Tony Osauzo, Benin

A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Elder Matthew Emiohe, has expressed worry that the party may lose next year’s governorship election if urgent steps are not taken to address the crisis rocking the state chapter of the party.

He blamed the disagreement between the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole and Governor Godwin Obaseki on leaders who are peddling lies and reaping heavy financial reward to the disadvantage of the party and the state.

Emiohe, a member of the Governing Council of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, called on Obaseki and Oshiomhole to iron out their differences in the interest of the state.

He disclosed that the governor has concluded plans to roll out board appointments for party leaders, just as he dismissed speculations that contracts are being denied APC faithful.

He solicited the support of the people of Edo Central senatorial district for the Obaseki administration, saying the governor has openly declared to back Esan agenda to produce the next governor after his second term in office.

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“Leaders are the one causing this problem; they are the ones who go to Abuja to complain that Obaseki is not taking care of them. May be they want the governor to share money with them. But I know from my local government, most leaders have been empowered whether from local government or state.

“For example, work is ongoing in Eguare and Egbodi market, maternity hospital is being upgraded, reconstruction of Ewuare primary school and roads construction are all handled by party leaders. The contracts in my wards are shared among five leaders and that is empowerment, to me not necessarily sharing money. It is the leaders that will now reach out to other people.

“I am worried. For the sake of our national chairman, I don’t think he wants this kind of problem in his own state. I think Oshiomhole is concerned about that. Today, people are talking about how we lost some APC states, it will be disastrous for us to lose Edo and that is why I said whatever the problem, we need to know now so that we can begin to address the issue.

“My advice to them is for Obaseki and Oshiomhole to seat down and put their personal interest aside to resolve the issue. Oshiomhole need to resolve the matter because of his national integrity. For Obaseki, he wants the state to move forward too and I don’t think he want anything to derail that.

“Obaseki must make some concrete and genuine steps to reach out to Oshiomhole too. For the meeting they have held not yielding results, there must be a reason not known to any of us. All we are interested in is peace and stability in the party,” Emiohe said.