Cracks in PDP over Obaseki

• Party’s aspirants insists on contesting primaries
• Deputy Governor Shuaibu may lose out in deal
• Okowa leads lobby for governor’s defection
• Dump APC, supporters tell Obaseki
• APC NWC upholds disqualification, expels Iduorikemwen
• Petition raises fresh hurdle for Edo governor

By Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation and ‘Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor

The planned defection of Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is already upsetting the order in the opposition party with leaders taking divergent positions on alleged plot to concede the party’s governorship ticket to him.

While several PDP governors and leaders are for the concession, a few others are resisting the offer on the grounds that it would not help party discipline.

Some old members are said to be angry at what they see as preferential treatment for Obaseki in the race for the governorship ticket.

They are worried that the allegations which cost Obaseki the APC ticket may work against the PDP in the event that he emerges as the party’s candidate.

Some governors want those allegations sorted out before any concession is made.

Top PDP members including former President Goodluck Jonathan and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar are rooting for Obaseki to cross over to the party.

Although the governor is yet to make a formal statement on where he is headed after rejecting the offer to appeal his disqualification by the APC, reports from his camp indicate that his political future lies in the PDP.

A non-governmental organization, Rainbow Push Coalition (RPC) yesterday added a new dimension to the controversy surrounding Obaseki when it accused him of holding two voter cards in violation of the Electoral Law.

Investigation by The Nation showed that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and the two PDP Senators from Edo State, Clifford Ordia (Edo Central) and Urhoghide Aishagbonnriodion (Edo South) are behind the plot to give the governorship ticket to Obaseki.

Sources said they facilitated the secret talks between Obaseki and some PDP governors and party leaders.

The secret talks were in anticipation of his disqualification by the APC Screening Committee.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and the influential former Chairman of PDP in the state, Chief Dan Orbih, are yet to make any commitment.

Although Obaseki’s defection plan is yet to be formally tabled before the party, it was gathered that he was given some conditions at the secret talks for him to get the governorship ticket.

The conditions are:

*Membership waiver and nomination waiver for the governor

*Automatic governorship slot for Obaseki.

* The State Deputy Governor, Phillip Shuaibu, may not be retained as Obaseki’s deputy.

* No return to APC if Obaseki wins the election.

*Collapse of Obaseki’s structure into the PDP.

*His coming should not cause crisis in PDP

*Accommodation of PDP members in his administration.

A top PDP source said: “These terms excited Obaseki. This is why he wasted no time in saying that he would not contest his disqualification by APC.

“We are yet to table all these conditions before the National Working Committee and the National Executive Committee of PDP. But this may be fast tracked in the coming week.

“As for the Deputy Governor, there is no way we can hand over the party and governorship ticket to Obaseki wholesale. We have to consider the interest of old members of PDP by asking one of them to be running mate to Obaseki.”

The source admitted that PDP leaders were weighing options before the relevant organs of PDP admit Obaseki.

They do not want the concession of PDP governorship ticket to Obaseki to plunge the party into a deeper crisis.

Another party source said: “Our leaders are weighing the options on whether or not to take a risk with Obaseki but without plunging the party into a serious crisis.

“The truth is that PDP is not strong and all the aspirants that have emerged cannot match the electoral strength of APC. But getting Obaseki will add value to our challenge to APC candidate.

“Apart from incumbency factor, Obaseki has enough facts and figures to de-market APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who is  a factor in this forthcoming poll. He also has the war chest to confront APC.

“Some of our leaders like ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar are being consulted. Some of our governors have thrown their weight behind Obaseki. But not all the governors and leaders have bought into his candidature.

“The level we are is to weigh the options as to whether we should field him, because we cannot gloss over the allegations raised by the APC against Obaseki.

“Part of the options is legal advice on his eligibility. Some of our leaders are also suspicious of his alleged plans to return to APC if he wins the election.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “Some leaders have been covertly negotiating with Obaseki in the past few weeks because it was obvious he would be disqualified.”

Another source said that following Friday’s announcement by the leadership of the PDP that it was willing to welcome Obaseki into its fold and even give him a chance to seek the gubernatorial ticket of the party, some prominent chieftains of the party have swung into action to avert what they see as a looming destructive error.

Highly placed party sources said yesterday that after several weeks of considering what has become known within the party as the ‘Obaseki project’, a group of prominent party leaders consisting of serving governors and other stakeholders on Friday communicated their readiness to support the candidacy of the governor if he left for the PDP.

