There seems to be no end to the raging war of words between foot soldiers of the feuding Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, and the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole as a former youth leader of the APC, in the state, Osakpanwa Eriyo this Tuesday lambasted a chieftain of the party and an Obaseki sympathiser, Charles Idahosa, for accusing the immediate past governor of the state of nominating 95 percent of the governor’s political aides.
Idahosa had criticised Oshiomhole for allegedly replacing the political godfathers he boasted to have defeated and retired. To buttress his allegation that Oshiomhole was playing the role of a godfather, the former political adviser to the ex-governor stated that Oshiomhole brought the governor, brought his deputy and secretary to government, as well as the chairmen of the 18 local government councils in the state and majority of members of the state House of Assembly.
Eriyo described the allegation by Idahosa as misleading and untrue. According to him, “it is sad that Mr. Idahosa is always making himself available for any government in power to be used in dishing out falsehood. His comment accusing Oshiomhole of imposing almost the entire cabinet in the administration of Obaseki is another ploy by Idahosa to create diversion from the real issues in the APC”.
In a press statement, Eriyo who is now the national president of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, stated that “first of all, Oshiomhole is not Idahosa’s mate politically and otherwise, and I believe that is the reason why leader (Oshiomole) does not want to join issues with Idahosa. But we have to set the records straight because we were all part and parcel of the APC administration before the coming of Obaseki who is today playing god”.
According to him, “it is on record that Oshiomhole never bothered about who governor Obaseki hired in his administration; rather, It is on record that it was Obaseki who gave Oshiomhole three Commissioners even when he was just the chairman of the state Economic Team. If Oshiomhole has a hand in the appointment of 95 percent officials, he should have also pushed the governor to appoint people into boards and parastatals in the state which the governor refused to do”.
Eriyo said it was an open secret that Oshiomhole decided to stay away so that Obaseki would have a free hand “but having failed in his duties to keep the APC united, the governor is now hiring people like Idahosa to lay the blames on Oshiomhole’s shoulders” adding that if Oshiomhole actually had the powers like Idahosa stated, “we will not have the problems we are having today in Edo APC because Oshiomhole would have known what to do. Oshiomhole is not a greedy man nor a godfather as the enemies are trying to portray him and we wish he actually behaves like a god father so that APC will not be destroyed by people like Idahosa and the governor”.
Eriyo, therefore, warned that “they should stop blackmailing Oshiomhole who is not in the state and face the consequences of their actions” adding that “we will resist any attempt by any group or an individual to rubbish the name of the national chairman in Edo State”.
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