Former governor of Edo state, Adams Oshiomhole , Governor Godwin Obaseki on the APC Campaign bus with party supporters. Twitter
The much anticipated special intervention by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, to resolve the crisis between Governor Godwin Obaseki and some leaders and members of the party could not hold on Thursday due to varying reasons.
Some members of the party had alleged that Obaseki deliberately fixed a retreat for members of the state executive committee which started in Abuja on Thursday to stall the meeting which many believed is necessary to ensure the party remain intact in the home state of the national chairman.
But Vanguard gathered that Oshiomhole postponed the meeting due to an APC rally held in Katsina State which he attended and that he has insisted he must hold the meeting irrespective of the position of the governor on the issues.
However, an aide to Obaseki who spoke on condition of anonymity denied the allegation that the governor deliberately fixed the retreat to frustrate the confidence building efforts of Oshiomhole.
He said: “The retreat in Abuja has nothing to do with the planned meeting of Comrade with the leaders of the party led by the governor himself. This retreat has been planned for over a long time ago and I can tell you that the governor himself is committed to a united and formidable party ahead of next year general elections and the state gubernatorial election that will come after that. Those peddling this rumour are those trying to create disharmony where there is none.
“How can they allege that against the governor? The governor respects our national chairman whose legacies in the state he is sustaining; all these they are saying about stalling the meeting are imaginary and unfounded.”
However, a close aide of Oshiomhole told Vanguard that “The meeting must hold whether they like it or not. Comrade is not happy with what is coming out of his state in terms of members and leaders of the party believing that they are being shut out of their own government they all laboured to bring to power.
“Comrade and members of the National Working Committee (NWC) are moving all over the country winning more members into the party and amicably resolving issues where they existed as aftermath of our congresses, his home state should be the last that issues of disenchantment should come from. That is why he is concerned and has decided that he must meet with the governor and leaders of the party. He has spent the last ten years building this party in the state; from AC to ACN and now APC so he is very concerned about what is happening in Edo.”