https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/09/the-oshiomhole-bombshell-obaseki-betrayed-me-edo-people/

COMRADE Adams Oshiomhole, the immediate National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of Edo State, X-rays Saturday’s governorship election which, he says, his party would win convincingly, how he fell out with his successor, Governor Godwin Obaseki, just as he calls for peace amidst rising tensions of violence in the state. Excerpts.

How has the campaign been after moving around with the candidate of your party? What have been your feelings, observations interacting with the people again after you left office?have been quite excited to see the worth of the people across the 18 local government areas, people are extremely warm and they are excited seeing me after four years. It is like what more do I expect from a public office other than to govern a place for eight years, go back there after four years and I have been succeeded by a governor who has turned hostile, who tried to destroy my legacies and even lied effortlessly on a variety of issues, but to find that the people are not fooled and they have very fond memories of my time, my style and so on and so forth?

It goes beyond physical infrastructure, social infrastructure and all of the things that we did then. I remain proud that the people are quite appreciative. Even the human touch, the recognition that you are just another guy down the road that God has favoured using people to make you the governor which is very transient and that there is life after it.

Everywhere I go, when I see elderly women, I can notice them from the crowd saying “yes, that is him, look at him”. I can see the joy in them; so it cannot be better. I am so fulfilled and happy that I am able to join the candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, across the 18 local government areas, across the 192 wards. Besides the fact that I enjoy doing that to support him, it also helped me to also renew my bond with the people of Edo and I find it extremely exciting and fulfilling.

What are the chances of the APC in this election considering that you are contesting against an incumbent governor?

Now, incumbency can be an advantage and at the same time it can be a liability. When a governor has performed, then you can use the slogan ‘tested and trusted’, but when a governor has failed woefully like Obaseki, he is tested and failed and it is not difficult.

But my problem with the media is that you don’t report all that you see, you edit yourself out, otherwise I will pose the question to you, in all the rallies you have attended, when the question is put to the people “do you have a new school in your neighbourhood?” the answer is always “no” and there is always the cry, “we do not have teachers”. A royal father told us he had two and a half teachers in the school in his community and I was like “two and a half teachers, how?” He said because they are only three, one is the Principal and out of the other two teachers, one will retire in December and if Obaseki remains as a governor, he will be left with two; so, on education, it is zero, you can’t teach people without teachers and he lied effortlessly and a section of the media indulge him when he talks about EdoBEST, he even paid for plastic award.

How can you talk about EdoBEST when a government has closed the College of Education where teachers are trained in formal, structured academic manner and you are using consultants, some of whom have never taught and you pay those consultants N1.5m per teacher? If you want to read education in the University of Benin, you will not need N1m for a four-year degree programme to be able to teach, so all these are just fraudulent things that I am shocked that Obaseki has got himself into.

You heard people saying “we have had no light for four years” and Obaseki goes to those communities like Ilushi and says “I know you have no light for four years, but if you elect me, in three months I will give you light” and the people are like “so, you can fix it in three months, what you have refused to do for us in four years” and they just laugh at him.

There are fears of violence ahead of the election and during the election…

I believe that there will be no violence; it is a pity that most commentators have made that a big issue, but also the commentators derive their take off points from the comments made by the governor and his deputy and even lately the wife of the deputy governor. The governor had started about a year ago saying his second term is not negotiable and, according to him, he deserves it and he earns and he will have it. Now that in itself is a foundation for violence because if it is not negotiable, it means nobody will contest against you. He holds the view that it is his fundamental human right to remain governor; that undemocratic pronouncement laid the foundation for the tension.

Second is again the media; I came here to Benin at the invitation of the Oba and, when I went out in the night, I was told by my orderly that some people had arranged truck loads of thugs and they were throwing stones into my compound shouting all kinds of slogans. He said he had called the police and, by the time I got home, I met close to 100 policemen and they told me they had dislodged them. Till today why they did that, I don’t know.

