The political war between Edo state Governor, Godwin Obaseki and his predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole may not be ending soon as the former has opened a fresh can of worms concerning the APC National Leader.
Obaseki who is running for second term submitted his nomination form at APC secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday where he responded to the speculated rift.
Addressing Journalists, Obaseki accused Oshiomhole of betraying him and his values after sacrificing eight years of his life to serve him.
“In life, everybody gets help; everybody gets assisted. The person talked about (Oshiomhole) had no money when he left labour to contest (as governor). We knew what we did to make him governor. I sacrificed eight years of my life pro bono, I collected no kobo to serve him in Edo. Today, we know what we have built because of where we started from.
“So, when you talk of betrayal, the biggest betrayal can be when people betray a cause, when they betray an idea. That is the greatest betrayal of all. It is like betraying God. When you said to God, this is what I stand for, and then God gives you power and you turn around and do the exact opposite, there is no greater betrayal than that. So, when you talk about betrayal, let us be very clear. I want to put it on record that I am grateful, he assisted me just as I assisted him. I know the sacrifices we made to make him national chairman. So, what are we talking about?
“The reason I went to see our national leader is that I don’t want the party torn apart. I am a man of peace. For me and my colleague governors, we cannot see a party we built destroyed, we cannot see a ruling party being so weakened and whatever it will take to secure peace, to secure harmony, I am prepared to make.
“That is why I joined my colleagues to go and see Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to assure him that we are all working for the same cause, we are all working to build our party. From 26 states, we are now 20. We don’t want to lose any more state, there is really no reason to. We should all drop our egos and work for our party and the unity of our country.
“However, I am using this opportunity to call on Oshiomhole to recuse himself from the Edo nomination process because he is an interested party. It is against natural justice for a man to be a judge in his own case. So, I think the honourable thing to do is to excuse himself and let’s have a free process and let’s reconcile and build our party,” Obaseki said.
Speaking on his re-election bid, the Governor said “Three years is not enough, four years is not enough, to crystallise all these reforms. So, another four years will give me that opportunity to consolidate on what we have done. That is a promise of APC; we are a reformist party, we are a progressive party. That’s why I am here today to indicate my interest and my desire to run for another term as governor of Edo, so that I can continue in the service of my people.”