Obaseki, bad omen for PDP, says ex-commissioner
Yusuf Alli, Abuja
A former Commissioner for Information and Orientation in Edo State, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said on Sunday that the choice of Governor Godwin Obaseki as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) governorship candidate was a bad omen.
He said it was wrong for PDP to concede the governorship ticket to Obaseki because he controlled state’s funds to finance the campaign.
Afegbua queried PDP for allegedly grabbing Obaseki’s trousers by the pocket.
He made his position known in a statement in Abuja against the backdrop of plot to suspend him at his ward.
Afegbua said in good conscience, he cannot tolerate the candidature of Obaseki, who de-marketed PDP in 2016.
He said: “My current position is informed by a number of factors. First, it is wrong for a party to surreptitiously surrender its apparati, privileges, structures and “ideological” stratophere to a new entrant as though there were no persons in the party.
“Within 24 hours, scheduled primary elections were postponed, and all processes leading to the scheduled event were disrupted. If the urge was dictated by altruistic intention to feature Godwin Obaseki on account of strong and result-driven leadership, or performance, one could have understood, but anywhere I turned, the motivation was that Obaseki has state funds to fund the campaigns. Should that be a selling point if truly we are serious-minded opposition?
“Only three months ago, the state chapter of the PDP lambasted Governor Obaseki’s lacklustre leadership in the state, and scored him F9 in all the critical sectors of the Edo economy; health, education, human capital development, infrastructure, and economy.
– The Nation