The same policemen that came to my rescue, when the issue became public, then police commissioner shamelessly denied that there was such incident; rather, he said he gave me more than 25 policemen to escort me to Oba’s palace and back to the airport. So the question is why will a Nigerian citizen require 25 policemen to escort him from here to Oba’s palace less than seven minutes drive? Those who were involved in that exercise, I got their names, I did a petition, they were invited, some of them confessed, they had video where they recorded and they were boasting how they came to my house and police let them off and I said to the police “this is how crime starts”.

The second incident, I was coming to Benin for the burial of the mother of Hon. EJ Agbonayinma. I was on my way to the airport and I got information that thugs were at the airport, they had sent thugs because Obaseki’s people did not consent to my coming to Benin and I called the CP, he said the matter was under control but, by the time I got to the airport, the CP called to say I should better stay away because the thugs were too many and I said to him “these are the names you have been given that are in the airport”. He said the governor has immunity and I asked “do the thugs have immunity too?” He said I should just stay away from Benin. I told the CP he was joking, that I was going to come to Benin and he should go and do his job.

I came and on landing, he called that I should stay away but I said I was there at the tarmac. I was shocked to find out the entire airport road was blocked with police supervising the blockage and they were making bonfire on the airport road, destroying that beautiful road, but I came down with the efforts of the air force personnel.

It took me an hour and a half instead of seven minutes to drive from the airport to my house. I went for that function, I came back and my attention was drawn by my security that they blocked the two entrances on the street to my house with Edo State Waste Management Board vehicles. I called the Inspector General of Police that I was under siege and he directed the CP to intervene.

The CP sent more policemen and himself came and I was shocked when he said that they went to see Obaseki and he agreed that he (governor) ordered the blockage because he did not want me to hold any political meeting in my house. In his naivety, he thought those harsh, repressive and undemocratic measures he took will scare me and other people from asking questions about his second term. In that case, he forgot my background. In the night, they set one of the trucks near the transformer on fire and their calculation is that because the transformer is close to my house, it will explode and possibly affect my enemy, yet nobody was arrested.

Many people complained when they dropped explosives in Chief Francis Inegbeneki’s house in Benin, at the residence of the party Secretary Lawrence Okah, at the office of former Attorney General Henry Idahagbon and five other party leaders; this is not to add the ones he used bulldozer to destroy their hotel. Somebody who has gone to court and the court was to deliver a ruling on Friday and, on Wednesday, he sent bulldozers to level the place, a 32-room hotel and he once had a political meeting in that hotel. All of these laid the foundation for the tension people are talking about.

The governor is on record, now the world is so sophisticated that nobody can escape, the media cannot kill any story so you Google it you will find where Obaseki was threatening that if I come to Edo without permission from him, he will deal with me decisively, he will tell me he is the executive governor of this state. About four weeks ago, on television, he said if they want violence “I will give them violence, I will tell them I am the governor of this state”.

When a governor talks like that, what do you expect his followers to do? Not done, about three weeks ago, Obaseki said himself and his deputy are the only two people who have immunity in this state and any other person, no matter what he was before and you know “what he was before” is referring to, “I will deal with him ruthlessly” and his supporters replied “you will give him wake and see treatment”. So when the emperor talks like that, he laid the foundation for this tension. I challenge these commentators, including the media, to show me anywhere I made any violent statement.

.......

Abeg stop this useless lamentation line...your interest to become a godfather was dwarfed by a brave Obaseki, and he also smacked u down from being an APC national chairman to being an Ize Iyamu street marketer. You better begin to clean up ur retirement home Sir. I just hope Lara did not bolt out with the keys, else you will truely end up in an IDP camp when Obaseki is re-elected.

Quite revealing. The problem with people who are blinded by hate is that they fail to be objective. I have asked is Obaseki God that he cannot lie? God forbid. He pics the mic Oshiomhole wanted to sell a market. To who and when. I could not bring light for 4years because of godfather. How? Did he collect the contract? How.u have been fighting him for 2years.y did you not fix the light in 3months.
Obaseki really thinks his supporters are too dumb to think that is why he just lies without blinking even if the lies sound stupid. I hope his supporters will be relieved from the bondage of that stupidity. It's not an insult just a prayer.

