The Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shuaibu, has said the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, must apologise if he wants true reconciliation in Edo State chapter of the party.
Shuaibu said this while speaking with newsmen, in Abuja, on Tuesday to represent Governor Godwin Obaseki at a meeting of the Progressives Governors’ Forum.
The deputy governor said, “The only condition for the two of us to be on the same page politically is for him (Oshiomhole) to come back to Edo State as a father and say, what has happened is in the past; I believe now Governor Obaseki has taken governance to the next level and for all of us to come back together and vote him for the second term.
“When he (Oshiomhole) does that, I will now be on the same page with him politically.”
When asked if it was not illegal to ban a lawful gathering of the APC supporters in an APC governed state, he said no rally could hold in the state without the governor’s permission.
Shuaibu said, “You heard from Comrade Oshiomhole that the governor permitted other parties to hold rally but refused him.
“(An) APC rally can only hold in Edo State with the approval of the governor, who is the leader of the party in the state. The question is, will Oshiomhole go to Kano, Katsina or Imo or any APC state without the approval of the governors?”
A faction of the party led by the suspended state chairman, Anselm Ojezua, and some Oshiomhole loyalists have been engaged in a war of attrition over the control of the state party machinery.
Fourteen members-elect of the Edo State House of Assembly who have pledged allegiance to Oshiomhole, have yet to be inaugurated.
Obaseki had rejected the Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje-led APC Fact-Finding Committee set up by the party’s National Working Committee.
He also objected to the composition of the Senator Ahmed Lawan-led APC National Reconciliation Committee which has yet to begin sitting.
