Edo State Governorship Campaign Council of the All Progressives (APC) has rejected the olive branch extended to the governorship candidate of the party, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, by Governor Godwin Obaseki, describing the gesture as a tricky one aimed at deceiving the people that he is a democrat.
The party, in a statement issued yesterday by its Media Manager in the state, Mr. John Mayaki, further noted that it was cynical for the governor to extend an olive branch for collaboration.
“It is cynical for the governor to extend the ‘olive branch’– for so the press terms it – to APC candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, by talking about collaborations. The APC candidate is not a trickster. There is no point collaborating with ill-gotten mandates,” it said.
“When Obaseki talks about collaboration, he must be asked: collaboration with whom? And on what? A man who goes on like character means nothing and integrity is puff? A man who has no known campaign manifestos? The MEGA agenda is full of rhetoric that no one can work with – neither a printed copy was available during electioneering.
“It would be impossible for any responsible party or person to collaborate with an Obaseki that employs sectarian slogans and tactics to mobilise its followers. What Obaseki needs to do now is to seek atonement – the blood of the three persons killed during the election, the man whose wife was beaten to stupor by his thugs in Egor, and the people kidnapped by thugs imported from Delta and Rivers states.
“Obaseki should apologise to the House of Assembly members he denied representation and desecrated their hallowed chamber by invading it and pulling it down, by parking granite trucks to block their entrances and by forcing his will upon them. There are no guarantees that the glib governor will keep his word. He has not been known to show responsibility. Those in the educational, health and entertainment sectors can testify,” it explained.
APC alleged that Obaseki was spoon-fed to victory by his Rivers State counterpart, Chief Nyesom Wike, at the September 19 governorship election in Edo State.
The party also noted that since the victory, Obaseki has been more vocal and less busy by not turning down interviews on grounds of having ‘an important meeting.’
The party noted that after disrespecting Arise News Channel by not honouring the governorship debate, Obaseki was too happy to honour the interview when he was invited for another interview by the news channel.
APC alleged: “He cannot be begrudged if, intoxicated by his recent electoral coup, he is keen to preach on every pulpit that beckons. He, however, must talk with caution and not chatter like a man given to all the prolixity of a canary.
“On his most recent outing, he displayed a most excellent species of motor-mouthed pontification, perhaps a product of his recent tutelage under his newfound mentor, the governor of Rivers State, and opined that Nigeria’s democracy is threatened by APC chieftains such as Chief Bola Tinubu and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.”
