Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has replied the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, over his claim that the governor does not deserve re-election.
Recall that Mr Tinubu had earlier called on the people of Edo State not to re-elect Mr Obaseki in the forthcoming governorship election, alleging that the governor was not a democrat.
Reacting, Mr Obaseki, in a statement on Tuesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, said the APC national leader could not extend his political empire to Edo.
According to him, the people of Edo were ready and determined to end the god-fatherism in the state.
The statement read: “Our attention has been drawn to a television broadcast in which a former Lagos State Governor and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his quest to extend his political dominance and empire to Edo State, decided to take over the role of Edo people to choose through the ballot who to govern them for the next four years.
“It has become obvious that the spirited fight which Edo people have put up against godfatherism has sent tremors beyond the shores of Edo to the likes of Tinubu, who has for years sustained a stranglehold on Lagos and other states in South-Western Nigeria, hence this desperate, last-ditch effort to rescue the unproductive political instrument, now popularly referred to as godfatherism, with which he has feathered his nest and built his political empire at the expense of the people.
“Tinubu knows clearly that come September 19, when godfatherism would have been dismantled in Edo State, the people of Lagos may just have found the recipe and formula for removing the chokehold placed on their collective destinies for decades by Tinubu, hence the inciting television broadcast.”
Reacting to the alleged prevention of the inauguration of lawmakers in the state, Mr Obaseki said it was false.
“We call on all Edo people, friends of Nigeria and all lovers of democracy to disregard all the comments by Tinubu, as the allegations about the Edo State House of Assembly and other claims in the broadcast are completely false,” he added.
