Bisi Olaniyi, Southsouth Bureau Chief
THE anti-Godwin Obaseki camp of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State has recommended to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to expel the governor and two other chieftains for anti-party activities.
The two other APC chieftains recommended for expulsion are the pro-Obaseki Chairman of the party in the state, Anselm Ojezua and the Organising Secretary, loyal to the governor, Dr. Aisosa Amadasun.
The anti-Obaseki APC, on Sunday at a news conference at the new secretariat on Airport Road, Benin, through it Chairman David Imuse and Secretary, Lawrence Okah, and many chieftains, declared that anti-party activities would no longer be condoned.
They said: “Obaseki, Ojezua and some other persons have gone to court, in violation of Article 21, Sub-section D5 of the APC’s Constitution. They have shopped for injunctions and rulings to circumvent the processes of law and the provisions of our party’s constitution, in defiance of democratic norms.
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“In the light of this, the State Working Committee (SWC) of APC in Edo State has recommended to the NWC that the following persons: Godwin Obaseki, Anselm Ojezua and Dr. Aisosa Amadasun, be expelled from the party, for violating the provisions of our constitution.
“It should be stressed that after the bitter experience of losing the governorship of Bayelsa State in the court, after a well-deserved victory in the election, it will be foolhardy to allow a candidate with dodgy and faulty academic credentials to fly our party’s flag in the September 19 poll. Even the Holy Book admonishes us that affliction shall not arise a second time. Wisdom profits to direct.
“We wish to appreciate members of the APC in Edo State for their resolute determination to uphold the mantra of our party, especially in the face of the oppressive and draconian administration of Obaseki in the last three and a half years. Our consolation is that the screening committee has given us hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Ojezua, in his response, described Imuse and his “co-travellers” as mischievous and ignorant.
The pro-Obaseki chairman of Edo APC said: “Imuse is an impostor. He has no basis to speak on behalf of Edo State APC. He simply displayed mischief and ignorance. Everything he said is of no effect and it should be ignored.
“Imuse is the subject of contempt proceedings which I initiated and which I will pursue to a logical conclusion. Right-thinking members of the public should disregard the lies of drowning Imuse and his confused supporters.”
Obaseki, through his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, said: “As if the embarrassment which they brought to the party, through the shameless and unjust disqualification of Governor Obaseki by the screening committee was not sufficient, they have now gone ahead to announce that the appeal committee has upheld the dubious disqualification. The question is how does an appeal committee claim to uphold an issue that was not appealed.
“The governor (of Edo State) has been unequivocal in his stance that he was not going to appeal the so-called disqualification by a screening committee that can best be described as a gathering of court jesters, who congregated to massage the ego of their paymaster Comrade Oshiomhole.
“Juxtaposing this comical, distasteful and disgraceful charade against the mantra of change, integrity, social justice and progress, which ought to be the character of our great party, the APC, reveals the depth of the abyss into which Comrade Oshiomhole has dragged the party.”
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