You And Your APC Travellers Should Leave Now – Edo PDP Group Tells Obaseki

Some stakeholders within the Edo State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have said they have had enough of Governor Godwin Obaseki and his administration, hence he should leave the party immediately.

Naija News reports that Obaseki has continued to claim there is no crisis nor any form of division within the PDP in Edo, maintaining that the party has truly harmonized under his leadership.

It’s however a different story from other stakeholders of the party who are calling for his immediate exit from the umbrella camp.

Recall that the Edo State Governor resigned his membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC in June 2020.

Obaseki’s resignation from APC followed his disqualification from contesting the party’s governorship primary election then slated for June 22.

The incumbent governor who was having a political battle with his predecessor and the then national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, was received into the PDP fold and also given all the support he needed.

Barely two years after his reception into the opposition fold, some PDP stakeholders in Edo State are now pointing fingers at the incumbent governor.

In a statement obtained by Naija News on Wednesday, a faction within the party, the PDP Defenders Forum, slammed Obaseki over threats issued to dissatisfied party members regarding his leadership style.

The group as contained in the statement signed by its coordinator Ken Ekpe, lamented the attitude of the governor and his supporters to those who were members of the party before they joined.

According to Ekpe, Governor Obaseki is scheming to take over the party with “his fellow APC travellers to harmonise what he did not bring to birth.”

Stressing that the incumbent governor has brought nothing into the party but has enjoyed privileges, Ekpe said PDP in Edo state will not watch Obaseki to enforce himself as the leader of the party.

“It should shock Governor Obaseki that the anthem in the Edo State Chapter of the PDP today is that he should take his government and leave our party alone. The handouts he is giving are not enough for us to mortgage our collective interest in a strong and united party that has won plaudits across the nation for having been the most vibrant opposition party in the days of yore,” Ekpe said.

The statement read further: “First we want to affirm that we are ignorant of any harmonized PDP in Edo State given the fact that PDP executives can only emerge according to the constitution of our great party from elections. These elections were done before Governor Obaseki joined us and he cannot sit in his office with his fellow former APC travellers to harmonise what he did not bring to birth.

“Second, we have heard and read the governor repeatedly claim that he is the leader of the party merely because he is governor. Yes, while we revere our governors as leaders, we say that this is not a constitutional fact and it is not assumed by force. For more than one year we have seen how Governor Obaseki and his erstwhile APC enforcers have ridden roughshod over our party as he and his ex-APC have not added any value to our brand, but rather fought vainly to divide us, but to no avail.

“We thus challenge him and his emissaries to quote the specific section of the Constitution that has made him the leader of the party in Edo State.

“On the basis of that, the great majority of party members who have refused his plans to forcefully restructure our executives at all levels serve him the notice that we are not leaving our party for him.”

Naija News understands that the group’s declaration is coming less than 24 hours after Governor Obaseki had said whoever is not happy with his leadership should leave the party.

“Anybody that cannot accept my leadership of PDP in Edo State will leave PDP for us. It’s as simple as that and we don’t like to boast. We don’t talk too much, but you know where we are coming from,” the governor said on Tuesday.

He stressed that whoever is backing any group outside Edo State should immediately leave.

According to him, Edo is not like any other state.

Obaseki, however, called on members of the party to come together, have a round table conversation to agree on the way forward.

“There is no division in Edo PDP. Let the party be open to accommodate others. PDP is democratic. The hallmark of democracy is ensuring that the majority has their way, as the minority can’t dictate to the people,” Obaseki maintained.