- Atiku: Obaseki ‘would be an asset to the PDP’
- Obaseki And His Supporters Should Be Quarantined, Says Ize-Iyamu
Top chieftains of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have continued to hail the defection of Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki to their fold.
Governor Obaseki on Friday said he joined the PDP after much consultation nationwide promising that he would bring the party to winning ways again and that he had visited the secretariat to formally register with the party.
“I am prepared to provide leadership that will lead this party to victory and I am prepared to provide leadership that will not only put PDP in office in Edo state but as the ruling party in Edo state , we will make sure that the level of progress, the level of hope and the level of participation in the political system by our party is unrivalled in this country,” Obaseki said while speaking at the Edo PDP Secretariat.
Read also: Edo 2020: Again, PDP Postpones Primary After Granting Waiver To Obaseki
Welcoming him to the party, the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, told Obaseki to see his entry into the party as an act of God.
This is even as the former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu said that his coming to PDP is a new dawn for the people of Edo State.
Secondus, who urged Obaseki to allow the act of God to guide his attitude in the party, told the Governor that he would soon realize that he did not make mistake in his decision as this is a party of “responsible people who respect and appreciate intellect and work by the rules and Constitution of the party.”
Secondus, in a statement by his Special Assistant, Ike Abonyi said, “there is nothing to be arrogant about power for anyone who know God and here in PDP we are guided by this fact.”
The party National Chairman, who received the new member at the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting at the party’s presidential campaign office in Abuja, announced to him that before his arrival they deliberated and approved his application for waiver for him and his deputy.
Prince Secondus said that as a party that is guided by rules, the application came from his ward in Edo state and was recommended and endorsed by the other various organs of the party in the state.
Former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki congratulated Governor Obaseki for taking the bold step.
In a statement in Abuja from his media office, Saraki noted the bigger commendation and appreciation should go to the leaders of the Edo State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the various levels for the sense of sacrifice, patriotism and devotion to the progress of the party demonstrated by them in the process of welcoming Obaseki into its fold.
Saraki’s message read in part: “I also thank Obaseki’s colleagues, the PDP Governors, for their role and for ensuring that while bringing him into the party, they carried along the local chapter and refrain from just unilaterally taking decisions without the input of the leaders of the party in Edo State.
“The process our Governors adopted in working with the local chapter to bring in the Governor is a better approach than the system in many of the other parties where the National Working Committee (NWC) would simply just give him a membership card.
“That is why my appeal will, at this point, goes to all of us, the leaders and stakeholders, who gave assurances that agreement will be honoured, we need to ensure that the NWC of our party plays its own supervisory role by making sure that those agreements entered into by the Governor and the local chapter should be kept, particularly since I am very sure they are all lawful and in the interest of peace and development of the state. That is the only way to keep our integrity intact.”
Also, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said he was happy that Obaseki finally exited the ruling party and joined his party.
“I have no doubt that your coming into the PDP would further strengthen our party to mobilise the people behind the common cause of deepening democratic ethos in our country and restoring prosperity to our people.
“The PDP that you have come to join today is reformed and repositioned party — one that lives by its name of being a truly democratic party.
“I have an unflinching conviction that your joining the party would be an asset to the PDP.
“Together, we can work to extinct every form of undemocratic tendencies in our body politic and realign the good people of Edo State to the moving train of democracy and restoration of good governance to the country”, Abubakar said.
However, the All Progressives Congress said Obaseki’s defection to the PDP was not unexpected.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, while reacting to the move said the ruling party all along knew he was heading for another party having resigned his membership of the APC.
He said; “It has not come to us as a surprise. We knew he had defected long ago because he resigned his membership of the party which we have accepted. So you cannot defect twice. If he is defecting again, we do not know whether what he has just done now is news any longer.”
The Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu Campaign Organisation said Obaseki and all those who were at the defection meeting should be quarantined because they flouted the physical distancing regulation established by the state governor.
A statement by the Director of Media and Communication of POI Campaign Organisation, John Mayaki, also noted that Obaseki was now enjoying exactly what he tried to frustrate Ize-Iyamu of when he joined the APC.
He said: “While we note interestingly that this is the same right the Governor, in his usual autocracy and abuse of power, tried to deny Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu last year when he returned to the All Progressives Congress through the sponsorship of physical and media attacks, and the institution of baseless court cases, we, as democrats and staunch believers in the rule of law, unlike Godwin Obaseki, hold nothing against it.
“However, we observed with great concern the dangerous and reckless actions of the Governor and his supporters at the venue of his defection. Without any observance of the social distancing rules, or the use of face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Mr. Godwin Obaseki assembled hundreds of Edo youths that his administration failed to gainfully engage following his failure to create 200,000 jobs as promised, and assigned them the demeaning task of singing his praises at great risk to their health during a pandemic,” Ize-Iyamu said.
