By Kolawole Ojebisi
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki has said some governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are still supporting him despite his defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Obaseki announced his defection to the PDP on Friday following his disqualification by the APC screening committee.
The APC committee had cited “defective” certificates as the reason for screening him out of the race.
Speaking with reporters after being screened by his new party, the governor said the same certificates that the APC rejected were the ones he presented to the PDP screening committee without any objection being raised.
“The screening was fair, it was very professionally done. You could see objectivity and I presented all my certificates- my secondary school, higher school, university and my National Youth Service Certificates, so that they can look at them and see if there are inconsistencies in them. You can ask the screening committee if there are any inconsistencies in any of them.”
On his support base, he said: “I thank God that I enjoy national support not just from my colleagues from the APC. I think the support is national. There are elder statesmen who are apolitical, there are traditional rulers.
“I have people from different spectrum of the society who come around to support. Generally, I think Nigerians are generally fair-minded people. They are people who do not accept injustice.
He stated that the support for his reelection bid has a national spread.
“From what I have seen over the past several weeks and months, the support is just across board. It is not just from APC governors alone.” Obaseki said.
If he clinches the PDP ticket, he would swap roles with his rival in 2016. Osagie Ize-Iyamu, whom he defeated in the last governorship election, has crossed over to the APC and he is believed to be enjoying the support of the APC leadership to emerge as its guber candidate this week.
