*Obaseki Says He Won’t Get Justice With Oshiomhole
By Hamilton Nwosa(Head, The New Diplomat’s Polling and data tracking desk)
With just a few days to the June 22 governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress(APC), the party has screened six of its governorship aspirants who collected party nomination forms to vie for the exalted seat of Governor of Edo State.
The New Diplomat’s checks indicate that those screened last night are incumbent Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki who is seeking re-election bid, former Edo State deputy governor, Dr Pius Odubu, former Minister of state for Works, Engr Chris Ogiemwonyi, former Secretary to the Government of Edo state, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Hon Osaro Obazee and Mr Matthew Iduorieyekemwe.
Governor Obaseki who completed his screening at about 10 pm accused the National chairman of the APC and his estranged benefactor, Comarde Adams Oshiomhole of bias against him, alleging that he would not likely get justice with Oshiomhole in charge of affairs at the APC.
“The last time I came here, I asked that Oshiomhole recuse himself from the process in the interest of peace and justice. But as a party man, I have had to go through the screening like everybody else. Since he is the judge and the jury in this matter, I will just wait for the outcome of the screening. I have given them all the information they need; the controversial certificate from the University of Ibadan has been tendered.
“Like I said, as a party man I have gone 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.
“One of the questions that were 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? I just felt that if we put politics above the lives of the people of Edo State, then we may be missing the point”.
Recall that Governor Obaseki had earlier in the day arrived the APC national secretariat at about 1pm but left before returning later in the evening at about 7:50pm to face the party’s screening committee.
On his part, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a former Secretary to the Government of Edo state who is Obaseki’s main challenger left the APC national secretariat at about 6:30pm after his screening. Others screened were former deputy Governor of Edo State, Dr Pius Odubu, Engr Chris Ogiemwonyi, Hon Osaro Obazee, and Mr Matthew Iduorieyekemwe.
After the screening exercise, the committee is required to submit its report to the National Working Committee(NWC) of the APC for examination and necessary action. While speaking with reporters shortly before the Committee went into exclusive closed-door sessions, Prof. Jonathan Ayuba who is the chair of the screening team said its team role entails ascertaining documents submitted by the aspirants.
He explained: “We took this challenge not because it is easy. It is complex and we are putting our integrity at stake. We are not a judicial committee and we are not investigating. Ours is to verify and verification of whatever is submitted to us is based on evidence and also facts. So, that is what we are going to be dealing with.
“Ours is to do our assignment, ours is not to pass judgment because we are not a court of law, Ours is to make recommendations. And I urge you to wait for the official release of such recommendations by the party.
“We are going to interact with all those that indicated interests and if there is any issue, we will raise it with them. There is a difference between a judicial commission. After all, we cannot make a pronouncement because we are not a court of law. The document before us is the same document we are going to present to all those that have purchased the forms. So our interaction is based on that.”
