A group of stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Edo State PDP Stakeholders (ESPS), has taken a swipe at leaders of the party for supporting Governor Godwin Obaseki in an open letter on the strife between the governor and the party leader, Dan Osi Obih.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Tom Ikhimi; former Governor of Edo state, Lucky Igbinedion; Chief Mike Ogiadomeh; Senators Clifford Ordia, Mathew Urhohide, and Yisa Braimoh; had taken position backing the harmonisation plan of the governor.
Reacting to the letter, ESPS in a press statement signed by six members of the group: Amb. Tony Okonigene, Edo Central Senatorial District; Deacon Darlington Okpebholo-Ray, Edo Central Senatorial District; Mr. Elempe Dele, Edo North Senatorial District; Mr. Anthony Lawani, Edo North Senatorial District; Mr. Olamide Anifose, Edo South Senatorial District; and Mr. Sylvester Matthias, Edo South Senatorial District, asserted that the letter was not based on reality and laced with untruths.
According to the party stakeholders the positions of the erstwhile men of power in Edo and national politics was:
“An attempt to mislead the focused national leadership of our party and the general public concerning the avoidable crisis in the Edo state chapter, orchestrated majorly by some of these defunct politicians now grandstanding as “elders”.
The group debunked the claim that the governor facilitated the registration of over 500,000 members into the party stating: “We wish to also address this issue of registration of 540,000 members of the PDP by the governor.
“We make bold to say that this statement is nothing but an attempted hoodwink only a novice will fall prey to. Happily the National Leadership and general public are not deceived.
“If they say that they have such followership, let them go and register in another political party to use the over 500,000 registered members to win elections in the State going forward. With that number, they will overrun all the parties combined together in Edo state.”
They also accused the leaders of abandonment of the party in times of need and queried, “How much have they contributed in terms of finance to mobilize PDP members for voter registration? Out of these over 500,000 people, how many have they mobilized to register with INEC for their PVCs.”
