The face-off between Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki and his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, deepened yesterday.
Obaseki took exception to Wike’s attacks on him and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, saying that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not the personal property of the Rivers governor.
The Edo governor said he will not accept political bullies and overlords, reminding Wike how he had dethroned bullies and high handed leaders.
Obaseki emphasised that Edo cannot be bought.
In a newspaper advertorial on Monday, the Edo governor accused Wike of unguarded and disruptive tendencies, urging party leaders to call him to order.
Defending his deputy over his remarks about Edo PDP, Obaseki said Wike should have taken a cue from the way the national chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, responded to Shaibu’s remarks.
He collaborated Shaibu’s complaint that “the leaders, executives and members” who defected along with him from the All Progressives Congress (APC) have not been accepted, integrated and harmonised into the Edo PDP.
He lamented that the defectors were being vilified and ostracised by a cabal led by Chief Dan Orbih.
Obaseki wondered why Wike is always fond of threatening the party and party leaders.
He said while nobody is against Wike’s desire to run for President, he should not pursue his ambition in a disruptive manner.
Obaseki said: “While Wike is free to use his resources as he deems fit in pursuit of his ambition, he should not attempt to cow, intimidate, cajole and threaten others into doing his bidding. Edo State cannot and will not be procured for anyone’s personal ambition.”
Wike, at the weekend, had called on the PDP to punish Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, for threatening to leave the party.
“This is the same deputy governor that was kneeling down to beg for us to give them umbrella, today you have the effrontery to threaten PDP. Such a shame,” he was captured saying in a video clip posted on Facebook.
According to him, the PDP was there for both Governor Godwin Obaseki and his Deputy Shaibu when both were denied the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for the 2020 election.
He said: “We went and made sure that they won that election. Today that deputy governor would be ranting. A deputy governor would come on national television to tell PDP the alternative.
“I have written to the national chairman of the party that if they don’t constitute a disciplinary committee against the deputy governor, I will invoke the sanctions of the party and will make sure they must discipline that deputy governor.”
Wike added: “A deputy governor (is) threatening the party! I have never seen a thing like this in my life. A deputy governor coming on television to tell the party if you don’t do this.
“Who’s his father?
“Deputy governor comes and threatens the whole party where we are as governors. Now that he has started the trouble, let him wait, we’ll make sure he never has rest.”
Edo State chapter of PDP has been rocked by internal power struggle since Obaseki, Shuaibu, and their political allies and supporters defected to the party.
Obaseki had won the PDP ticket in Edo and got re-elected for a second term in 2020, after his former party, APC, had refused to allow him contest the party primaries because of his political battle with Adams Oshiomhole, the then national chairman of the APC.
Those who were already in the PDP before Obaseki have been accusing the governor and others of trying to have an unfair dominance in the party and the Edo government.
They said there ought to be a balance in power-sharing in the state to compensate them for giving Obaseki the vehicle to contest and win the election.
The governor and his allies, on the other hand, have repeatedly said the other PDP members in the state were yet to integrate them into the party.
We’ve not been accepted in PDP – Shaibu
Shaibu last week hinted that he and others may leave the PDP.
“Are you planning to leave the PDP?” Channels Television reporter, Seun Okinbaloye, asked Shaibu in an interview.
The deputy governor appeared reluctant to answer the question. He paused for a few seconds before he gave his response.
“For me as Philip Shaibu, I have no plans now to leave but for Philip Shaibu and his followers and the followers of Obaseki that left APC to PDP, they all plan to leave PDP,” he said.
“But to where? For now, I don’t know. Why because we feel not accepted in the PDP. And that is the reason why we are actually thinking that it is time to just leave.
“The truth is the governor has been appealing. Some of us were not happy with the governor’s statement, saying he is not leaving PDP. We left APC because of the governor, not because we wanted to join PDP. Because of the oppression that the national chairman of APC meted on the governor,” he added.
‘We are battle-tested’ – Obaseki
Governor Obaseki, unlike Shaibu, has categorically said he is not leaving PDP.
“We have said it, PDP belongs to all of us. I am not going to leave PDP for anybody. Anybody who cannot accept my leadership of PDP in Edo State will leave PDP for us. It is as simple as that,” Obaseki said recently at a meeting with PDP chieftains in the state, according to a Channels Television report.
“We don’t like to boast, we don’t like to talk too much, but we know where we are coming from.
“We are battle-tested, we are not battle-weary,” the governor said.
Obaseki, from his remarks, gave the impression that the power struggle within the Edo PDP may have been compounded by the battle for the soul of the party at the national level, ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
He said, “Whoever is backing any groups outside Edo State, I am pleading to leave Edo alone. Leave Edo alone, Edo is not like any other state.
“Nobody has the monopoly to fight. To win an election, you need everybody to come together and work together.”
Obaseki said he would not make any commitment regarding the 2023 elections without first having an understanding with the PDP members in Edo.
“I told you, I would not do anything or commit to anything without sitting down with each and every one of you, and us agreeing on what to do and where to go.
“Whatever it is, let us all come as one family and sit down and let’s have a conversation, and let’s agree on where we want to go,” he said.
Ebomhiana Musa, the spokesperson for Shaibu, did not respond to calls and a text message seeking comment from him.
Another official of the Edo State Government, however, reportedly said on Sunday morning, that the government was preparing a response to Wike’s comment.
Obaseki
