The incumbent governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki has blasted former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu over his recent statement which said that he (Obaseki) does not deserve a single vote from Edo State citizens in the Saturday’s governorship poll.
According to the Obaseki who is contesting for a second term under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the APC chieftain ‘cannot extend his political empire to Edo State’, adding that the people of Edo have already determined to end the godfatherism in the state.
Obaseki on Tuesday, September 15 through his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr Crusoe Osagie, faulted Tinubu, noting that when Edo State election come to an end, the people of Lagos State would have realised and found a way to remove chokehold placed on their collective destinies for decades by the politician.
He said, “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.”
“Our attention has been drawn to a television broadcast in which a former Lagos State Governor and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his quest to extend his political dominance and empire to Edo State, decided to take over the role of Edo people to choose through the ballot who to govern them for the next four years.”
The statement continued, “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.”
Obaseki urged Nigerians and citizens of Edo State to shun every word coming from Tinubu, noting that the allegation that he prevented the inauguration of lawmakers in the state as is nothing but a lie.
He stated, “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.”
