Barr. Ojezua Blames Oshiomhole For Party's Defeat

...calls on National Leadership to sanction Oshiomhole

By Simeon OSAJIE

The Edo State Chairman of All Progressive Congress (APC), Barr. Anselm Ojezua has called on National leadership of the party to sanctioned former chairman of the party, Comrade Alliu Oshiomhole prior to the disqualification of Governor Godwin Obaseki that gave the room for him to decamped to the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and subsequently become victorious in the just concluded Edo state  governorship election.

In a statement issued and signed by Edo APC chairman, said: “I think the position of Edo APC, prior to the disqualifi­cation of Governor Godwin Obaseki has been vindicated. Before that, the Edo APC had already reached a consensus with Obaseki as the candidate but Oshiomhole thought oth­erwise. He abused his office as national chairman, pushed the governor out of the party and you can see that the ben­eficiary is now PDP.

"The result of his illegal actions is what we witnessed today. I don’t see how APC can recover from this. Oshiomhole factionalized the party, created a faction in the name of EPM, brought a candidate from outside the party and forced him down the throat of the party. They campaigned without the party behind them and they expected to win. This is the result.

"That was why I said I will not speak until after the election and now I have been vindicated. If I spoke before the election, they will say it is anti-party. Now we know who has done anti-party.

Honestly, if the party does not do anything to sanction Oshiomhole, then we in Edo APC will have to review our membership of that party, because we gave notice, we warned the party, we peti­tioned the leadership; there is nothing we did not do to salvage the situation within the last 15 to 18 months.

"The party only took steps after Obaseki has left which is an irredeemable loss. Everyone can see the result now," Barr Ojezua said.