…Mocks Oshiomhole
By Myke Uzendu, Àbuja
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 elections, Atiku Abubakar and former Senate President, Bukola Saraki have congratulated Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on his entry into the PDP.
Atiku in a press statement by his media office on Friday, welcomed Governor Obaseki to the PDP, which he described as a truly people’s party.
The former Vice President expressed confidence that the people of Edo State will be the better for his choice, noting that Governor Obaseki was joining the PDP when the party is poised to deliver good governance to the people of Nigeria.
“I am happy that you have finally exited the oppressive ruling party and joined the truly democratic party in Nigeria. I have no doubt that your coming into the PDP would further strengthen our party to mobilize the people behind the common cause of deepening democratic ethos in our country and restoring prosperity to our people.
“The PDP that you have come to join today is a reformed and repositioned party – one that lives by its name of being a truly democratic party.
“I have an unflinching conviction that your joining the party would be an asset to the PDP. Together, we can work to extinct every form of undemocratic tendencies in our body politic and realign the good people of Edo State to the moving train of democracy and restoration of good governance to the country”, Atiku said.
Also welcoming the governor in another statement signed by Signed Yusuf Olaniyonu, of Abubakar Bukola Saraki Media Office in Abuja, he noted that the bigger commendation and appreciation should go to the leaders of the Edo State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the various levels for the sense of sacrifice, patriotism and devotion to the progress of the party demonstrated by them in the process of welcoming Obaseki into its fold.
“I also thank Obaseki’s colleagues, the PDP Governors, for their role and for ensuring that while bringing him into the party, they carried along the local chapter and refrain from just unilaterally taking decisions without the input of the leaders of the party in Edo State. The process our Governors adopted in working with the local chapter to bring in the Governor is a better approach than the system in many of the other parties where the National Working Committee (NWC) would simply just give him a membership card.
“That is why my appeal will, at this point, go to all of us, the leaders and stakeholders, who gave assurances that agreement will be honoured, we need to ensure that the NWC of our party plays its own supervisory role by making sure that those agreements entered into by the Governor and the local chapter should be kept, particularly since I am very sure they are all lawful and in the interest of peace and development of the state. That is the only way to keep our integrity intact.
“At this point, it will be odd if I fail to comment on the situation that led to the change of party by Governor Obaseki. While I have kept my cool and ignored all the verbal attacks directed at me by the suspended chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, I have always known that a day like this would come when his masquerade will dance naked in the market.
“The truth is always constant and no matter how far falsehood travels, the truth will catch up with it one day. Oshiomhole can fool people for a long time but he cannot fool the people all the time. What is happening to him now is a moment of truth. This same man who was garrulously proclaiming the end of the political career of some other people is now about to meet his Waterloo.
“He has continued to use his mouth to divide his party and I believe there is a lesson for all politicians to learn from the fate of the suspended APC chairman. No autocrat can successfully pretend to be a Democrat. The true character of a man will come out one day”, he said.
Saraki further stated that all lovers of democracy should be interested in the emergence of a healthy and strong party system and organisation which would provide viable platforms for people to aspire and provide quality leadership to the country.
