EDO State Governor Godwin Obaseki’s bid to join the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) and pick its ticket to contest the September 19 election has
put the party in a dilemma.
Obaseki was last week disqualified from bidding for his party – the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket.
Expatiating
on reasons for Obaseki’s disqualification while submitting its report,
the party’s screening Appeal Committee Chairman, Dr. Abubakar Fari, at
the weekend said: “In the affidavit sworn to by Godwin Obaseki before
the High Court Abuja, he stated under oath that he graduated from the
University of Ibadan with a BA degree in Classical Studies in 1976.
However, the university certificate he attached to his nomination form
bears 1979 which is a material contradiction.’’
The committee
also said it found it hard to believe Obaseki gained admission to study
at the university with three credits without a proper A-levels or a
diploma.
It added that the governor was in possession of two
separate voter cards which is illegal. Fari added that the attestation
letter of the Institute the governor claimed to have attended after
secondary school, was not on the letter head of the school.
The committee said it found inconsistencies in the forms Obaseki submitted for scrutiny.
The
PDP’s nomination process closed on June 2 while screening of aspirants
closed on June 5. Three aspirants have been cleared by the party to vie
for the ticket.
Legal pundits said last night that only those
cleared within the stipulated time, are qualified to contest in the
primary. “Obaseki was not screened and so cannot participate”, a
renowned lawyer said.
The PDP primary will hold on Friday. The
Independent Electoral Commission (lNEC) option only allows parties
seeking to field candidates for the Edo governorship election to replace
candidates not later than July 13, but with a caveat: the new candidate
must have participated in the primary.
“PDP should forget about
Obaseki or risk serious litigation over his eligibilty and breach of its
own rules”, another lawyer said last night.The PDP
guidelines indicate the following timelines for its governorship primary
election: Notice of election to state chapter (May 15); Sales of
expression of interest and nomination forms(May 20 –June 01); Last day
for submission of forms (EOI and NOI) June 02; Screening of aspirants
(June 05); Appeals on screening outcome (June 08); and Ward Congresses
to elect a three-man Ad Hoc delegates (June 09).
Others are Ward
Congresses Appeals(June13); Local Government Congresses to elect
National Delegates and persons Living with Disability per LGA(June 16);
LGA congresses Appeals(June 18); Publication of delegates’ list(June
18); Gubernatorial primary(candidate nomination) –June 19-20; Appeals on
governorship primary(June 23); Certification of Deputy Governorship
candidate by NWC and compilation of documents(June 25); Last day for
submission of names of candidate and deputy to the Independent National
Electoral Commission (June 29); Last day for withdrawal and replacement
of withdrawn candidates( July 13); and last day for submission of agents
names to LGA offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(September 01).
The aspirants cleared for the governorship
primary are a member of the House of Representatives (Oredo Federal
Constituency), Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama(Edo South); Mr. Gideon Ikhine
(Edo Central), an engineer; and a foremost Educationist, Kenneth
Imasuagbon (Edo Central).
As at last night, none of the candidates had shown interest in stepping down for Obaseki.
A
PDP source said: “We are in a serious dilemma and our party is facing
integrity test. Obaseki is trying to have his way at all cost to secure
the PDP governorship nomination ticket.
“This is a governor who
has not formally defected to the PDP. The options available are to ask
all the aspirants to step down for him or to allow the primary election
to hold and ask the eventual candidate to step down.
Another
party leader said: “The issue at stake is beyond meeting with PDP
governors for our ticket. How about discrepancies in his documents. Some
leaders are saying he will be prevailed upon to plead only his
secondary school certificate. Yet, he said he has lost the certificate.
“But
there is another allegation of having two voter cards. Can we take this
huge risk as a party? Is Obaseki bringing an asset or liability to the
party? Some of our leaders are already warning the party.”The aspirants have been on the field canvassing for votes for Saturday’s primary election.
One of the aspirants, Imasuagbon, said: “Obaseki is welcome to PDP any time.”
Asked
if he is ready to step down for Obaseki, he swiftly added: “Step down
for who and why? To step down for what? Are we in a jungle? Are there
no rules and regulations guiding a party in a democracy? Forget it, my
brother. I am on a campaign tour.”
Ikine said there is nothing
wrong with Obaseki visiting his colleague governors but that he is not
ready to quit, adding: “I have my eyes on the ball.”
He declined to comment further on Obaseki in his interview on Channels TV, because “he is not a member of the PDP.”
Deputy Governor Shaibu has been busy making frantic appeals to some PDP governors to allow him to be the party’s running mate.
But
some leaders in the party were toying with the idea of Obaseki joining
the party to assist it to defeat the APC instead of being the PDP
governorship candidate.
A chieftain of PDP, Kassim Afegbua, a
former Commissioner for Information, said: “The idea of having Governor
Obaseki in PDP is already causing some ripples within the party because
it will amount to political ambush.
“First, the
purchase of nomination forms has closed. We have three viable aspirants
running. I am supporting Hon. Ogbeide-Ihama for the primaries and
hopefully he will emerge as the candidate.
“If a candidate
emerges on Saturday, are you expecting the candidate to step down for
someone who did not participate in the process, simply because he is a
Governor? That will not only be an ambush, but an unfair reading of the
situation.
“The governor is free to join the party. It is his
constitutional right, but joining is one, becoming a candidate is
another. He should join to support whoever emerges as the candidate, to
face the APC candidate.
“Rather than be the candidate,
which appears difficult at this injury hour, he should join hands with
other party loyalists to ensure the APC is defeated. That would be like
some kind of soft landing for him.
“Again,
the Party has to understudy the report of the APC screening committee
especially the obvious discrepancies in his submissions. You cannot have
two certificates from one university bearing inconsistent dates with
all manner of contradicting submissions.
“Beyond
politics, the APC might have derived inspiration from the Bayelsa
scenario, which the PDP must take notice of, so that we do not fall into
another cul-de-sac. “Please tell Obaseki to drop his ambition, and join
hands with whoever emerges on Saturday in PDP primary to give a good
fight to the APC. Making him a candidate will be an exercise in
overkill, an ambush, and an abuse of process in terms of our party
constitution, our rules and regulations.”
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