More notable Nigerians are reacting to the disqualification of Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki by the All Progressive Congress (APC) party Screening Committee set up by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
Obaseki is seeking a reelection on the platform of the APC but Oshiomhole, who is also the National Chairman of the APC does not want Obaseki back. Political followers in the state said Oshiomhole wants to follow the political footsteps of Bola Ahmed Tinubu who solely decided who becomes governor of Lagos State.
Watching the unfolding drama in Edo State, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a chieftain of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), on Saturday said the APC was not fair to Gov. Godwin Obaseki by disqualifying him from participating in the party’s primary. Babatope, a former Minister of Transportation, expressed the view in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Prof. Jonathan Ayuba, Chairman of the Screening Committee based the governor’s disqualification on issues with his Higher School and his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates. Reacting, Babatope said, though he is not a member of APC, he viewed the disqualification by the ruling party as the humiliation of Obaseki. He said the disqualification was punishment meted to the governor for doing nothing.
“You know I am not a member of the APC, but I must say what the party has done to the governor is not fair. We should have gotten to a stage in this country where politicians look at issues dispassionately and not because they belong to a particular party,’’ Babatope said. He said that even as a PDP member, he was saying that the way Obaseki was being treated was unjust and unfair.
“They are just punishing him for doing nothing really. The governor contested and won on your platform the first term; nothing was wrong. Are you just seeing all the issues with his certificates? Too bad. Personally, I am not happy with the way he is being treated because we are talking about fairness and justice here, and that does not mean I support him to win against my party, the PDP.’’
