Temidayo Akinsuyi, Lagos

The crisis rocking Edo State chapter of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) is centred on moves by Governor Godwin Obaseki to ensure his own man becomes the state chairman of the party, Daily Independent has exclusively gathered.

Chairman of Edo State PDP, Anthony Aziegbemi, had on Tuesday petitioned Prince Uche Secondus, the PDP national chairman, to stop Governor Obaseki from carrying out his alleged plan to dissolve the state executive.

After an emergency and expanded State Working Committee meeting at the weekend, Aziegbemi and Secretary, Hillary Otsu, re­solved to petition the nation­al leadership of the party on the need to stop dissolution of the party Exco.

The aggrieved Exco that said if Obaseki wanted to harmonise PDP in the state, as he claimed, it should start from his office, also demanded replacement of the Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, and Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Osarodion Ogie, with orig­inal PDP members.

Credible sources, who are knowledgeable about the rift between the governor and the Edo State PDP ex­ecutive led by its chairman, Anthony Aziegbemi, said the governor wants the cur­rent executive dissolved and a new election conducted, a position the PDP leadership in the state is vehemently opposed to.

According to them, Obaseki who is not comfort­able with the present PDP leadership in the state is desirous of having Anselm Ojezua, former All Progres­sives Congress (APC) chair­man in Edo, as the new PDP chairman in the state.

Ojezua, a fiercely loyal supporter of Obaseki de­fected from the APC to PDP in December 2020 with over 150,000 members. He cited loss of confidence in APC national leadership and al­leged disobedience to the party’s constitution as his reasons for leaving.

Speaking with Daily Inde­pendent on Wednesday, one of the leaders said Obaseki who is now the leader of PDP in Edo State by virtue of his position wants his men to be in charge of the party affairs.

“Yes, the governor wrote to the PDP national leader­ship asking for a dissolu­tion of the current execu­tive and a fresh election to be conducted. The reason he gave was that there were too many factions in the party.

“But the truth is that the current PDP leadership led by Aziegbemi knows that if a fresh election is to be conducted today, they stand no chance of returning be­cause whoever is the can­didate of the governor will win. From feelers we are getting, Governor Obaseki wants Anselm Ojezua who stood by him through thick and thin in APC and has even joined him in PDP as the new chairman of the party (PDP) in Edo State.

“From the look of things, the governor is gaining the upper hand, because key leaders of the PDP in Edo such as Chief Tom Ikimi, Mike Oghiadomhe and Charles Idahosa are on the same page with him,” our source said.

Efforts to confirm the de­velopment from Governor Obaseki proved abortive as our correspondent gathered that he is yet to appoint a media aide since his reelec­tion.

Also a message sent to him was not replied to as at the time of going to press.

However, speaking with Daily Independent, Chief Charles Idahosa confirmed that the PDP faction loyal to Governor Obaseki has written to the national body of the PDP to dissolve the current Exco and conduct a fresh election in order to allow for harmonisation of the various factions.

He said Aziegbemi and other members of the Exco are free to contest again if they so desire.

Giving reasons for their decision, Idahosa said all the APC members who joined the PDP with Gov­ernor Obaseki, including himself, were shut out by the PDP members.

He said, “Since we joined PDP, we have been having problems. All the people that came with us from APC are not holding any position. They said they already constituted their Exco, but what about our people that came? In other words, I, Charles Idahosa, cannot produce a council­lor in my ward. The gover­nor from Ward 4 in Oredo cannot produce a councilor because the delegates that will choose councillorship candidates are all PDP.

“No person that came with Obaseki from APC to PDP can have any political ambition to be anything. That is why we are saying let’s harmonise. Funny enough, this thing has a precedent.

“Obaseki is not the first governor to leave APC for PDP. When Aminu Tam­buwal left APC for PDP in Sokoto, they said you are the governor, you are bringing us power. The PDP gave him 60-40 sharing formula. That is 60 percent of the ex­ecutives from the ward and they will take 40 percent.

