Tag: Oshiomhole

Women in Edo State have called on former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Adams Oshiomhole to offer a public apology to the Obaseki family for describing Dr. Besty Obaseki as childless.

The women made the call yesterday in Benin, during a protest, which was led by the Deputy Speaker of the Edo House of Assembly, Maria Edeko.

Edeko said: “It is sad to see a person (Oshiomhole) who has once governed the state, condescend to such a level. It is a taboo, a sacrilege and a desecration of Edo land to mock a woman or a couple for not bearing a child. Those who mock others for not having children yet could be described as one of the most ungrateful persons on earth.

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“We rise as women of Edo State, home and abroad, to denounce the shameful conduct of Oshiomhole. We call on all women and couples that have gone through the pain of not bearing a child on time or not having a child at all, to express displeasure over the pathetic development.”

The women also eulogised the wife of Governor Godwin Obaseki, describing her as a woman who had demonstrated the power of brilliance, compassion and foresight in her dealings in Edo and beyond.

They said: “Edo First Lady has ensured the inclusion and protection of children, women and vulnerable persons in the state.

“We thank our Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, for loving and respecting our mother.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) accused former All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Senator Adams Oshiomhole of running the most corrupt, chaotic and dishonest administrations in Edo State while he was at the helm of affairs as governor.

The Deputy Director-General, Media and Publicity, of the Asue/Ogie Campaign Council of the PDP, Rev. Olu Martins, made the remark while addressing a news conference in Benin City, the Edo State capital yesterday.

He alleged that Oshiomhole, a former Edo governor, who represents Edo North Senatorial District, did not ensure good governance while in office, but now criticising the performing Governor Godwin Obaseki of PDP.

Martins challenged Oshiomhole to show the areas his administration performed better than Obaseki’s government. He said: “As we approach the September 21 governorship election, it is clear that the APC in Edo, led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has perfected the act of lying, even at that age. The APC has been pretending as if to say it has never been in power in Edo State. All we hear from their mouths is that Obaseki did this, Obaseki did that.

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“From 2008 to 2016, we had the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as governor of Edo State. It is important to analyze how the state faired under the administration of Oshiomhole and the leadership of Obaseki.

“Fortunately, I was prominent in the civil society organisation (CSO), and I can state clearly what my experiences were. The administration led by Oshiomhole was the most corrupt, most chaotic, most brutal and the most dishonest.

“A former commissioner for Information in the administration of Adams Oshiomhole, Orobosa Omo-Ojo, and now the APC Director of Media and Publicity, in his book: ‘The Breach of Trust,’ said Adams Oshiomhole was good at picking weaker vessels in the place stronger people for his administration.”

Meanwhile, Oshiomhole, while speaking at the APC’s governorship campaign rally on Saturday at Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area declared that the next government would carry out a comprehensive audit of the privatisation of the Edo Specialist Hospital, Sapele Road, Benin (which he constructed), and its management, thereby ensuring that the culprits behind the fraudulent deals that made healthcare accessible only to the rich were prosecuted.

The former APC national chairman also alleged that Obaseki and PDP’s governorship candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, were planning to rig the September 21 election.

Oshiomhole said: “Do not dance too much and allow the PDP’s leaders to compromise the electoral process by stealing the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), and deny you the opportunity to vote. We will defend those rights. We will do so peacefully in a civilised manner.

“What is at stake in this September 21, 2024 governorship election is more than you can easily understand. Vote and defend your votes from desperate politicians.”

The former Edo governor urged the electorate to vote massively for the flag bearer in the election, Senator Monday Okpebholo.

A former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Adams Oshiomhole and the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) during the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, are leading governorship campaigns in Edo State to show the seriousness attached to the September 21 election, and for their standard-bearers to emerge victorious.

Some leaders of APC and LP, who spoke in confidence yesterday in Benin, disclosed that Oshiomhole and Obi, both former governors of Edo and Anambra states, knew that it would be a task to dislodge the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the Government House in Benin.

The political leaders also noted that with PDP’s Governor Godwin Obaseki backing Dr. Asue Ighodalo to succeed him on November 12, Oshiomhole and Obi had to restrategise, to penetrate the grassroots in the 192 wards of Edo, “since every politics is local, and 16 political parties are participating in the crucial election.”

The ex-governors (Oshiomhole and Obi), over the weekend, were in Benin to mobilise support for Senator Monday Okpebholo, the representative of Edo Central Senatorial District and Olumide Akpata, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and inaugurated their governorship campaign councils.

