TRACKING___The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has given conditions to the embattled Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, to fly the party’s flag in the state’s September 19 governorship election.
The offers came following Friday’s disqualification of Obaseki from the June 22 governorship primary of the APC by the party’s screening committee for the election.
The governor is determined to have a second term in office.
The screening committee, headed by Prof Jonathan Ayuba, said the governor was disqualified because of the discrepancies in his names and certificates and for suing the party in contravention of the party’s rules.
Investigations by The Punch showed that the governor made overtures to the PDP leadership on the possibility of contesting governorship on the party’s platform.
However, to realise his second-term ambition, a highly placed source within the PDP top hierarchy, told one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity that the governor had been in contact with the party. The source stated that the governor was asked to take some steps before he could be admitted to be the party’s candidate in the coming election.
The source added that chief among the conditions was the directive that he (Obaseki) should meet with the three PDP governorship aspirants screened by the party’s screening committee for the primary.
The three screened PDP aspirants were Gideon Ikhine, Ogbeide Ihama and Kenneth Imansuangbon.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that one of the aspirants insisted that he would not step down for the governor.
Though the party had yet to release the screening result, it was learnt that the three aspirants were likely to be cleared for the primary.
It was further learnt that the governor was also directed to meet with the party leadership in the state to seek their support and understanding.
The source said there was no way the national PDP would support the governor without the approval of its officials in the state, including the aspirants.
Investigations showed that the party leadership was afraid that if leaders in the state were not carried along in the arrangement, it could boomerang and lead to the defection of aggrieved members to either the APC or any other political party after the primary.
The source added that whatever agreement the governor reached with the party leaders and the aspirants would form the basis of whether he would join the party or not.
