Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, has expressed doubt over the possibility of him getting justice from a committee set up by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to vet aspirants seeking to get the party’s ticket ahead of the governorship election.
The governor has been on a running battle with his predecessor former Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who is the incumbent Chairman of APC.
His fear is that the committee might have predetermined result.
The screening process lasted for about two hours at the APC national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday, and that was after,
according to his media aide, Crusoe Osagie, the governor had been delayed for hours.
“The governor arrived early but the screening committee was not ready,” Osagie had said earlier in a statement on Wednesday.
“He was given the options to either wait for one hour or if he had an appointment to keep, he could go and call them to know if they were ready.
Obaseki during the screening
“The governor, who had a Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) meeting, went for the meeting and called when he was done, but the members of the screening committee did not pick their phones.”
He eventually met the panel.
A news online platform The Cable cites Obaseki as saying he is not sure of getting justice because Adams Oshiomhole, APC national chairman, has refused to recuse himself from the process.
He was speaking to journalists after the screening.
“Like I said, as a party man I had to go through the screening process but I do not believe that I will get justice because Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is an interested party in the Edo process,” he was futhrr quoted to have said.
“One of the questions asked was why did I issue a gazette that will prevent the party from performing direct elections in Edo. That did I not see it as an anti-party activity?”
Oshiomhole is believed to be backing Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a governorship aspirant, for the party’s ticket.
Ize-Iyamu had contested against Obaseki on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2016 but lost.
The APC primary election is scheduled for June 22.
