Edo 2024: PDP needs unity to win —Igbinedion

A former governorship aspirant in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and former member of the House of Representatives, Omosede Igbinedion, has expressed reservation on the way Governor Godwin Obaseki has piloted the affairs of the party as its leader since joined the eve of his re-election bid in 2020.

She said the old members that Obaseki met in the party had been pushed out of the scheme of things as principal officers in the Obaseki administration by those who came with him from the All Progressives Congress, APC.

She said the same thing played out after the governorship primaries that produced Dr Asue Ighodalo as the candidate of the party with the choice of the Secretary to State Government, SSG, Osarodion Ogie as his running mate.

Igbinedion said she expected that the running mate to Ighodalo should have been ceded to the old PDP to give them a sense of belonging.

She also criticized those who have been claiming that she was on her way to the APC because of a recent visit to his Abuja home by the APC governorship candidate, Sen. Monday Okpebholo.

In a statement titled “The hypocrisy of politics”, she said: “The Governor we have today, only joined the party along with his SSG and a host of others, simply because they had issues in their party and needed a platform, which the PDP gave them.”

She said some of the people criticizing the picture that surfaced after Okpebholo’s visit “only attend campaigns when and if they are given transport fares.

“I stepped aside my ambition for governorship on the grounds of equity, fairness and justice for the Esan people and now the question we must answer is; when choosing a deputy governor was it equitable, fair and just to not consider age, gender, the old PDP and the Ovia Constituency, that has never had governor or deputy governor before, but always given block votes to PDP?

“Do not be deceived, most old PDP members are silently protesting and ready to either work for the Labour Party or decamp to APC. My appeal as a bonafide PDP member is that we should settle the House before it’s too late.”