[s]

Judeerons32:
Quite revealing. The problem with people who are blinded by hate is that they fail to be objective. I have asked is Obaseki God that he cannot lie? God forbid. He pics the mic Oshiomhole wanted to sell a market. To who and when. I could not bring light for 4years because of godfather. How? Did he collect the contract? How.u have been fighting him for 2years.y did you not fix the light in 3months.
Obaseki really thinks his supporters are too dumb to think that is why he just lies without blinking even if the lies sound stupid. I hope his supporters will be relieved from the bondage of that stupidity. It's not an insult just a prayer.

[/s] trash as usually. Tell you godfather and the acid thrower that edo dollars is not 4 thieves but for the edo people. 4+4 is a goal. Meanwhile i will advice iyamu to make that call already cause obaseki don win.

SmartProf:
Abeg stop this useless lamentation line...your interest to become a godfather was dwarfed by a brave Obaseki, and he also smacked u down from being an APC national chairman to being an Ize Iyamu street marketer. You better begin to clean up ur retirement home Sir. I just hope Lara did not bolt out with the keys, else you will truely end up in an IDP camp when Obaseki is re-elected.

you are a smart man. The smack down go dey like this

Judeerons32:
Quite revealing. The problem with people who are blinded by hate is that they fail to be objective. I have asked is Obaseki God that he cannot lie? God forbid. He pics the mic Oshiomhole wanted to sell a market. To who and when. I could not bring light for 4years because of godfather. How? Did he collect the contract? How.u have been fighting him for 2years.y did you not fix the light in 3months.
Obaseki really thinks his supporters are too dumb to think that is why he just lies without blinking even if the lies sound stupid. I hope his supporters will be relieved from the bondage of that stupidity. It's not an insult just a prayer.

Please can you be objective for once?
It is glaring to everyone involved in the politics of Edo State that, Adams Oshiomhole and his co-travellers have tried distracting the Governor for the past Two years; Thank God he stood firm and refused to be distracted by the shenanigans of Oshiomhole.
The achievements of Obaseki is there for all to see
1. Oshiomhole built red roofs, Obaseki added Contents; our children are learning. you can check the rating of Edo in the last WASSCE
2. The salaries of workers and pensioners are paid promptly
3. The Edo Modular Refinery was done by this Government ; The President sent a delegation to verify this, and they applauded what they saw
4. What about the Gelege Seaport?
So, No one should be deceived by the rhetorics of Oshiomhole
19th September, we are reelecting Godwin Obaseki whether Oshiomhole likes it or not.

Delegation to check refinery? Aipcc is the 100% owner of that refinery.the delegation came to inspect a private refinery in Ologbo Edo state.this is the propaganda we talk about.it is a private refinery you can check the company site.
Education: obaseki has collected over 7bn ube fund which school has he constructed? Training teachers at 1.5m each how much to give people scholarship to study education in the university for 4years?
You say he was distracted by who? Is 2nd term a must? Why not face governance then your work speaks for you.
He says Edo Best. If you are in Benin ask how many student have access to computers? He pays salaries and pensions really? Did they not work?

slyayok:
Please can you be objective for once?
It is glaring to everyone involved in the politics of Edo State that, Adams Oshiomhole and his co-travellers have tried distracting the Governor for the past Two years; Thank God he stood firm and refused to be distracted by the shenanigans of Oshiomhole.
The achievements of Obaseki is there for all to see
1. Oshiomhole built red roofs, Obaseki added Contents; our children are learning. you can check the rating of Edo in the last WASSCE
2. The salaries of workers and pensioners are paid promptly
3. The Edo Modular Refinery was done by this Government ; The President sent a delegation to verify this, and they applauded what they saw
4. What about the Gelege Seaport?
So, No one should be deceived by the rhetorics of Oshiomhole
19th September, we are reelecting Godwin Obaseki whether Oshiomhole likes it or not.

