By Bayo Bernard
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state is not the type to succumb easily to his foes. As he has shown his never-die spirit in his battle with his estranged godfather and predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC
Thus barely 24 hours after a faction led by the National Chairman of the APC picked Pastor Ize-Iyamu as the consensus governorship candidate of the party, the Edo helmsman has upped the ante by purchasing the APC governorship form.
An Abuja-based group, Obaseki Mandate Forum, FCT has purchased the N22.5 million forms for the governor on Thursday, after it insisted that the embattled governor will contest the September governorship election in the state.
With the choice of Ize-Iyamu, a former PDP governorship candidate, the plot to stop Obaseki who’s currently in a frosty relationship with the APC chairman, from returning to office, is considered a fait accompli by some analyst.
The ex-PDP candidate said in Abuja on Wednesday after his election that he would beat the incumbent in any primaries conducted by the party.
But the embattled governor seems not deterred that he has been abandoned by his party, his decision to purchase the nomination form, watchers of the state’s politics say, is an indication that he’s in the race.
While purchasing the form on Wednesday, barely few hours after some APC leaders picked Ize-Iyamu, the chairman of the Mandate group, Nathaniel Momoh, said the will of the people of the state will prevail at the end.
He said Edo people will resist any plot to impose any candidate on them, insisting that his people have spoken with one voice and have decided to entrust their mandate in the hardworking incumbent governor to continue with his developmental strides.
Momoh said “If almost all previous Governors of the State have enjoyed a second term, some of them, despite their not too impressive performance in office, it will be a travesty of justice, a mockery of equity and fairness to deny a man whose tenure has touched every community in the state.
For us therefore, it is a momentous event as loyal party members, and lovers of good governance to join the moving train to deliver His Excellency, Governor, Godwin Obaseki on this four plus four (4 + 4) project.
The FCT said the Governor Obaseki governorship project is one that has the backing of the common people and so will no fail despite plans by some enemies of the state to truncate it.
As a result, the group said “The choice of Obaseki is not just an APC project as I have just mentioned.
It is also the project of the market woman in Uselu Market, the Trader in Aviele, Council of Chiefs in Ososo, the 18 years and above student in Owan, the fruit trader in Iruekpen, that meat seller in Agenebode, that palmwine tapper in Esan, the cassava farmer in Ikpeshi, and many others who stood solidly behind His Excellency.”
Meanwhile, the magazine learnt that some APC governors stood up for their Edo counterpart and are working on the modality where the governor and Ize-Iyamu will participate in the party primaries coming up later next month” whoever emerge from the process, will be our candidate,” a close associate of one of the governors said on Thursday.
