APC Trades Words With Obaseki Over Comment, Keyamo Says He Is Speaking Atiku’s Hateful Mind

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) has requested an apology from the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, on behalf of Nigerians over the alleged divisive comment he made about the party.

According to the APC, PCC spokesman, Festus Keyamo, Obaseki was indirectly speaking the hateful mind of the presidential candidate of his party, Atiku Abubakar.

It will be recalled that Obaseki had on Monday warned Nigerians not to vote for the APC’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, or else Nigeria will collapse completely.

Naija News learnt that Keyamo while reacting to Obaseki’s comment in a Punch newspaper report said “we are extremely disappointed and shocked at Obaseki’s comment. It belittles his office as governor of Edo State and he has taken politics to an extreme that he shouldn’t have done. He has taken politics to play sentiment.

“First, it is his candidate (Atiku) who had gone around the country preaching divisive comments and calling on Northerners not to vote for Yoruba or Igbo candidates. That comment to date has drawn outrage from both local and international observers. And up till now, Obaseki and his likes have not apologised to Nigerians over that.

“What Obaseki is doing with the comment of Atiku is that he is trampling on the heads of his people in Edo State and the South-South. He is denigrating his people over whom he presided as governor,” the APC campaign council spokesman noted.

However, Obaseki was also described as “toxic and obnoxious” by the Director, Media and Publicity of the Tinubu-Shettima presidential campaign council, Bayo Onanuga.

Naija News reports that Onanuga, who condemned the alleged divisive comment of the Edo governor in a statement noted that “for a man who swore an oath of allegiance to the sovereignty and unity of Nigeria to be a purveyor of ill-will towards the same country because of partisan politics smirks of total irresponsibility and recklessness unbecoming of a governor who has a constitutionally sanctioned duty to preserve the unity and indivisibility of Nigeria.

“It is worth stating that we are not in any way surprised about Obaseki’s outburst about Nigeria’s breaking. He is, by nature, a divisive, obnoxious, and toxic human being that lacks the introspection and contemplation expected of a person occupying the office of a governor,” Onanuga added.

Meanwhile, Obaseki in his reaction to the APC’s request for an apology maintained that the APC spokesmen can’t refuse to admit that if the party is elected to the office next year, an unmitigated end awaits Nigeria.

The governor who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media Project, Crusoe Osagie in a statement said “the APC and its minions are either living on another planet or require evaluation over their attempt to fault the governor.”

He advanced that “the APC’s gang of hirelings, including a once-upon-a-time human rights activist, continue to pollute the public space with their foul and distasteful takes on the governor’s comment while failing to properly read the room to know that the Governor spoke the mind of the majority of Nigerians who have in the last seven years been impoverished by the APC’s disastrous misrule.

“What part of the call for reawakening by Governor Obaseki is the APC and their minions calling to question? Are Nigerians not victims of the party’s calamitous handling of the country’s affairs, which has today made the country the poverty capital of the world, with a disarticulated economy, excruciating debt burden and a hapless population pushing their way through insecure communities, dilapidated road network, among other failings.

“When in April 2021, Governor Obaseki raised the alarm that the Federal Government was printing money to run the economy and warned that if such practices continued, the Naira was heading to N1000 to $1 as against the rate of N500 to $1 at that time, APC and their lackeys screamed blue murder, playing the ostrich and denying the obvious. But today, what does $1 exchange against the Naira? Is N800 to $1 not equivalent to the warning the governor issued about a year ago?” Osagie stated.