Edo 2020: PDP Gives Obaseki 3 Tough Conditions To Get Party Ticket

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reportedly given the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki three tough conditions before he would be admitted into the main opposition party.

NewsOne Nigeria had reported earlier that Governor Obaseki was disqualified from seeking re-election by the All Progressives Congress (APC) screening committee on Friday.

Different reports have suggested that Governor Obaseki is plotting to dump the APC and join another political party to contest the Governorship election. It was gathered that the Edo State Governor has approached the PDP leadership on the possibility of contesting the election on its platform.

However, a top PDP source told The Punch that Governor Obaseki was asked to fulfil some conditions before he could be admitted to be the party’s candidate in the coming election. The source said that Obaseki was directed to meet with the three PDP governorship aspirants – Gideon Ikhine, Ogbeide Ihama and Kenneth Imansuangbon – screened by the party’s screening committee for the primary.

Though PDP had yet to release the screening result, it was gathered that one of the aspirants insisted that he would not step down for Governor Obaseki.

The source said among the 3 tough conditions given by the PDP is that the Edo State governor should meet with the party leadership in the state to seek their support and understanding, adding that there was no way the national PDP would support Obaseki without the approval of its officials in the state, including the aspirants.

“We at the national level are not interested in imposing the governor or anyone on the party in the state. He is going to be their governor and the people of the state are the voters. Our own is to campaign for him and our party,” the source said.

“The governor is not yet a member of our party. We have laboured to remain relevant in the state and our popularity shows that we are going to win the forthcoming election.

“We are talking to the leaders of our party in the state. They have the final say on whether the governor should join or not. The governor had been directed to speak with the state leaders, the members of our party’s National Executive Committee in the state, members of the Board of Trustees and also members of different caucuses.

“When that is done, we can talk to him and the people. The governor will also have to meet with the aspirants who have picked our nomination and expression of interest forms and agree on modalities.

“When they agree, we will come in and iron out what to do. For now, we are watching from the sidelines,” the source said regarding Obaseki’s move to PDP.