Edo 2020: My Support Is National, Says Obaseki, As Ize-Iyamu Emerges APC Sole Aspirant

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki says his support for the contest of the September governorship race is national, despite his defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Obaseki stated this on Saturday, after undergoing screening by the primary election committee of the PDP.

Speaking to newsmen on the outcome of the screening, the governor said the same certificates that the APC rejected were the ones he presented to the PDP screening committee without any issue.

“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 Certificates, so that they can look at them and see if there are inconsistencies in them. You can ask the screening committee if there are any inconsistencies in any of them,” he said.

Responding to questions of his support base ahead of the gubernatorial election, Obaseki said his support was national, including some APC governors, elder statesmen and traditional rulers.

“I thank God that I enjoy national support not just 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 support. Generally, 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 board. It is not just from APC governors alone.”

In a related development, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, believed to have the support of the suspended national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, has now emerged as the sole aspirants of the APC for the 2020 governorship election. 

This followed the decision by the two other aspirants, cleared by the party’s screening committee to contest the party’s primary, to withdraw from the race.

The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, confirmed the development in a telephone interview with The PUNCH, in Abuja, on Friday.

Although he did not name the aspirant left in the race, but The Punch gathered that Ize-Iyamu had emerged as the candidate of the party.

Asked how many contestants were participating in the party’s governorship primary, Issa-Onilu said, “We have only one person. The two other persons have written to us to withdraw from the race.”

With this, the path is now clear for the 2016 PDP governorship candidate who later defected to the APC, to contest with whoever emerges candidate of the main opposition.

The APC fixed tomorrow Monday, June 22 for its primary election, but given the sole candidacy of Ize-Iyamu, the election will still hold to receive the endorsement of party members in line with provisions of Article 20 (iii) (a and b) of the APC Constitution 2014 (As Amended).

It stipulates, among other things, that …“where a candidate has emerged by consensus for an elective position, a vote of “Yes” or “No” should be called to ensure that it was not an imposition which could breed crisis.”

According to The Punch, the APC was silent on the number of members expected to participate in the direct primary.

When contacted, the APC National Organising Secretary, Emma Ibidiro, said the Hope Uzodinma-led Election Committee would be better placed to provide such details after assessing the situation on the ground.

However, figures released by the party during the 2018 direct primary for the nomination of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), as the party’s standard bearer for the 2019 Presidential Election showed that 505,827 party members voted for Buhari to emerge as the party’s candidate in the election.

The PDP primary election is scheduled to take place on Thursday, June 25.