By Emmanuel Iriogbe, ABUJA
Former Governor of Edo state and immediate predecessor to National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has come hard on his successor, Adams Oshiomhole, describing him as a disgrace PenPustate Onlineative Edo state.
He has therefore admonished the later to stop disgracing the people of the state.
Oyegun, accused Oshiomhole of fueling the crisis in the state chapter of the party, equally alleging that he is now guilty of godfatherism and anti-party activities.
Oyegun was reacting to a recent decision of the House of Representatives ad-hoc Committee indicting the state governor Godwin Obaseki for not properly issuing a proclamation for the inauguration of the state assembly.
According to Odigie-Oyegun, he is yet to come to terms as to why Oshiomhole could easily have forgotten that he (Odigie-Oyegun) never interfered in the affairs of Edo state when he held sway as the ruling party National Chairman and Oshiomhole as governor.
Oyegun’s statement was issued Sunday in Abuja and signed by his Public Affairs Adviser, Ray Morphy and made available to PenPushers.
Oyegun wondered why Oshiomhole has failed to realize that Gov. Obaseki requires the support of the party being the only APC governor in the South-South geopolitical zone rather than vilifying and destabilizing his administration.
“The recent outburst by Governor Obaseki and the report by the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee, indicting the current National Chairman of the APC, have confirmed my earlier claim that Oshiomhole is not only the architect but also responsible for fuelling the crisis in Edo state.
“In the face of these confirmations, I want to urge Oshiomhole to stop disgracing the ruling party and the good people of Edo state.
“I wonder how he could easily forget that I never interfered or bothered about how he ran the government as the then Governor of Edo state all the while I occupied the position of the party’s National Chairman.
“I am yet to come to terms as to why it has become difficult for Oshiomhole to realize that Governor Obaseki is the only APC governor in the entire South-south and should be allowed to concentrate in giving the people of Edo the dividends of democracy.
“It is shocking that a man who boastfully claimed to have buried godfatherism in the Edo state politics could become enmeshed in playing God to his successor.
“Oshiomhole is not only guilty of godfatherism but also guilty of anti-party activities considering the ignoble role he has been playing and his shameful involvement in the whole Edo crisis.
“Rather than dissipating energy in fomenting more crises, Oshiomhole should rather concentrate in ensuring that the federal government policies conform with the party’s manifesto and campaign promises to the good people of this country.
“I appeal to him once more to stop disgracing the governing party, APC and Edo state. He should give the governor a breathing space to concentrate in doing the job of serving the people of Edo state.
“I want to also appeal to the Progressives Governors not to stand aside and watch their fellow governor hampered by a party chairman whose actions may lead to political misfortunes of the party in the state,” Odigie-Oyegun warned in the statement.