Edo State deputy governor, Hon. Philip Shaibu, has faulted claims by former governor of the state, Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole, that Governor Godwin Obaseki, lied about his certificates when he was in the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Shaibu spoke in Benin City when he received top members of the APC and kinsfolk of Oshiomhole, who defected with Senator Francis Alimikhena from APC to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The deputy governor said it was Oshiomhole’s overbearing dictatorship as a political godfather that made him and Obaseki to defect from APC to PDP just before the 2020 governorship reelection.
He said it was what Oshiomhole did to him and Obaseki that he also did to Senator Alimikhena because he wanted to take his place in the Senate.
The deputy governor said it is the joy of all parents to see their children turn out better than themselves but Oshiomhole would not have it that way with his own godchildren, using instead, force and intimidation to chase people out of the APC.
He recalled that the former APC chairman had connived with some APC national leaders in Abuja to disqualify Obaseki on the claim that the governor did not have a certificate.
He said, “I am very excited to receive and reunite with my brothers and sisters. We have engaged ourselves on different level in the streets, during, before and after elections. I know your worth, reuniting with you today makes me glad in my stomach.
“I was more excited when I received the letter of invitation to come and receive APC members and leaders of All Progressive Congress who want to defect to PDP for progressive movement into PDP in Edo North.
“I am glad with the quality people that are here because you believe that Edo State government is doing something of quality for Edo people. That is why Nigeria and Edo State must change for the good of the people”
Shaibu said they represent the change which had not been given room to surface.
“This time we are changing the change because the change did not change anything but it destroyed the party more. We were part of that movement to change Nigeria for good. We were convinced and fought for it because we believed that we needed a change for the betterment of our country.
“Unfortunately, APC preached what they would not do. If they say good morning, they mean, good night. I am very disappointed more of the man I call my political godfather (Oshiomhole), that decided to be part of those characters. Those characters that would tell you good morning in the morning, and in the night, it would mean a different thing.”
He said the 2023 elections would be different and PDP is gearing up for it.
“2023 polls is going to be a different ball game. Nobody can rig you people out. What Adams Oshiomhole did to us is what he is doing to Senator Francis Alimikhena. The God that delivered Obaseki/Philip when Oshiomhole drove us out of APC and disqualified us.
“I am asking today that we all are here. Let Adams Aliu Oshiomhole come out and tell us what happened to the burning down of Ministry of Education during his legal battle with PDP at the election petition tribunal when he was the governor of Edo State, about his missing certificate saga.
“Oshiomhole should come and tell us, if he does not tell us, very soon we will dig into it. So it is better he comes to tell us what happened to the burning down of Ministry of Education. He should come and tell us for saying a whole Governor Godwin Obaseki did not go to school. So, with Alimikhena for Senate, we will move forward, but with Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, we will move back ward,” Shaibu said.
Chairman of the PDP in Edo State, Comrade Azebamwan, said the defection was a welcome development for the PDP, adding that it will make the party stronger and set to deliver all its candidates in 2023.
Senator Alimikhena advised his supporters who came in with him to embrace the PDP with their whole heart, saying APC was dead in Edo North and the entire Edo State because of Oshiomhole’s dictatorship.
He asserted that with the large supporter base he now has, he will defeat Oshiomhole in the Edo North senatorial contest in 2023.
He said the crisis rocking PDP in the state would soon be resolved. “There is no place or party where you don’t have crisis. As we progress, before November this year, the crisis will be resolved,”Alimikhena said.
A former commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs under Oshiomhole, Hon. Lucky James, who is from the same local council with Oshiomhole, said the reason why they defected to PDP is because of the cold war in the APC.
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