.
    He described the allegation that he is on war path with his Boss over issue of fund as reckless, unguided and efforts to mislead people by those who are afraid of the unity that exist between him and his Boss.
    “This Machiavellian system of politics where all forms of wizardry tactics are deployed both through fair and foul means will certainly achieve the opposite result,” Shaibu said.
    The Deputy Governor cautioned the authors, sponsors and those with unprecedented capacity for lies and blackmailing to thread cautiously and advised them to first engaged their brains before putting their mouth and pen into forward gear.
    A statement made available to the media by the Senior Special Assistant to the Deputy Governor, Mr Benjamin Atu, condemned the misleading story and online publication against the personality of the Deputy Governor by persons described as miscreants and mischievous elements sponsored by hopeless and helpless political jobbers and merchants.
    Describing the publication against the Edo Deputy Governor as a malicious and devilish campaign of calumny, the statement noted that the plot of the enemies of the State is to create disagreement between the Deputy Governor and his Boss Governor Godwin Obaseki, but their efforts are instead achieving the opposite result and the more the blackmailing, the stronger the bond between the Governor and his most dependable deputy.
    Comrade Philip Shaibu vowed that his loyalty to Governor Godwin Obaseki will remain sacrosanct, saying that both Adams Oshiomhole and Ize-Iyamu have, through their publication, revealed their wish and their wish will never happen.
    “Politics has a way of letting you know the inner recess of the human mind.
    “My loyalty to Governor Obaseki is sacrosanct and not debatable. No amount of blackmail or propaganda can stop me from serving the interest of the Governor and Edo people.
    “I am solidly with Governor Obaseki. It is a joint ticket and we will make sure we win the September 19th Governorship election in Edo State” Philip Shaibu declared.
    He called on the People of the state to disregard ongoing rumor and warned them to: “Expect more of this kind of propaganda from these characters that didn’t wish us well.
    The Statement then called on the Nigeria Police and and other Security agencies to take a closer look at the intentions of purposes of these miscreants and mischievous elements and ensure that the perpetrators are decisively dealt with.
  • Edo 2020: Obaseki accuses police of receiving billions from APC billionaire to arrest PDP supporters

    Edo 2020: Obaseki accuses police of receiving billions from APC billionaire to arrest PDP supporters

    Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki has alleged that an All Progressives Congress, APC, billionaire has paid policemen from Abuja to come to Edo to arrest supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of the coming governorship election.

    He said the APC was already intimidating PDP supporters in a bid to capture the state at the poll on September 19, 2020.

    Receiving Muslim leaders at the Government House, in Benin City on Friday, the governor said he was ready to stand with the people, defend their interests, and develop the state.

    “I am not afraid of any man but God. I know the gang up is to provoke me and my supporters but we will not fall for their tricks as God will help us.

    “As I speak to you now, you can’t imagine that Police from Abuja are already in the state and have been paid to arrest our supporters. They have been paid by a billionaire to arrest Peoples Democratic Party supporters in the state. This billionaire sponsored the attacks on me and other PDP governors at the Palace. This is to tell you the level of corruption and impunity we face.

    “They are planning violence, bringing arms, intimidating our supporters as part of their strategy. They know that if we have a free and fair election, they stand no chance. Their strategy is to continue with their propaganda and lies. They know they don’t have a record of performance; their plan is just to intimidate our supporters and ensure they stay off the polling booth.

    “They attacked my supporters and wanted me to react to the attacks. I will not attack them back because as the Chief Security Officer of the state, my responsibility is to maintain peace. We would continue to do that at all costs,” he said.

    But the Chairman, Edo State APC Campaign Council, John Mayaki, said the governor was confused.

    “Governor Godwin Obaseki is a confused man merely projecting the criminal plans his divided party, the PDP, are perfecting following the dawning realisation that they have been rejected by the people of Edo State.

    “The APC is the only party campaigning on its documented manifesto because our sole strategy to win the election is by winning the hearts and goodwill of our people through well-thought-out programs and policies that will bring relief and erase the failures of the past four years,” he said.

