Embattled Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, Tuesday denied knowledge of an All Progressives Congress (APC) rally planned to hold in Benin City, on Friday, December 13.
Obaseki said, “I have checked with the state APC secretariat and as far as I am concerned, the party has not announced officially that they will be having a rally.”
The governor disclosed this to journalists in government House after a meeting with heads of security.
Blueprint gathered that the said rally is to receive a former governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, an ally of ex-governor Adams Oshiomhole to the APC.
Vice president Yemi Osibanjo and other federal delegations were reported to welcome Ize-Iyamu and his supporters to the APC during the purported rally.
The state chapter of the party had been factionalised over a battle of wits between the Edo governor and National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
In November, 11 out of 17 State Working Committee (SWC) members purportedly removed Barrister Anslem Ojezua as the State chairman of the party and replaced him with Col. David Imuse (rtd).
Similarly, embattled state chairman of the APC, Barrister Anselm Ojezua, in a statement on Tuesday described the purported rally as provocative and capable of “disrupting peace in the state”.
According to him, “the attention of APC has been drawn to an information being circulated by some unauthorized people to the effect that the APC in the state is receiving some new members on Friday 13, December 2019, at Garrick Memorial School, Ekenwan Road, Benin City.
He noted that neither the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki who is the leader of the APC in Edo State nor other leaders of the party is aware of the purported declaration rally.
Ojezua urged members of the APC in the state not to have anything to do with the event, adding, “The organisers of that event are sufficiently seasoned and experienced as politicians to know the proper procedure and tradition usually attendant to this sort of event.”
