…we won’t appeal outcome – Obaseki’s aide
…APC will suffer dire consequences, says Odigie-Oyegun
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and two others ineligible to contest in the July 22 governorship primary election in Edo State.
The screening committee announced the disqualification while presenting its report to the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee in Abuja on Friday.
Apart from Obaseki, the two other disqualified aspirants are Chris Ogiemwonyi and Mathew Iduoriyekenwen.
Chairman of the panel, Prof. Jonathan Ayuba, while presenting the report explained that Obaseki was disqualified because the committee could not vouch for the authenticity of the Higher School Certificate he claimed but could not produce.
The committee held that the document he produced only attested to his attendance.
The seven-man screening committee led by Ayuba said the report is conclusive, adding that all members of the panel signed the report.
Ayuba said the committee was thorough in the process of conducting the exercise, adding that the process was recorded and the unedited recording would be made available to the party.
Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie on Friday described as unjust the outcome of the evaluation and screening process of the APC, which disqualified Governor Godwin Obaseki from participating in the June 22 primaries of the ruling party.
Osagie, who described the process as a mockery of the democratic process, said they would not appeal the outcome of the screening exercise.
“We have watched the mockery of democratic process, which Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, is administering and superintending over in our great party the All Progressives Congress (APC). It has been an unfortunate, disheartening and dreadful spectacle.
“We had initially asserted that going by the open display and enthronement of illegality by one man in the party that comprises several organs and eminent personalities, there is no way that Governor Godwin Obaseki would get a fair assessment in the run-up to the nomination of candidates to fly the flag of the party in the forthcoming Edo gubernatorial election.
“It is unfortunate that this open show of shame, illegality and travesty of justice is the brand of democracy which Comrade Oshiomhole has reduced the APC into. The situation is quite saddening because this is a party supposedly reputed for change, equity and social justice.
“We have therefore decided that it would be effort in futility to appeal whatever the unjust outcome of the evaluation and screening process of the APC will be, especially when Comrade Oshiomhole has declared that he is the Supreme Court and ultimate determiner of the fate and future of our great party.
“We wish Oshiomhole luck in his maladministration of the party and trust that the Almighty will help our country to find the path to true liberty, freedom and justice.”
Osagie called on all party members and the teeming supporters of Governor Obaseki to remain calm and await further directives.
Meanwhile, a former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said the party will suffer “dire consequences” in Edo State on account of the disqualification of Governor Godwin Obaseki by the APC screening panel.
Odigie-Oyegun described the outcome of the screening as a hatchet job aimed at installing a stooge that will allow some people unfettered access to the Edo Treasury.
This was contained in a statement signed by his Media Adviser, Chief Ray Morphy, in Abuja, on Friday.
The statement read in part, “While not a surprise, that disqualification is a clear indication that internal democracy has been murdered in APC, a party which we founded on the principles of fair play and good conscience!
“I daresay that APC will suffer dire consequences in Edo state if this disqualification is not speedily reversed.
“As a matter of fact, Oshiomhole is indeed the one who is guilty of anti-party (activities), not Obaseki. Oshiomhole is the one who is acting unconstitutionally not Obaseki. I hope that Oshiomhole will not go down in history as the undertaker of APC.”
