Following Governor Godwin Obaseki’s revelation on Tuesday that the deputy governor Phillip Shaibu’s court action to stop his alleged planned impeachment is a pre-emptive move to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Adams Oshiomhole has said the party is “not a rehabilitation centre for distressed or disloyal politicians.”
Obaseki had said the deputy governor had been actively engaging with senior actors both at the national and state level of the APC, negotiating his way into the party, adding that he was at the verge of finalising moves to defect to the APC.
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Oshiomhole, a former governor and now the senator representing Edo North senatorial district, said the ruling party at the centre was not open to such politicians.
He spoke with journalists yesterday in Benin, the Edo State capital after paying a condolence visit to the family of the late Esogban of Benin Kingdom, Chief David Edebiri.
Oshiomhole said irrespective of any political party in power, he wants peace for the state, adding that loyalty is expected in politics.
He said, “Regardless of party divide, it is my wish for Edo to be governed in peace and harmony because the supra party to which we all belong to is the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the political parties even the rate of camping and decamping and re-camping shows that the only thing that is constant is Nigeria and not the political parties.
“But what I read about somebody going to court to complain about being suspected of being impeached, I don’t know how the court adjudicates over suspicion.
“But let me say this, to say that somebody wants to run for the APC, I want to say APC is not a rehabilitation centre. I can tell you that for free.
“We in APC are satisfied the way we are; we are happy in opposition in the state and we are not about to receive people who are coming because they have lost out. I want to say that there is no Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in APC.
“So, my advice is that those who are having challenges, should learn how to respect their bosses. I have always advised people that whoever you work with, be loyal.
“I was here and I was unable to support my deputy to succeed me, but my deputy never took me to court. And if there are people who always profit from crises, they cannot have my support.”
He said regardless of what anybody will say, “I come from only one of the clans in my local government, it will be nice if only my clan produce the governors but I know that Nigeria doesn’t work that way, there are those sentiments that people think that at this level of our development, the thing should go round.”
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