Edo APC Crisis Deepens, Protest Looms Over Corruption Allegations Against Party Chieftains
– Shaibu, Ogie vindicated over rebellious act to APC, as Washington Osifo others lament abandonment.
– Edo north chieftain hospitalized over brutality
THE corruption allegation recently levelled against top chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Edo state chapter by the American based public affairs commentator and APC house of assembly aspirant Comrade Edegbe Eranimigho appears to be real, but his ordeal becomes a child’s play compared to what is currently brewing across other parts of the state aftermath of the party’s convention in Abuja where delegates names were replaced at will by the duo of Col Imuse and Lawrence Okah in connivance with willing buyers of delegates tags in the state.
It was indeed a bazaar and payment of the highest bidder. My brother, these guys duplicated Edo delegates list into at least three different parts, one with INEC, one other list with different names with the accreditation committee and another one with the national secretariat, is that how to run a party? At the end Tinubu got only 40 votes from Edo state out of 54 delegates, so the question is who collected the remaining 14 envelopes from Tinubu? They gave different list to different aspirants depending on how much the aspirant is ready to part with. What a shame.
The situation was so bad that on Tuesday the 7th of June in Abuja a top chieftain of the party from Edo north who went to the designated venue to collect his delegate tag and met that his name has been substituted by an unknown member of the party, when he decided to make enquiries as to what happened, he was pounced upon by hired thugs, he was later rushed to the hospital for treatment.
His whereabout is presently unknown. However his lawyer who spoke to our correspondent in Benin city alleged that thugs where sent after his client in Abuja and was brutally beaten up by some hired thugs. This is a man that came all the way to his local government to participate in the congress twice, with his name already with the party at all levels. It was an obscene environment recalled by a woman who witnessed it all.
You wont believe that these guys turned delegates business into an industry in Abuja, replacing and dropping delegates at will, you will recall that Mr Imuse recently boasted and vowed that he will use his powers to prevent validly elected delegates from voting because they are not loyal to him personally. I challenged him to show us who are the three delegates that voted from Igueben and how was their $11,500.00 shared? What of those from Esan west and Esan northeast? Another delegate volunteered to our reporters.
Right now we have instituted the incident at the Apo Police station in Abuja and we have also written to the Inspector general of police to unravel the true intention of the thugs and their pay masters, my client sustained serious injuries during the battering and this has resulted into chest pain, hip damage and one hand seriously broken. Our client is afraid for his life and unable to move freely. You will also recall that the same set of people had molested the very distinguished Senator Domingo Obende a very valuable member of the party at the national level at the eagle square during the March 26th APC convention and nothing happened today again they extended the same treatment to my client right there in Abuja, we wont accept this time around. Yes, we are going to court after 7 days, we are not afraid to go to court and since my client is a peace loving man, he has discouraged violence and reprisal attacks, his last hope is the judiciary. We all own this party and we stayed to rescue the party from the hands of Governor Obaseki, a delegate from Edo central who was also substituted thundered.
An eye witness from Uromi told our correspondent that his name was also substituted from the original delegate list but I didn’t believe when I heard until I got to the venue only for me to discover it is true, its very sad. Yes, they tore his shirt into pieces, they molested him and jacked him up in the presence of Lawrence Okah and Imuse, they pushed him violently, that man doesn’t deserve such treatment, this not the APC that I know, a 72 years old delegate from Edo south told our correspondent.
Sometime when these people perpetuate these manipulative acts, they forget that the party has processes and procedures. We have the results of the congress that produced the delegates list from each LGAs in the state, where Okah and Imuse got the fake and adulterated list that was used during the primaries is yet to be unravel by stakeholders of the party in the state.
You can now see why nobody should blame Philip Shaibu and Ogie Osarodion for leaving the party to pursue their interest, loyalty does not pay at the end of the day. Look at how Washington Osifo was treated in his local government despite his loyalty and doggedness to party courses same with all those that resigned their appointments, nobody remembers the sacrifice of party members when its time to reap the fruits of our labour, lamented a delegate whose name disappeared from Etsako central delegate list. Is it not a shame that as we speak we don’t know who won the primaries in Orhiomwon LGA primaries federal constituency same thing in Akoko Edo where the winner of the primaries is different from the name that was published? This is corruption of the highest order from a party that claims to be fighting corruption. If these issues are not addressed, my brother, the internal rebellion will be worse than what is happening in PDP Edo between the old and new PDP members and the court cases will linger till election day.
Investigation by our correspondent shows there are no factions in Edo north senatorial district of the party, the recognized chairmen are all known by the at the national level and we know those who participated legally in the last APC convention. You will recall that Senator Francis had recently decamped and was nominated by a faction of the PDP in a supplementary poll. Efforts to reach the leader of the party in the state Comrade Adams Oshiomhole didn’t yield results, while Imuse and Okah refused to pick calls made to their lines.
Our reporter will continue to follow up on this developing story
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