The former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has disclosed leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2016 provided documents which disqualified Governor Godwin Obaseki from the APC governorship contest.
He said the APC screening committee relied on the documents to disqualify Obaseki from the party’s primary in 2020.
He spoke in his residence at the Government Reservation Area (GRA) near Government House, Benin while addressing supporters who followed him from Aduwawa on Auchi Road in the state capital.
Oshiomhole, a former Edo Governor, reiterated that the PDP’s suit in 2016 against Obaseki, then of APC, was struck out because it was filed out of time.
The ex-president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) noted that APC leaders had learnt from the mistake in Bayelsa State and decided to stick to the rules.
He said: “In 2016, PDP took Obaseki to court that he forged certificates. Now, you remember one governor (PDP’s Nyesom Wike of Rivers State) that said there are tax collectors, when something moved, they collected the taxes and the certificates became okay.
“But let me tell you, members of APC’s screening committee knew that the man who forged documents, even if you vote for him, you know what happened to us in Bayelsa State.
“So, I need to assure you that the decision of the screening committee members to disqualify the sitting governor (of Edo State) was based on the evidence provided by PDP leaders in 2016, which they found to be correct and you do not repeat the same mistake twice.
“The only task we have is to go to every unit, every community, every ward, every local government area and remind them of where we stopped and ask them since we left, what new thing has been brought?
“If I failed Godwin Obaseki’s examination, by the grace of God on Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, I will score A1.
“It is not unusual to misread people but it will be unusual after misreading them, you continue on that dangerous part.
“We have a duty to correct it. I assure you that there are no personal issues whatsoever.
“I hear some people say Oshiomhole has lost his seat as the National Chairman of APC and I asked ‘is it my father’s job?”
Oshiomhole assured that Ize-Iyamu, a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), would ensure good governance from November 12.
