Edo rubishes Tinubu as Lagos APC defends ex-gov

A Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, has said the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, cannot extend his political empire to Edo State, TopNaija reports.

Osagie expressed confidence that Edo people were determined to end godfatherism in the state. This was contained in a statement he issued in Benin on Tuesday.

Osagie who was responding to a call by Tinubu for the people of Edo to reject Governor Godwin Obaseki in Saturday’s governorship election, said Tinubu’s call, which was made during a television programme, was part of his plot to expand his political dominance to Edo State.

The statement read in part, “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.

“He should take note that Edo people do not yield their will, liberty and power of choice to oppressive figures because they are perceived to have economic and political means.

“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.

According to him, the outcome of Saturday’s election would reinforce the reigning saying in Edo’s public sphere, “Edo No be Lagos.”

Meanwhile, the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has chided the Peoples Democratic Party and Governor Godwin Obaseki. The APC accused both Obaseki and the PDP of chasing shadows with their baseless allegations against the APC and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Lagos state chairman of the party, Alhaji Tunde Balogun, said Obaseki was the architect of his personal misfortunes as his defeat was imminent.

Balogun said, “Overwhelmed by the prospects of grim failure in this weekend’s governorship election in Edo, the Peoples Democratic Party and its mercenary candidate Godwin Obaseki, have resorted to chasing their own dark shadows. The governor is casting false accusations and blame at everybody for his imminent defeat. However, the person he should blame the most is the person to whom he dares not admit the truth – himself.

“The latest untruth of the PDP and Obaseki is the evil lie that All Progressives Congress and our National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, plan to rig the election and buy votes with N300m allegedly polled from local councils in Lagos State.

“One must say that Obaseki has a fertile if wild and paranoid imagination. Had he better use that imagination to govern wisely instead of governing as if he were a conquering invader, then he would not be in the pitiable circumstance he now finds himself. Obaseki has always been his own and his state’s worst enemy.”

The APC chairman said the governor should prepare to face legal action as soon as he leaves office because his baseless allegations against Tinubu were not only untrue but also border on slander.