There are fears in political circles that the forthcoming primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State slated for June 22 may be scuttled by Governor Godwin Obaseki to avenge the rough deal he got in the hands of Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the party.
Already, Edo is one of the states with high Covid-19 cases. It currently has 620 confirmed cases, the fourth highest in the country, as at June 15. The law prohibits any gathering of more than 20 people anywhere in Edo.
This fear was confirmed yesterday in a statement issued by Crusoe Osagie, special adviser, Media, to Governor Obaseki, in which he said the state government would enforce “strict compliance” with the law in any political gathering in the state.
It read: “We need to be alive to play politics; we need to live to vote and be voted for in the election. The rules to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in the gazette must be strictly followed by all political parties in the state as the government will not condone any form of violation of the provisions of the gazette by any person or group of persons.
“We’re once more warning persons intent on rubbishing the gains made in curtailing the spread of COVID-19 and compromising our healthcare system to be assured that the full weight of the law would run its cause.”
But Oshiomhole in a chat with newsmen yesterday at the presidential villa, Abuja, after the party’s National Working Committee met with Ibrahim Gambari, the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, dispelled such fears. “He is our governor. We are law-abiding. But if the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP can conduct activities across 192 wards with the same law, I don’t think our governor will discriminate against his own party. So, we are hopeful that everything will be peaceful,” he said.
He argued further that if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would assembly 5,000 delegates in the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, for their governorship primary, he saw no reason why the APC would be disallowed from having between 100 and 150 people queue to vote in each of the wards during the party governorship primary.
The PDP and APC are using indirect and direct election respectively. But Governor Obaseki vehemently kicked against his party’s choice.
The party, however, stuck to its choice. Its chairman said: “I’m sure you will agree that our President led by example when we conducted direct primary in the last presidential election.
“We still went to Eagle Square for affirmation. So, if the President did not have the right of first refusal because our constitution does not provide for it, we cannot under any circumstances now bend the rules when it comes to some people and change the rule when it comes to others.”
