Fresh facts have emerged about how the national leadership of All Progressives Congress and other stakeholders were arm-twisted by the chief of staff to the president, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, in the Edo governorship’s primary election.
Leadership reports that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had succumbed to pressure from his chief of staff to endorse Hon Dennis Idahosa in the lead-up to Saturday’s election.
According to the report, after securing the presidential nod, Gbajabiamila recruited a former governor of the state, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, as the arrowhead of the deal to clear all hurdles against Idahosa at the state level.
Oshiomhole later set the stage for Idahosa’s emergence in the state’s three senatorial districts.
Oshiomhole was reportedly compelled to abandon some of his lieutenants, who had shown interest in the election and touted their relationship with him as an asset to clinch victory in the intra-party polls.
Accordingly, some of Oshiomhole’s loyalists, including his former deputy, Chief Pius Obudu, were tactically eliminated from the race, for lacking financial muscles to prosecute the general election.
Oshiomhole reportedly persuaded some of them to drop their aspirations since they could not withstand the financial war chest, which Gbajabiamila had promised to deploy in aid of Idahosa to clinch the highest political office in Edo state.
A source quoted in the report said that the party’s NWC was oblivious of the game plan by the presidency to install Idahosa.
However, APC national chairman Abdullahi Ganduje only got wind of Gbajabiamila’s clandestine plans less than 48 hours before the primary election, in the early hours of Thursday.
As the rumours filtered to him, Ganduje raced to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for an audience with Tinubu, who was billed to travel to Addis Ababa, for clarification on the festering issue.
The source said: “As Ganduje struggled for recognition for a handshake, Mr. President sauntered forward, facing the national chairman frontally, he said ‘has Femi (Gbajabiamila) delivered my message on the Edo primaries to you? But if he has not told you, this is my position: go and deliver Dennis Idahosa.’”