  • [TNG Analysis] Edo 2020: Positive vibes for Obaseki as Wike, Tambuwal, Okowa others lead PDP campaign train

    [TNG Analysis] Edo 2020: Positive vibes for Obaseki as Wike, Tambuwal, Okowa others lead PDP campaign train

    …Oshiomhole’s pleas hit rock
    …Oba of Benin warns ambitious guber aspirants
    …as Ekpoma monarch asks Oshiomhole to come back after guber polls in September
    By Emman Ovuakporie
    The campaigns in Edo State are in top gear as Godwin Obaseki gets positive vibes from the three Senatorial Districts of the heart beat of the nation.
    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) in this analysis takes a peep as to how the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC and the major opposition party in Nigeria have fared so far.
    Obaseki and his party in the last one week showcased that the reign of the APC is at the verge of going extinct in a state it once controlled for more than a decade.
    While the Adams Oshiomhole led campaign has been receiving negative vibes, the Obaseki camp led by the most vocal Governor in Nigeria, Nyesom Wike has been receiving positive vibration.
    Wike without mincing words has told Edo electorates that the election was a foregone conclusion as Obaseki has no opponent.
    In 2016, Oshiomhole had properly de-marketed Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu with all manners of unprintable graffiti.
    In Edo State you can conveniently call Edolites names but that of a doubtful character is always seen as a taboo.
    Oshiomhole had used such words to describe the person he now campaigns for barely four years after.
    This singular development has made it almost a walk over for Obaseki who has remained steadfast as the campaign progresses.
    His deputy Comrade Phillip Shaibu too has been on the prowl telling Edolites that the state will be turned into rubbles if the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, wins the forthcoming election.

    Shaibu said Edo had witnessed a lot of institutional growth where the government was supreme and not an individual but the victory of Ize-Iyamu and his godparents would change all that.

    Oshiomhole has been receiving very uncomfortable signals as some monarchs are already asking him to visit only after the guber polls in September a clear indication that he has been rejected.

    A monarch he sent packing few weeks from his departure from Dennis Osadebey Government House simply advised him to come back after September 19.

    His pleas fell on deaf ears in Edo Central that he massively marginalised for 8years as Governor.

    Edo Central arguably has the highest number of professors in Edo State scattered all over the world but while as a governor, the District was thrown into archival dustbin.

    It’s pay back time and the Esan people are waiting for the former comrade governor to preach the one man one vote mantra.

    Oba of Benin warns

    Disturbed by the show of shame by thugs in front of the Oba of Benin Palace, the Benin Traditional Council sent a warning signal to ambitious guber aspirants to steer clear of the palace.

    Read the full text of the statement below:

    PRESS RELEASE
    APPEAL FOR PEACE IN EDO STATE
    BTC.A40/VOLLVIII/227
    29th July, 2020
    The Benin Traditional Council observed with dismay the unruly behaviour of some youths outside the gate of the Palace on Saturday, 25 July, 2020, when His Excellency. Governor Godwin Obaseki and some other PDP Governors visited His Royal Majesty, the Oba of Benin.
    The Benin Traditional Council wishes to state that His Royal Majesty, the Oba of Benin warmly welcomed the august visitors, led by His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Edo State. The meeting was cordial. During the meeting. His Royal Majesty recalled the warm reception accorded him by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State when the Omo Oba paid a “Thank You’ visit to those states. The courtesy visit of the esteemed august visitors to the Omo Oba ended very well.
    We were therefore surprised to hear later that there was an incident outside the Palace, directly in front of Oredo Local Government Secretariat. His Royal Majesty condemns this unruly behaviour that occurred in front of the Palace.
    We wish to reiterate and emphasize once more that the Benin Throne is not partisan. The Benin Traditional Council uses this medium to advise all political party members not to turn Edo State into a war zone because of gubernatorial ambition.
    His Royal Majesty is committed to peace and tranquility in the state and, peaceful up coming gubernatorial election.
    The Palace enjoin all well-meaning indigenes of Edo State to join His Royal Majesty in continuous prayers for peace and tranquility in Edo State and peaceful up-coming gubernatorial election.
    Long live Edo State.
    Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria
    Oba ghato kpere, Ise.
    BENIN TRADITIONAL COUNCIL
    (Frank Traber). Secretary Benin Traditional Council.