‘How I tried reconciling Obaseki with APC leaders’

Contrary to insinuations in many quarters that his desire to play the role of a godfather is a the root of the crisis rocking the Edo state chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), national chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has revealed that the issues are largely between Governor Godwon Obaseki and some prominent leaders of the party in the state, ‘Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor reports.

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has disclosed his numerous efforts to bring peace into the Edo state chapter APC, describing as “bullshit” the allegation that he was playing a godfather’s role in Edo state. Speaking during a recent television interview, Oshiomhole said he had tried to make peace between Governor Godwin Obaseki and some party chieftains he had issues with.

“As part of my efforts to resolve the problems in Edo state, there was a time the governor told me that he will not have anything to do with Charles Idahosa because he lost his booth during the governorship election. He wanted to know what electoral value Idahosa lays claims to. But it is here in this my living room that I invited Idahosa and he did not know the governor was coming. I invited the governor and he too did not know Idahosa was coming.

“When the governor entered the room Idahosa refused to have a handshake with him. And he used a language that was derogatory. I said no, Charles you cannot talk like that. This is the governor and you must respect him. And I say, governor please whatever Charles has done that you are not happy about, we have won put, them behind you. I said in this business, if you don’t work with people because of their electoral value, sometimes you work with them because of their nuisance value. So you will not gain by saying you won’t work with this one or this one,” Oshiomhole recalled.

Speaking further, the APC national chairman explained how he urged another party leader not to leave the party. “If you ask Rev. Egharevba, he will tell you I got to know that he was not participating in APC activities because of the way the governor was treating them. I drove to his house and I said ‘Rev, I met you in this party, so why are you leaving the party now’. They were in ACN then before I came to form an alliance with them.  He said was it not you who introduced this man to us and look at the way he is treating everybody now.

“I said okay, with time he will change. I now asked him not to leave the party. I explained to him that those in government are tenants in power; the landlords are the party leaders and members. It is the party that produced the governor so if you are not happy with the governor, you don’t run away from the party because the maximum tenancy is eight years, but your party membership can be for life. You can see that he now attends party meetings. He told me his frustrations, but I said they are not enough. He blamed me that I introduced Obaseki to them; I said yes but I am human.”

Continuing, Oshiomhole added that, “Prince Eweka came here and said I should beg the governor. He said although the two of them are cousins, he is not treating him well. I told the governor please he is an elder. I have known Prince Eweka for long. So I can mention names of people who I stopped from leaving the party by making peace and resolving their problem with the governor. When people say my group, everybody in Edo APC belongs to my group because I have no problem with anyone. Who is not in my group? Is Obaseki not in my group? Who is in the party that is with him that is opposed to me? Nobody.

“The only problem is that the Governor says there are people he cannot stand but I said it is difficult in this business to pick and choose. I urged him to learn from our President. Our President was candidate on ANPP platform. At a point his had his reasons for living ANPP and formed CPC. But when we formed the APC, he didn’t refuse to work with those who joined from the ANPP his former party. The logic of numbers means that you must embrace all. But somehow he just refused,’ the national chairman claimed.

Explaining his grouse with the governor further, Oshiomhole revealed that “my embarrassment is when they say I want to be like a godfather. If I wanted to be, then I will be nominating Commissioners. I only persuaded him to accept one Commissioner from me. Only one and I gave my reasons. It was because the person, Mika, was a founding member of my campaign organization in 2006. Other than Mika, I did not nominate any commissioner. I did not nominate any Special Adviser or Special Assistant because for me these are governance issues. So where is the godfather from?

“To be honest, I regard the governor as my brother and a very close friend. What I owe him is to assist where he wants me to. To help him make peace with anyone who he has issues with. You people forgot that when the governor went to Uhumwonde was the peak of his crisis with Idahosa. He said he, as the governor, is going to take the leadership in Uhumwonde that the place is his ancestral home. And now he is going to do special development in Uhumwonde but he is not going to do it with politicians.

“He said the politicians Uhumwonde has produced never worked for the development of Uhumwonde. And so he is going to set up special development committee not made up of politicians but community leaders so he will relate with the community leaders and not politicians. But I advised him that ‘by all means, relate with community leaders but don’t exclude party leaders because their roles are not the same. I told him whatever you want to do in governance do, but when it comes to party leaders my brother be careful.”

Insisting that he is still doing everything within his power in the interest of the party in spite of the wrong allegations against his person by those he claim are either not informed enough about the happenings in Edo or are deliberately peddling falsehood to further escalate the crisis within the ruling party, Comrade Oshiomhole, said the APC remains strong in the state. “For us, we are helping to make sure the party is strong. When people talk about godfather, I say it is bullshit. I have no interest in running the government,” he added.