The former Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Thomas Okosun, has reacted to the ongoing rift between Adams Oshiomhole and Governor Godwin Obaseki.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Okosun alleged that Obaseki has issued orders for Oshiomhole to be killed.
“Before this time, the governor has threatened that each time Comrade (Oshiomhole) comes to Edo State, he has given orders that he should be dealt with.
What you saw yesterday was an attempt to actually implement that instruction for the governor to deal with Adams Oshiomhole, his predecessor in office. His high demand is that he should be killed,” he said.
When asked if he heard Obaseki clearly state that Oshiomhole should be killed, Okosun replied in the affirmative.
“I stand by my allegations; I stand by it. Yes, I have heard Obaseki say that he should deal with him. Yes, I have. It’s on video, it is everywhere,” Okosun retorted.
Reacting to Oshomhole’s reported attack yesterday while visiting his country home in Edo State yesterday, Okosun noted that if not for the intervention of security operatives, the party’s national chairman would have been killed.
According to him, people who ought to have protected Oshiomhole were the ones aiming at him.
“By yesterday, three people among the boys who came to attack Oshiomhole were arrested with Pump Action. The police will tell you that. What were they coming to do there?
“If you want to ask, the Chief Security Officer of a state is a man who ought to provide security for everybody in Edo State. He is now the one threatening that they should deal with his predecessor in office,” he said.
Meanwhile, a former President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Peter Esele, has called on the governor to settle scores with his predecessor in office.
While asking that peace should reign, he noted that Oshiomhole played a crucial role in the emergence of Obaseki as the governor of the state in 2016.
“What we are looking for is peace. And if you are looking for peace and you see Oshiomhole and Obaseki hand in gloves, what message are you sending to the rank and file?
“It is not a matter of whether you are coming to Edo State and inform the governor. What we are having right now is a situation of whether you like it or not, Oshimhole played a role in Obaseki emerging as a governor,” Esele said.
