Edo 2020: Party Chieftain Reveals Reason Why PDP Picked Obaseki

Edo State former Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Kassim Afegbua has claimed that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), handed the party’s governorship ticket to Governor Godwin Obaseki because he is in charge of the state’s fund.

Brandnewsday reports that Afegbua made this known in a statement made available to reporters in Abuja on Sunday, describing PDP’schoice of Obaseki as a bad omen. Adding that PDP allegedly grabbed the incumbent Governor’s trousers by the pocket.

He said Obaseki was picked because he will finance the campaign.

The PDP chieftain claimed that he stood against the backdrop of the PDP’s plot to suspend him at his ward.

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Edo 2020: Obaseki

Afegbua said: “My current position is informed by a number of factors. First, it is wrong for a party to surreptitiously surrender its apparatus, privileges, structures and ‘ideological’ stratosphere to a new entrant as though there were no persons in the party.”

Reacting to the PDP primary election postponed, he said the primary elections were rescheduled within 24 hours and all processes leading to the event were disrupted just because of a new entrant.

“If the urge was dictated by altruistic intention to feature Godwin Obaseki on account of strong and result-driven leadership, or performance, one could have understood, but anywhere I turned, the motivation was that Obaseki has state funds to fund the campaigns. Should that be a selling point if truly we are serious-minded opposition?”

The PDP chieftain recalled that only three months ago, his party lambasted Obaseki’s colourless leadership, scoring him F9 in all the critical sectors of the Edo economy.

Recall that Obaseki defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) he was at loggerheads with Adams Oshiomhole, the immediate past National Chairman of the party.

In a related vein, APC disqualified the governor from participating in the June 22 primary election, due to misspelling of name on his certificate.

Despite depicting to PDP, Obaseki emerged as the governorship candidate in the coming Edo election.