Typical Obaseki supporter. If you don't know ask. Obaseki is from edo south but him alone nominated his commissioner John Inegbedion as Apc senatorial candidate for edo central another zone. To allow peace they allowed him. Who is the god father is it not Obaseki who picked a Candidate for another zone? Just an example. Fight godfather na mouth? Show what you did

yoruba1914:
[s][/s] trash as usually. Tell you godfather and the acid thrower that edo dollars is not 4 thieves but for the edo people. 4+4 is a goal. Meanwhile i will advice iyamu to make that call already cause obaseki don win.

osho is looking for cheap sympathy

slyayok:
Please can you be objective for once?
It is glaring to everyone involved in the politics of Edo State that, Adams Oshiomhole and his co-travellers have tried distracting the Governor for the past Two years; Thank God he stood firm and refused to be distracted by the shenanigans of Oshiomhole.
The achievements of Obaseki is there for all to see
1. Oshiomhole built red roofs, Obaseki added Contents; our children are learning. you can check the rating of Edo in the last WASSCE
2. The salaries of workers and pensioners are paid promptly
3. The Edo Modular Refinery was done by this Government ; The President sent a delegation to verify this, and they applauded what they saw
4. What about the Gelege Seaport?
So, No one should be deceived by the rhetorics of Oshiomhole
19th September, we are reelecting Godwin Obaseki whether Oshiomhole likes it or not.

You have said it all, Oshiomhole is a thief Operation no mercy for Oshiomhole, this election will mark the end of Oshiomhole politically.
Edo people will deal with Oshiomhole that even Federal government will reject him

[s]

Judeerons32:
Typical Obaseki supporter. If you don't know ask. Obaseki is from edo south but him alone nominated his commissioner John Inegbedion as Apc senatorial candidate for edo central another zone. To allow peace they allowed him. Who is the god father is it not Obaseki who picked a Candidate for another zone? Just an example. Fight godfather na mouth? Show what you did

[/s] incoherent bullshit. So na why una no like am?no be say e no perform? Who nominate the HOA MEMBERS? You should bury your head in shame. Theives every were. All i see is a man in pains

slyayok:
Please can you be objective for once?
It is glaring to everyone involved in the politics of Edo State that, Adams Oshiomhole and his co-travellers have tried distracting the Governor for the past Two years; Thank God he stood firm and refused to be distracted by the shenanigans of Oshiomhole.
The achievements of Obaseki is there for all to see
1. Oshiomhole built red roofs, Obaseki added Contents; our children are learning. you can check the rating of Edo in the last WASSCE
2. The salaries of workers and pensioners are paid promptly
3. The Edo Modular Refinery was done by this Government ; The President sent a delegation to verify this, and they applauded what they saw
4. What about the Gelege Seaport?
So, No one should be deceived by the rhetorics of Oshiomhole
19th September, we are reelecting Godwin Obaseki whether Oshiomhole likes it or not.

bro the agents of darkness had harden their hearts.dey want the fake pastor who will sharing edo dollars

If you sabi read you will understand the last statement. Let him show his project and not deceive his foreign supporters like you with fighting godfatherism. Those who have pvc in Edo will score him on Saturday.the rest of you his online voters can get your petition ready for American Embassy and the EU

yoruba1914:
[s][/s] incoherent bullshit. So na why una no like am?no be say e no perform? Who nominate the HOA MEMBERS? You should bury your head in shame. Theives every were. All i see is a man in pains

Judeerons32:
If you sabi read you will understand the last statement. Let him show his project and not deceive his foreign supporters like you with fighting godfatherism. Those who have pvc in Edo will score him on Saturday.the rest of you his online voters can get your petition ready for American Embassy and the EU

na today?omo you and your single vote ? How are you sure i am not in edo too? For every apc vote there is 20 pdp votes. Omo you go know soon whatsup .

Edolites please vote wisely. Many of us don't live in your state and so know little about the real situation of things