“The same thing hap­pened when Samuel Ortom left APC for PDP in Benue. But in the case of Edo, they are just greedy. They did not come with a single House of Assembly member. Out of the 18 local government areas in the state, they did not come with a single chairman. Out of the 192 wards, they did not have a single councilor and these were the issues I raised at that meeting.

“All these people came with Obaseki from APC to PDP. But Obaseki said we should carry everybody along and we said okay. At the end of the day, they are still refusing to let our peo­ple in and they keep saying we will bridge the gap.

“We on our part said, let’s harmonise. If it is 60-40, 70- 30 or 55-45 sharing formula, let’s agree. You can see the lame excuse they are giving. They are talking about SSG. Yet, this same people will come to Government House and say we are not interest­ed in SSG and Chief of Staff positions because they are personal to you.

“Now the governor said I want to form a cabinet, how do I do it? Chief Ikimi now said, if we say 60-40 sharing formula, if the governor takes his 60 percent, how are we going to share the 40 percent, because we have factions?

“In my local government area, the PDP has three fac­tions. One single person will just handpick all the party executives and the rest will be looking. So, we said enough is enough! We are going to write to the na­tional leadership because the governor of the state by the PDP constitution is the leader of the party.”

https://independent.ng/why-obaseki-wants-current-edo-pdp-exco-dissolved/

serves PDP leaders right. when they were busy collecting money from obaseki then, we warned them

Another God father in the making

Pipu accomodated you when homeless and now you want to chase them out of their house

bolaayenimo:
Pipu accomodated you when homeless and now you want to chase them out of their house

As in. It's like inviting someone to come and eat, only for him to hold your hand while eating what's left on your plate.

So Obaseki is now in new dilemma...

A stranger telling house owner to vacate his house...

Obaseki needs to check himself

edo no вe_________________________________❓

seriously. those who label him an ingrate may be right afterall

helinues:
So Obaseki is now in new dilemma...

A stranger telling house owner to vacate his house...

Obaseki needs to check himself

One and same people.only a change of clothes

Wahala be like Buhari's *****

Edo no be what again

We really don't give two flying fuqs

nairavsdollars:
seriously. those who label him an ingrate may be right afterall

Dude is just picking fight with almost everybody..

He should take things easy oo

That's politics... Simple and short! A man will always want his loyalists...

Oshiomhole was right after all

When we warned people about this man, they all thought Oshiomhole was the devil. This man is a dictator, he has proven that severally. I can’t forget how he forcibly deducted salaries to support his election. funniest thing is he hasn’t done 30% of what the comrade did in Edo state. All mouth and packaging.

Obaseki ema farabale ohh

Obaseki wants to plant his men so that he can become a godfather and single-handedly pick his successor.

Why do I feel Obaseki is looking for reason to defect back to the APC ? No perfect excuse than factions in the PDP

BUHARI IS MAD!

C

Coup

PDP state chairman dey waste him time write Secondus the second guyman . Wetin Secondus wan do Seriki ? Elo nor bi Edo

He needs loyal people around him! Wiseman obaseki!

He Need New Commitee For Smood Govenment

This Obaseki seems to be a wahala human. He caused the same wahala in APC, now in PDP. It seems he doesn't know what is called humility at all. His real nature is showing after defeating Osho Baba. That pride is beginning to show, and it is what will finish him.

Man and power drunk....

EDO NO BE LAGOS & OSHO PIKIN are the two phrases that comes to my mind anytime I see Gov. Obaseki in the news!
Lolz

Howbeit it's quite unfortunate that our political leaders are one clueless bunch.
They'll rather engage in Politricks throughout their tenure in governance than focus on Nation building !!!!
SMH!

We need young visionary leaders not these Charlatans parading themselves in our political space.

@SeniorWriter

Nothing I read here is going to help the man on the street. These people are just fighting for their pockets

The PDP= party of demented people. A party of thiefs masquerading as Democrats. The PDP has gone to the dogs. They've got absolutely nothing to offer Nigerians anymore. Come 2023, they'll finally be buried from the face of Nigeria politics because Nigerians are wiser now. Never again shall we put our destinies and those of our children unborn into the hands of thiefs, Criminals, radicals and drug addicts.