Oshiomhole may probe Senator’s alleged anti-party role during polls

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State is considering a probe over alleged anti-party activities levelled against a Senator in the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on March 28.
Besides, there are indications that the government is also
probing the role of some traditional rulers and other chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who were said to have worked against state interest.
The report, according to sources, said Edo State Government had summoned and queried some top party chiefs in the state over their non-committal role and anti-party activities during the elections, especially the shocking defeat experienced by the ruling APC in some parts of the state where it hoped to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
For instance, the source quoted Edo South, where the APC lost woefully to the PDP as evident in the House of Representatives result and the rescheduled Senatorial contest.
In Edo North, the Senator was reported to have mobilised men and resources against his party and the interest of the governor, smarting from some carried-over animosity and political injury allegedly inflicted on the Senator during the party primaries.
The Senator lost a return ticket to a preferred candidate, who is said to have hailed from the Governor’s local government.
According to our source, the Senator wanted to take his pound of flesh and, as such, abstained from the party’s campaign and subsequently worked against the election of the new senator and Comrade Peter Akpatason for House of Representatives.
“What am telling you is the talk of the town in the Senator’s local government. They even alleged that he, in collaboration with a monarch, worked for the PDP House of Representatives candidate, Mr. Oladele Balogun, who won all the polling units in the two wards of his town.
“I can tell you categorically that the governor is worried about this development. A couple of other traditional rulers are not spared from this anti-government stance and they have been summoned. It is, however, not clear if the ruler was among those in Government House”, the source said.
Investigation revealed that this fear may have gripped the Otaru, who was said to have announced his innocence on the eve of the House of Assembly polls through a town crier in Igarra where he allegedly urged the people to vote for the APC candidate.