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Obaseki expresses loss of confidence in APC committee
BY NICHOLAS ABE
Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has expressed loss of confidence in the All Progressives Congress (APC), under the leadership of the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, especially as it concerns the oncoming gubernatorial election in Edo.
Obaseki said his re-election bid on the platform of APC was being threatened because of Oshiomhole’s personal interest.
The governor spoke Wednesday at a news conference shortly after he was screened by the APC seven-member screening committee, headed by Prof. Jonathan Ayuba, at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.
Even though Oshiomhole is not a member of the committee, Obaseki said from the line of questioning it was obvious to him that Oshiomhole had not distanced himself from the process leading to the governorship primaries.
“Like I said, as a party man I have gone through the screening process but I do not believe that I will get justice because Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is an interested party in the Edo process.
“One of the questions that was asked was that why did I issue a gazette that will prevent the party from performing direct elections in Edo.
“That did I not see it as an anti-party activity? I just felt that if we put politics above the lives of the people of Edo State, then we may be missing the point,” he said, according to a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report.
READ: APC in tatters as Obaseki, Oshiomhole battle for supremacy in Edo
Obaseki recalled that when he went to the party’s National Secretariat to submit his nomination form, he told a news conference that Oshiomhole should distance himself from the process.
“The last time I came here, I asked that Oshiomhole should recuse himself from the process in the interest of peace and justice.
“But as a party man, I have had to go through the screening like everybody else.
“Since he is the judge and the jury in this matter, I will just wait for the outcome of the screening.
“I have given them all the information they need; the controversial certificate from the University of Ibadan has been tendered,” he said.