But not all of them initially bought into the project.

The source said: “A good number of those in the group, a very powerful clique within the party for that matter, had before then distanced themselves from the Obaseki project, even as the governor’s lobbyists worked hard on them for their endorsement.

“A governor from the South-South, who before now made it clear he would  never support Obaseki as PDP candidate, is now among those calling on the party in Edo State to consider giving him the ticket.

“Also, a former chairman of the party, who constantly criticised Obaseki and foreclosed the possibility of the governor joining the PDP and picking its gubernatorial ticket, is said to have told his supporters that they may have no choice but to back Obaseki, given the support he now enjoys among prominent party leaders, especially at the national level.”

Among those who threw their weight behind Obaseki on Friday were a former President and a former presidential candidate, the source said.

The Nation gathered that some PDP members are skeptical about Obaseki’s chances in the face of the reasons given by the APC for denying him fresh nomination.

The APC Screening Panel which interacted with Obaseki premised his disqualification on: claiming to have a Higher School Leaving Certificate which is unknown to the Nigerian educational system; allegedly being in possession of an affidavit disowned by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory; error in the National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate which bears Obasek as against Obaseki; loss of primary, secondary and Higher School Leaving certificates; alleged violation of Article 21 D (V) of the party’s constitution, which forbids members from taking the party to court; legal precedents occasioned by the judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court on discrepancies in names.

Chieftains of the PDP are now said to be worried that his indictment by the APC screening committee may hurt his chances of delivering the state to the PDP even if he gets the party’s ticket and win the governorship election.

“The fear of the Bayelsa experience where the APC lost the state to PDP in spite of a resounding victory at the polls is now the beginning of wisdom for our leaders as far as the Obaseki project is concerned,” the source said.

There were also indications that governorship aspirants on the platform of the PDP might have resolved to reject any idea of stepping down for Obaseki.

It was gathered that some of them, in tandem with some party leaders, may have decided to protest the rumoured plan to have the governor join the race for the PDP ticket, arguing that “Obaseki did not obtain the nomination form as and when due, and has never been a member of the party at any point in time before now.”

One of the aspirants said: “We don’t want to waste this great opportunity to recapture the state. The APC is so weakened by intra-party crisis now than ever before.

“The people are so dissatisfied with the ruling party both here in Edo and at the federal level that it is so certain they will reject whoever their candidate is.

“And the PDP here parades very strong and popular aspirants. Any one of us currently seeking the ticket will be more acceptable to the people than an Obaseki that has been battered and de-marketed seriously by his own party men.

“Why should we then dash our ticket to a discredited figure and throw away this golden opportunity of saving Edo State from the clutches of these dealers?

“Our resolve is simple: allow a real PDP person to emerge as our candidate.

“Many of those supporting the idea of handing over the party’s ticket to the governor are now worried that with the allegations against him before the APC screening committee now in public domain, it is certain that those grounds for his disqualification will continue to dog his steps before, during and even after the governorship election.

“And if one remembers the Bayelsa saga, there is no certainty that he will not be pronounced ineligible at some point in the race.”

It was also gathered that a meeting of prominent stakeholders has been scheduled for tomorrow in Abuja to discuss the new development.

The leadership of the party may have also sought advice from its legal department on the disqualification of Obaseki by the APC screening committee.

Similarly, the legal team of the governor is said to be considering steps to ensure that the grounds for disqualification do not become banana peels for Obaseki as the guber race progresses.

NGO claims Obaseki has two voter cards

Rainbow Push Coalition (RPC), in a petition to the APC Screening Committee, said Obaseki registered as a voter twice in contravention of the Electoral Law.

The group, in the petition signed by its Director of Field Work, Solomon Ogbegie, said its ‘research showed that the governor “was involved in double registration as a voter.”

It said: “Specifically, we found the following:

“On 12th July, 2016, Godwin Obaseki presented a temporary voter card to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which he claimed to have obtained from Edo State while living at No. 11 Oghosa Street, Benin City in 2011.

“On November, 2015, the same Governor Obaseki wrote to INEC, asking for a transfer of his Voting Centre from Ikoyi, Lagos to Oredo Ward 4, Unit 19 to enable him vote there henceforth.”

“If Governor Obaseki was registered in Benin in 2011, how did he get registered in Ikoyi at the same time?

“Assuming Governor Obaseki was registered in Benin in 2011, what happened to that registration and why was it necessary to transfer his Voting Centre to Benin when he was already a registered voter in Benin City?

