By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has disclosed that one of his offences at the All Progressives Congress (APC) was that he refused to share money to stakeholders.
Obaseki made the disclosure on Saturday in Abuja after facing the Governorship Screening Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
The governor said that he criticised the PDP during his campaign in 2016, mocking them as a party that was only sharing money, only to be accused of not sharing money when he was the chief executive of the state.
According to him, what mattered most was getting the dividend of democracy to the people.
He said, “. Unfortunately, I get a beat confused in the APC. At some point, I was being accused of not sharing the money.
“When we were campaigning against PDP, we said that the problem there was that they were sharing the money.
“At this point in time, it is important that I will provide string and correct leadership, provide a direction for the country and about our people, provide the basic amenities that they need, education, health care, good infrastructure, these are the things that our people are yearning for. These are the things that we are doing in Edo state today”.
The governor said that since his ordeal, he has enjoyed great support from all Nigerians especially APC governors.
“I still thank God that I enjoy national support not just support from my colleagues from the APC, I think the support is national. There are elder statesmen who are apolitical, there are traditional rulers, I have people from different spectrum of the society who come around to show solidarity with me and support because I think Nigerians are generally fair minded people.
“They are people who do not accept injustice. From what I have seen over the past several weeks and months, the support is just across the board. It is not just from APC governors alone”.
On his certificate which was under contention at the APC, Obaseki said that he submitted all his credentials to the screening committee and that they are free to point out if there are inconsistencies therein.
“The screening was fair, it was very professionally done. You could see objectivity and I presented all my certificates, my secondary school, higher school, university and my National Youth service certificate, so that they can look at it and see if there are inconsistencies in them and you can ask the screening committee if there are any inconsistencies in any of them?” he stated.
He expresses confidence that the committee will be fair minded and that he will be given a clean report at the end of the exercise.
Earlier, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, who is the Chairman of the Committee has assured the governor that the Committee will look at his documents with out bias and ensure that he gets justice at the and of the day.
He equally took time to explain to him, the enormity of task he will face if he is re-elected as the governor of Edo state.
“We welcome you to the PDP and also sympathise with you, as a Nigerian, this time that you have offered yourself to service to our nation. A nation where the power authorities rely on generator to function.
“A nation where some of our police stations close at 6pm because of security issues. A nation where hunters now lead our soldiers to the warfront.
“This is a nation where the President and the Chief of army staff communities are beseeched with security issues. A nation where citizens provide public amenities for themselves which includes private bore hole in your premises, you must have a generating set at home, private security guard, including contributions by members of the community for things like transformers, construction of roads within our communities, this is the kind of nation you are offering yourself for service. So you must appreciate the enormity of the work that is before you.
“On behalf of this screening committee, we want to assure you that the committee will be fair, transparent and that we will do justice to whatever that comes before us, regardless of your background,” Chinda reassured.
The governor will face Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, Engr. Gideon Ikhine and Kenneth Imasuagbon in indirect primary slated for Thursday 25th June in Benin.