Oshiomhole, a former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), who represents Edo North Senatorial District, while speaking at APC’s state secretariat in Benin, at the inauguration of the state’s governorship campaign council, with 36 directorates, said peaceful and genuine change was needed in Edo, through the September 21 poll.

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He said with the massive support and votes of Edo electorate, APC’s Okpebholo would emerge victorious and succeed Obaseki.

Oshiomhole, who is the chairman of the 264-member Edo APC’s campaign council, urged the members to ensure that they win their units, wards and local governments, during the poll, and insisted that Edo APC could not have had a better campaign team.

The former national chairman of APC said the party would win the governorship election in Edo democratically, without rigging, violence or any form of manipulation, and advised members of the party in the state to see themselves as members of the campaign council, while also canvassing for votes.

Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo North senatorial district, has assured that Edo state will rise again starting November 12 this year when the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Monday Okpebholo, succeeds Governor Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He made this statement on Sunday, June 2, at the new APC secretariat on Ikpokpan Road, off Boundary/Sapele Road in Benin, while welcoming a notable PDP chieftain, lawyer Nosa Adams, along with thousands of PDP executive members from the ten wards and local government executives of densely populated Egor, and their numerous supporters into the APC.

The colourful defection ceremony was also attended by APC’s governorship candidate for the September 21, 2024 election; his running mate, Dennis Idahosa; former Edo Deputy Governor, Lucky Imasuen; Director-General of the Okpebholo/Idahosa campaign organization, Senator Matthew Urhoghide; and Edo Acting Chairman of APC, Jarret Tenebe, among other party leaders.

Oshiomhole, a former national chairman of APC and ex-governor of Edo state said: “We will work very hard to ensure the defeat of PDP, Labour Party (LP), and the 13 other participating political parties in Edo. APC will return to governance of Edo State on November 12, 2024, when the second tenure of PDP’s Godwin Obaseki will expire. Okpebholo, a grassroots politician, will re-ignite the engines of growth and development in this great Edo State, without speaking big grammar, consultancy, or Memoranda of Understanding (MoU). We need a governor who can do, not a governor who can talk. Okpebholo, the incoming governor, will work very hard for Edo residents.

“The way to keep a political party together is to respect the elders. I am very excited with the transparent manner with which Nosa Adams meticulously identified and presented the defecting members of the executive at the ward and local government levels in Egor LGA of Edo State. No PDP member is left in Egor LGA.

“I want to assure the defectors that you are not strangers in the house. You will bring on board your wealth of experience, and rugged, dogged and digital determination. The way you worked in Egor LGA and APC’s candidates were defeated by PDP’s candidates in previous elections, now work much harder, for the candidates of PDP and other political candidates to be defeated by our more experienced candidates, on the basis of one man, one vote.

“In the 2012 governorship election in Edo State, Egor LGA’s people gave me 96 percent of the total votes cast. Egor people gave me more than my LGA gave me. We made a difference in Edo in eight years, but the engine of development has been slowed down in the state. Edo will rise again.”

Okpebholo, in his remarks, also assured that Edo would be fixed from November 12 this year, while urging the state’s electorate to massively vote for APC.

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Idahosa stated that with the massive defections into APC from PDP, LP, and other political parties, it would be extremely difficult for them to get agents during the crucial governorship poll in Edo.

Tenebe, while formally receiving the defectors, described APC as a party of opportunities, while stressing that APC members who defected to PDP with Obaseki on June 19, 2020, and the politicians that he met in the PDP, were now massively defecting into APC.

Adams, a former publicity secretary of PDP in Edo, when the national vice chairman, south-south, of PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, was chairman of the party in the state, who was the leader of PDP in Egor LGA, disclosed that Obaseki’s allies attempted to stop the defectors, and enticed many of them with cars, but they declined.

The leader of the defectors (Adams) also revealed that to avoid the desperate chieftains of the PDP in Edo, many of the defectors were hidden throughout the night, as he handed over his resignation from the PDP to Oshiomhole, while assuring that he and his supporters would work hard to ensure the election of Okpebholo and Idahosa.

Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Monday, April 29, inaugurated the Labour House along Temboga Road, Ikpoba-Hill, Benin, and named the building after a former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Senator Adams Oshiomhole.

He also increased the minimum wage from N40,000 to N70,000, with effect from May 1, 2024.

