Pressure mounts on Oshiomhole, Obaseki to end rift  

Barely 24 hours after an attempt by a faction of the Edo State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) to throw up a consensus candidate to contest the party’s governorship ticket against Governor Godwin Obaseki, failed, party stakeholders insist that time has come for the governor and the party’s national chairman to resolve their differences in readiness for next month’s primary.
 
A former political aide to Oshiomhole, Mr. Charles Idahosa, said it was absurd for Oshiomhole to think that the incumbent government could be denied re-election for a second term by capitalising on the crisis that he (Oshiomhole) created.
   
Speaking at the backdrop of a flopped political meeting by the Edo Peoples Movement (EPM) faction of APC to nominate a consensus candidate, Idahosa said although Obaseki’s re-election was not negotiable, the best Oshiomhole could do was to reconcile with the governor, since he lacks the capacity to decide the governor’s fate.

While maintaining that Oshiomhole’s support for the emergence of a consensus candidate from among his four shortlisted aspirants amounted to an exercise in futility, Idahosa condemned the continued effort to run a parallel structure ahead of the party’s primary, all in a bid to supplant Obaseki.
 
Idahosa said only concerted support for Obaseki would guarantee victory for APC in the forthcoming Edo State gubernatorial poll, even as he called on the four governorship aspirants that took part in the disastrous factional primary to join the incumbent in providing good governance for Edo people.
 
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would meet on May 7, to among other things, review the situation in its offices nationwide to adopt a clear roadmap and guidelines for the resumption of activities, as preparations for the conduct of Edo and Ondo Governorship Elections heat up.
  
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, who disclosed this yesterday, said the commission would also deliberate on a number of issues including, preparations for the conduct of Edo and Ondo governorship polls, the upcoming bye-elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Plateau States.