Edo 2020: The Odds Are Against Me, Says Obaseki After APC Screening

Governor of Edo, Godwin Obaseki, says the constitution of the committee set up by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to vet aspirants seeking to get the party’s ticket ahead of the governorship election is skewed against him.

The screening process lasted for about two hours at the APC national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday.

Obaseki went through the process hours after Crusoe Osagie, media aide to the governor, said the committee delayed him for hours.

“The governor arrived early but the screening committee was not ready,” Osagie had said earlier in a statement on Wednesday.

“He was given the options to either wait for one hour or if he had an appointment to keep, he could go and call them to know if they were ready.

“The governor, who had a Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) meeting, went for the meeting and called when he was done, but the members of the screening committee did not pick their phones.”

He eventually met the panel.

Fielding questions from journalists after the exercise, Obaseki said he was not sure of getting justice from the committee.

He said this is because Adams Oshiomhole, APC national chairman, has refused to recuse himself from the process.

Also Read: Edo 2020: Obaseki In Litigation Mess Over Certificate Forgery

“Like I said, as a party man I had to go through the screening process but I do not believe that I will get justice because Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is an interested party in the Edo process,” the governor said.

“One of the questions asked was why did I issue a gazette that will prevent the party from performing direct elections in Edo. That did I not see it as an anti-party activity?”

Oshiomhole and Obaseki have had a long running battle over the political control of the state.

Oshiomhole is believed to be supporting Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a governorship aspirant, for the party’s ticket.

Ize-Iyamu had contested against Obaseki on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2016 but lost.

The APC primary election is scheduled for June 22.