Barely four days to the governorship election in Edo State, leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu, is in yet another tug of words with Governor Godwin Obaseki, who doubles as the flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The APC chieftain had on Tuesday in a sponsored broadcast on TVC advised the people of Edo to reject Obaseki, noting that he (Obaseki) does not deserve their votes.
Tinubu, in the broadcast, said “Obaseki does not deserve any democratic ballot paper. Don’t vote for him, I appeal to all of you.”
He narrated how he suffered along with many others to gain democracy for Nigeria, saying that, “I, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, want to appeal as a committed democrat, and the leader of all democrats regardless of our political parties, to our conscience and commitment to democracy today on the forthcoming election in Edo state.
“I want to appeal to you to reject Godwin Obaseki in this coming election. I have suffered with many others to bring about this democratic regime, that today, we are enjoying in the country.
“Then, Godwin Obaseki didn’t participate in any aspect of the struggle to enshrine democracy in the country.”
“Therefore, he could not understand the value and the pains associated with this democratic struggle”, he added.
After this broadcast, Governor Obaseki faulted claims made by Tinubu in a press statement released by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr Crusoe Osagie.
In the statement titled ‘You can’t extend your political empire to our state’, Obaseki said Edo people are determined to end godfatherism in the state.
The statement stated that in the former Lagos State Governor’s quest to extend his political dominance and empire to Edo State, he has 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,” the statement added.
