Former Edo State Governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, has sharply criticized the current Governor, Godwin Obaseki, labeling his administration as a comprehensive failure. Oshiomhole's comments reflect his strong discontent with Obaseki's tenure and decisions, which he argues have negatively impacted the state.
He contended that Obaseki’s eight years in office provide no justification for supporting the candidate that the governor endorsed in the recently concluded gubernatorial election. [/b]Oshiomhole's remarks were made during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Sunday, where he elaborated on his views regarding Obaseki's leadership style and political alliances.
During the interview, Oshiomhole expressed skepticism about Obaseki's ability to influence voters, asserting that the governor has "burned his bridges" with former supporters and allies. This deterioration of relationships, he claimed, has left Obaseki in a politically isolated position, referring to him as a “lonely man” who is disconnected from the very constituents he needs to rally behind his chosen successor.
In his condemnation, the Senator stated, “God knows that Obaseki misgoverned the state, he defrauded the people, he jailed innocent women, he did a lot of terrible things that any man who has the fear of God will not do to his own people, and he’s proud to say ‘I will crush, I will crush.’ Every other minute, he will say ‘I am the Chief Security Officer.’ In the process, he forgot that these powers belong to the people, the sovereignty belongs to the people. They delegate you, they entrust you, believing that you will do good to them.”
Oshiomhole further criticized Obaseki's governance style, saying, “Instead, you used the power to threaten, you made promises you never kept, so there was nothing. And even the royal father, he was fighting him. He fought everybody, whether you looked for his trouble or didn’t look for his trouble. For Obaseki, crushing people was a way of life. So, we are very happy now that we have consigned him to the dustbin of political history.”[/p>
“As a person, he is my friend, but as governor, he was a failure,” Oshiomhole added, making it clear that his criticisms stem from Obaseki's political actions rather than personal animosity. Oshiomhole went on to predict the outcome of the recent elections, stating, “That we defeated Obaseki and Asue Ighodalo should be quite predictable. There was nothing either in Obaseki's performance nor Asue’s credentials that would have made them win the elections, and I said that before to this channel that Asue is not electable.”[/p>
He elaborated on the failures of Obaseki’s administration, comparing him to the proverbial blind man who, in 2016, relied on Oshiomhole’s support to become governor without truly understanding the responsibilities that came with the position. “In 2020, again, there were internal crises in the APC, Obaseki again had the backing of some elements within the APC, and of course, the very Wike that he’s demonizing now, Governor Wike, as he then was, left Port Harcourt to Benin, and the REC they were protesting against, that same REC was in Benin. Again, Obaseki rode on the back of Wike and elements of what became known as the PDP Legacy Group, together with some of the elements in APC. They took him to cross the river for the second time without his leg touching water. And so, twice, he was being described as the iron man.”[/p>
Oshiomhole concluded his remarks by underscoring Obaseki's downfall, stating, “And so this time around, he has burned all the cables, he has divided the PDP into two, the legacy PDP left him, Wike left him, I left him, his deputy left him, and so he was now a lonely man. And now, he had to cross the river using his own strength, he just found that in the process he got stuck inside the river, which he himself predicted that once he loses the election, he said the election was a do-or-die. Now Edo people have done it, and he is dead.”[/p>