Edo 2016 governorship spillover caused Ize-Iyamu defeat — Erhahon blast APC Campaign Council

Former Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Comrade Godwin Erhahon has congratulated Mr. Godwin Obaseki on his re-election victory in Saturday governorship election in the State, describing him as an unrepentant hardliner.

He recalled however that the spillover of 2016 governorship election in which the national Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Adams Oshiomhole allegedly imposed Obaseki as the Candidate of the party, angered most members of the party to seek revenge against the former Labour leader and vote for Governor Godwin Obaseki, Candidate of Peoples Democratic party (PDP) in Saturday election.

Erhahon disclosed this in a Press statement on Tuesday in Benin City, while thanking God for the peacefulness of the election and highlighted several factors that gave Obaseki victory.

He however maintained that he had “no regrets working against Governor Obaseki. I believe he can’t change from his bad manners.”

He revealed that “the Benins who are majority in the State, didn’t want Oshiomhole who had repeatedly described Obaseki as a Superman, to continue to Lord it over them politically”.

Erhahon, a founding members of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) that fused into APC along with the All Nigerians Peoples Party (ANPP) and part of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) at the twilight of 2015 general elections, alleged that Edo APC Campaign Council for the September 19, 2020 governorship election, “was entrusted to sycophants and mercenaries”.

According to him “Some of the past and present political office holders who believe that they must lead the party at every level alienated credible grassroots mobilizers from the campaign because they don’t want anyone else to shine”.

Erhahon who is also a former Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Edo State Council, recalled how he warned the APC Candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, two weeks ahead of his impending defeat in the election, however he did not disclose Ize Iyamu’s response in the statement.

“The challenges before APC”, according to Erhahon, “is to ensure that Comrade Oshiomhole doesn’t interfere in the choice of party officials in the forthcoming Congress. Otherwise he will overload the party with sycophants, minions and incompetent leadership”.

“First, majority of those who attempted to resist Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s imposition of the governor on the party in 2016 felt it would be foolish of them to allow the same Oshiomhole to use them to remove Obaseki who he first hailed as a superman.

In particular, the Benins who are majority in the State didn’t want Oshiomhole to continue to Lord it over them politically.

“Many people resolved to bury Oshiomhole politically. Secondly, the APC Campaign Council was entrusted to sycophants and mercenaries. Some of the past and present political office holders who believe that they must lead the party at every level alienated credible grassroots mobilizers from the campaign because they don’t want anyone else to shine.

“I warned our Candidate two weeks ago that we were losing ground. However, I am proud to say that I won my Unit and Ward”, he declared.