“From the above, it is clear that Governor Obaseki engaged in double registration contrary to Section 16(12) and 13 of the Electoral Act.”

Obaseki had in a 10th November 2015 letter to the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Edo State sought the transfer of his voting centre from Ikoyi in Lagos to Oredo Ward 4 in Benin.

The letter said: “I wish to apply for the transfer of my registration centre from its current location in Ikoyi, Lagos State to Edo State, which is my home state so as to enable me vote there henceforth.

*I will like my new voting centre to now be in Oredo Ward 4, Unit 019. Please, find attached a copy of my Permanent Voters Card. I look forward to your prompt approval of my request.”

Atiku woos Godwin Obaseki to join PDP

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is said to have contacted Obaseki on Friday night to persuade him to join the PDP in his reelection bid.

Atiku flew the PDP Presidential ticket in 2019 and his son said last week that he would contest again in 2023.

Online publication, The Cable, reported that Atiku contacted Obaseki soon after he was disqualified by the APC.

Quoting a source, it said the former VP “is wooing Obaseki on behalf of PDP. He spoke with him yesterday and encouraged him to join the PDP.

“He also spoke to some of the PDP governors and urged them to give him a soft landing and access to the party.”

 ‘Obaseki unfazed by APC disqualification’

Governor Obaseki’s Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, said yesterday that his principal was “unfazed by his disqualification by the All Progressives Congress (APC) screening committee for the party’s primary election.”

Osagie in a statement in Benin said: “The governor is unfazed, even as he would soon announce his next line of action. But at the moment, Edo people and civil society organisations (CSOs) are solidly standing behind the governor. They have declared unflinching support for him and the ideals he stands for.

“The market women, labour unions, clerics, women groups, the elderly, artisan groups, youths, among others, are strongly in support of the governor’s ambition and his stance to keep the state’s treasury sealed from those who have now resorted to disqualifying him from running under the APC in the gubernatorial elections because of their selfish interests. But Governor Obaseki remains undaunted and unperturbed.

“For Obaseki, it is Edo people or nothing. This is why he has remained in this battle thus far. Among many other reasons, each of the groups that form the governor’s support base have benefitted from Governor Obaseki’s stance against thuggery and extortion.

“The governor has enthroned probity and accountability in governance. For labour unions, regular salaries, clearing of over 20 months pension arrears and providing a conducive work environment is what is gearing them to support the governor.

“The pensioners are fully in support of his policies. The governor has not only cleared pension arrears accrued since 1999 but would soon commence the payment of gratuities.”

He added that the governor’s loyalty lies with Edo people, adding: “The governor’s loyalty rests with Edo people. He would not trade them away to those who have decided to become godfathers and waging a war of impunity to subjugate the people.”

Why Obaseki may defect to Accord Party

The Accord Party has joined the PDP in wooing Governor Obaseki to join its fold.

The governor yesterday met with critical stakeholders and representatives of his supporters across the 18 local government areas of the state and briefed them on his next political move, especially his planned defection.

It was gathered that Obaseki reached out to the leaders of Accord Party in view of the condition given him by the PDP that he would not be allowed to run with his current deputy, Mr. Philip Shaibu.

The governor is likely to convert secretariat of his faction of the APC in the state to the new secretariat of Accord Party, with his ally, Anselm Ojezua, in charge.

READ ALSO: Obaseki’s screening was hatchet job — Oyegun

The mobile line of Obaseki’s Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, was not available for his reaction, as at press time last night.

Edo 2020: Groups lead ‘peace walk’ in Edo

Call for end to godfatherism

A coalition of civil society groups in Edo State under the aegis of Edo Civil Society Coalition for Peace and Development at the weekend led a ‘Peace Walk’ to promote peace and campaign for an end to godfatherism in the state.

The groups also expressed worries over the rising political tension in the state, noting their displeasure on the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Screening Committee which disqualified the incumbent governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Comrade Batholomew Okoudo frowned at the political crisis and fisticuffs among the ruling party’s stakeholders, calling for peace and unity in Edo State.

Okoudo, who condemned the party’s decision for a direct primary and called for an end to godfatherism in the state, said the life of Edo people is more important that the selfish ambition of any politician.

He added: “Those in positions of authority must ensure that the interests of the people are considered. Those in charge of the primary should be peaceful rather than hijacking the situation and process, putting the lives of all Edo people in danger.”