Godwin Obaseki, the governor of Edo State, says Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), is inciting electorates in the state against him.
Mr Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, had in a televised broadcast today advised electorates in Edo State not to reelect Mr Godwin who is seeking re-election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The APC chieftain who described the governor as a dictator said he manifested the signs by preventing 14 members of the Edo State House of Assembly from being sworn in when 10 of their colleagues took oath of office.
But in a Tuesday statement by Crusoe Osagie, his special adviser on media, Mr Godwin said the former governor is against him because should he win the guber poll scheduled for September 19, Lagos State residents might adopt his formula to end the political empire of Tinubu in the South-West state and region.
The Edo helmsman was obviously referring to the ordeal of Akinwumi Ambode, former governor of Lagos State who was denied re-election over reports of offending Tinubu.
Mr Godwin who had visited Tinubu for intervention in a bid to end the brawl he had with his predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole, which led to his disqualification from using the APC for re-election, said the people of the state are determined to end godfatherism in their political domain.
“Our attention has been drawn to a television broadcast in which a former Lagos State Governor and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his quest to extend his political dominance and empire to Edo State, decided to take over the role of Edo people to choose through the ballot who to govern them for the next four years,” the statement read.
“It has become obvious that the spirited fight which Edo people have put up against godfatherism has sent tremors beyond the shores of Edo to the likes of Tinubu, who has for years sustained a stranglehold on Lagos and other states in South Western Nigeria, hence this desperate, last ditch effort to rescue the unproductive political instrument, now popularly referred to as godfatherism, with which he has feathered his nest and built his political empire at the expense of the people.
“Tinubu knows clearly that come September 19, when godfatherism would have been dismantled in Edo State, the people of Lagos may just have found the recipe and formula for removing the chokehold placed on their collective destinies for decades by Tinubu, hence the inciting television broadcast.
“He should take note that Edo people do not yield their will, liberty and power of choice to oppressive figures because they are perceived to have economic and political means. Like one of the great sons of Edo, former Governor and former National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, recently said, our people do not give in to ‘primitive loyalties.’ We always chase noble causes and a little study of our history, should show Tinubu the indomitable spirit of the Edo person.
“Edo stands in the heart of the old Midwestern Region, which was the only region created through plebiscite, which underscores our capacity to determine our destiny as a people. The blood which ran in the veins of the leaders of that time is still the same that runs in the vein of the leaders of Edo State today,” it added.
