Oshiomhole doesn’t practise what he preaches- Adjoto, ex-Edo Speaker

Tony Osauzo, Benin

The immediate past Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Hon. Kabiru Adjoto, has described the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, as a deceitful man who does not practise what he preaches.

Speaking at a reception in Igarra organised by the people of the local government to welcome him back home, Adjoto said Oshiomhole who is the apostle of ‘One-Man—One-Vote’ who claimed to be against and fought ‘Godfatherism’ as governor, has now become and ‘Emperor’ himself and wants to lord it over everybody and everything.

He regretted that what Oshiomhole had succeeded in doing since he became the national chairman of the APC, was to have negatively changed the destiny of many people.

Promising to speak on the many atrocities allegedly committed by Oshiomhole, Adjoto vowed that the people of Edo and Akoko-Edo, will resist the APC’s National Chairman’s plan to force a governorship candidate on them in 2020.

“Oshiomhole wants to be everywhere at the same time; everything he preached against that we supported him to fight against, is what he is now doing.

“When Ohiomhole introduced one-man-one-vote, we believed in him and supported him. We did same when he was fighting Godfatherism and insulting Chief Tony Anenih and Chief Gabriel İgbinedion.

“We were with him and even helped him to remove the leadership of the State Assembly that was against his government then. Whatever success you can attribute to him today is because of the support we gave him.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t know that power can change a man. Give a man power and money, you will find out his real self. Oshiomhole has failed us,” Adjoto said.

Obviously bitter over his loss to Hon. Peter Akpatason at the Supreme Court, Adjoto alleged that the people of Akoko-Edo have been denied, through him, an effective representation at the National Assembly because he refused to give Governor Godwin Obaseki problem as the speaker of the state House of Assembly.

“İ was under intense pressure to give Governor Obaseki problem when I was speaker, but resisted that because it is the people that will suffer when it happens.

“We are going to resist Oshiomhole antics. We will support Obaseki to make him succeed. He is doing wonderfully well and has surpassed the previous administration.

“God will catch them if they say Obaseki will not come for a second term. Let them try it; that time, the whole world will know the truth about the Mobutu Seseseko Mansion and many other things,” he added.

Commending Akoko-Edo people for supporting him all through his 12 years in the Assembly, Adjoto said: “We must not put our future in the hands of those who are deceitful.

The “Supreme Court is the highest court in the land, but I want to assure you that we have committed that mandate they stole to God’s supreme court.”

Several speakers who spoke at the occasion, commended Adjoto for being a dogged fighter and one who served the people diligently.

But in a swift reaction, Hon. Peter Akpatason who defeated Adjoto at the Supreme Court to retain his seat at the House of Representatives to represent Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency, said the Nigeria masses have always known and identified with the dispositions of Comrade Oshiomhole and what he stands for; prior to and extending to the time he was at the helm of affairs as the President of the Nigeria Labour Union (NLC); his eight years as the governor of Edo State, where he set standard in service delivery and infrastructural development.

‎”You can understand the cry of a frustrated man having lost at the Supreme Court irrespective of the resources, Adjoto and his paymaster expended in the course of the case.

“Adjoto  was Speaker of the state House of Assembly; he should tell Akoko Edo people the development he brought to the area. He should be ashamed of himself for trying to deride Oshiomhole who made him all he is today in politics. What will he say his new found friend Obaseki has done for him rather than use willing tools like Adjoto to insult our leader, Oshiomhole. They are a bunch of ingrates and God will not forgive them.

‎”The Nigeria masses have always known and identified with the dispositions of Comrade Oshiomhole and what he stands for; prior to and extending to the time he was at the helm of affairs as the President of the Nigeria Labour Union (NLC); his eight years as the Governor of Edo State, where he set standard in service delivery and infrastructural development.

“The APC National Chairman has always been recognized for his unassailable democratic ethos, his championing of political inclusiveness, pioneer of One-Man-One-Vote, One-Woman-One-Vote, his headlong battle against godfatherism, and several other causes that promote the rule of law. So whether Adjoto and his cohorts like it or not, they cannot change history,” Akpatason said.