The ward party chairman, Osamudiamen Osarhekhoe, who spoke after a meeting of the ward, berated the governor whom he accused of becoming dictatorial in his approach and denying the ward representation in the state House of Assembly.
Besides, members of the ward said they were not ready to receive the governor in his planned ward visit.
“In his election, Ward 7 gave him the highest votes in Oredo; we gave him 35,000 votes; the most populated ward in Oredo today is Ward 7. Today you are also suspending our leader Lawrence Okah, accusing him of funding EPM. It is blatant lie.
“The only solution to the problem is peace. In an election you don’t fight the people, you negotiate with the people; he has stepped on the toes of so many people. Today you sack the commissioner, you sack SAs and SSAs, you sack appointees in the local government, you cannot continue like that.
“APC is everywhere in the media and our election is by the corner, how are you going to reconcile these people? Our advice for him is to embrace peace and not by fighting or beating up people. He should stop listening to lies; the party is different from government. There is a process in the party for these things but the governor is not following the constitution,”Osarhekhoe said.
Recall that the state chairman of APC, Anselm Ojezua, had on Friday issued a letter of suspension to the state secretary of the party, Lawrence Okah, who in his reaction said the letter was of no effect.
Anselm Ojezua had explained in the letter that the suspension was part of an administrative process not a punitive measure, adding: “He was just suspended to allow the committee set up to look at the complaints against him”.
But Okah insisted that “the chairman does not have such powers; it is only the party that can do that and it must get the approval of the National Secretariat. I am here watching them”.
He explained that he was accused of being a member of the Edo People’s Movement (EPM) which had been clamouring for a replacement for Governor Obaseki ahead of 2020 governorship election.