Godwin Obaseki (Governor, Edo State)
The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has been disqualified from contesting in the forthcoming governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State.
He was proclaimed not fit to take part in the exercise to choose the party’s flagbearer along with two others by the party’s Screening Committee. according to the chairman of the screening committee, Professor Jonathan Ayuba, who made this this known on Friday at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, while briefing the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomole, and other party chieftains, on the result of the just concluded screening exercise.
“We have screened six aspirants; three were deemed eligible to participate and three were found ineligible to participate,” Prof Ayuba told party leaders. He said that Governor Obaseki was disqualified because his HSC and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates were “defective”.
The decision to clear and disqualify aspirants was based on some references and documents presented the chairman said.
Meanwhile, the governor has rejected the outcome of the screening exercise, saying he would not appeal his disqualification by the committee.
In a statement released by his spokesman, Crusoe Osagie, Governor Obaseki described the exercise as a mockery of the democratic process. The governor noted that he knew, that there was no way that he would get a fair assessment in the run-up to the nomination of the party’s flagbearer in the September 19 governorship poll.
“We have, therefore, decided that it would be an effort in futility to appeal whatever the unjust outcome of the evaluation and screening process of the APC will be, especially when Comrade Oshiomhole has declared that he is the Supreme Court and ultimate determiner of the fate and future of our great party,” he stated.