Edo commissioner for communication and orientation, Chris Nehikhare, described the newly-built labour house, which would house the secretariats of Edo chapters of NLC and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), and put in place by Obaseki’s administration, as second to none, and the most magnificent labour house in Nigeria.

Investigation by our reporter in Benin, however, revealed that Obaseki, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), naming the labour house after Oshiomhole, an ex-national chairman of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), was to mend fences with his former godfather, who made him Edo governor in 2016 on APC’s platform, but he defected to PDP on June 19, 2020, ahead of the September 19, 2020 governorship poll, where he sought re-election and won.

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Some leaders of APC in Benin, who spoke in confidence, insisted that naming the labour house after the representative of Edo North Senatorial District and former Edo governor was also to douse the tension over Obaseki’s strained relationship with Oshiomhole, ahead of the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo, especially the unexpected roles that he played in the removal of his benefactor (Oshiomhole) as APC’s national chairman.

The APC chieftains also disclosed that Obaseki earlier made efforts to reconcile with Oshiomhole, by contacting some national leaders (names withheld) of the governing party (APC), to plead on his behalf with the former president of NLC, but the move could not yield the desired result.

The APC’s chieftains in Edo equally declared that members of the party in the state and most of Edo electorate were determined to massively vote for APC’s governorship candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, for Obaseki’s anointed standard bearer on PDP’s platform, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, not to emerge victorious, and for Okpebholo to be inaugurated governor on November 12 this year.

Oshiomhole’s media aide, Victor Oshioke, was contacted at 4:31 p.m., for his boss’ reaction to the Edo governor naming the labour house after the ex-national chairman of APC, but he stated that he would first speak with Oshiomhole, and promised to get back to our reporter.

Former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is confident of victory in the September 21 governorship election.

Oshiomhole, who is the senator representing Edo North, cited the current unity within the APC in the state and the state affairs in opposition parties as indicators to the party’s chances.

Addressing reporters after briefing President Bola Tinubu on the level of the party’s preparations for the governorship election, the former governor said the unity within the party and the successful resolution of all issues stemmed from the primaries.

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“I came to pay my Sallah homage to the President. I came to pay my respect and to appreciate some of the positive developments we have begun to see. I also briefed him on the situation in Edo.

“With the election approaching, we are confident of victory because our party is united. We have resolved all issues arising from the primaries. We have established a campaign council and are ready to proceed.

“Our opponents are facing various crises, even the Labour Party (LP), while the APC remains stable. We eagerly await INEC’s announcement on April 24 to commence our campaign.

“Mr. President assured us of his support, but we understand that ultimately, it’s up to us to mobilise and secure victory. We are determined to craft a campaign message that resonates with the people of Edo and captures their imagination,” he said.

Former Edo state governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, revealed on Wednesday, February 21, that President Bola Tinubu has endorsed the non-zoning approach for the rescheduled All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary, scheduled for Thursday, February 22.

Speaking to reporters at the State House in Abuja after a meeting with President Tinubu, Oshiomhole, who also served as the national chairman of the APC, criticized those advocating for zoning in the Edo APC’s case, citing processes in Kogi and Benue states as justification.

The party leader, currently representing Edo North at the Senate, stated that he sought clarification from President Tinubu, regarding the selection process for the party’s candidate in the upcoming Edo state election.

He asserted that the President favours a transparent process that reflects the desires of the majority of party members.

Oshiomhole’s visit came amid the controversies trailing the APC governorship primary, which result had initially been announced in favour of Hon Dennis Idahosa, but was later declared inconclusive by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party over protests by some other party stakeholders.

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Two other candidates including Senator Monday Okpebholo and Sunday Dekeri also claimed victory as they accused the former governor of trying to impose Idahosa.

Edo APC stakeholders opposed to Idahosa have cited the fact that he is from the same Edo South Senatorial District as the incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki who is completing his two-term eight-year tenure, advocating that power should move to a different zone.

But Oshiomhole insisted that after discussing the zoning question with President Tinubu, the President expressed his commitment only to a free and fair primary.

He said Tinubu told him that the rescheduled primary should not be based on zoning but on the will of the majority of APC.

Oshiomhole maintained after allowing Kogi State Governor Usman Ododo to succeed Yahaya Bello even though they are from the same senatorial district, and also not stop the Tivs from dominating Benue State governorship elections, the APC cannot single out Edo State for zoning.

Details shortly…