Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has dismissed the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP arising from withdrawal of Governor Seyi Makinde as chairman of the PDP Ad-Hoc Ward Congress Committee as a storm in a tea cup.
He spoke as leaders of the mainstream of the party in the state warned that the disregard of the rules for the exercise would sound the final burial of the party in the state.
It would be recalled that Governor Makinde withdrew his appointment as chairman of the committee following the petition by nine of the other aspirants that the list of electoral officers as originally drawn up by the party had been adulterated with officials of the Delta and Edo State governments.
Responding to the development, Obaseki in his first reaction said:
“Makinde’s withdrawal doesn’t discredit the process. What makes the process credible is the quality of the participation. I hope that our efforts to unify the party continue and we ensure that the PDP plays its role in the politics of this country.”
“The purported PDP crisis is hyped but on ground it is not as they want us to believe,” the governor added.
However, a leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the state Liberty ‘Ruyi was on Sunday night effusive urging the PDP mainstream to bring down the roof on the PDP in Edo State.
“I sympathize with the original owners of the party; the Legacy Coalition. What’s left in the kitty of known political strategies, is to remove the roof.
“When you have a difficult-to-evict tenant, you pull down the roof to allow rain finish the tenant’s properties. He’ll have no choice but to pack out.
“Legacy Coalition should pull the roof down to evict the tenants. When PDP loses, these tenants will pack out, and the Legacy Coalition can have their house back for reconstruction.”
