Disquiet in Edo over governor’s alleged threat to lawmaker’s life

Obaseki gets ultimatum over poor state of schools
There is no love lost between Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, and the House of Assembly over alleged threat to a lawmaker’s life.

The development has caused disquiet in the state’s chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the lawmaker involved is also a member of the ruling party in the state.

Chris Okaeben, an APC chieftain representing Oredo West in the house, had raised the alarm that Governor Obaseki was threatening his life for his loyalty to the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole.

Okaeben, who is the chairman, House Committee on Energy and Water Resources, alleged that the governor, at an enlarged APC leaders’ meeting in his private residence, directed some party members to call him to order, for allegedly attempting to stand against his second term bid, or face his wrath.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in his Benin City residence, Okaeben said he had been inundated with calls and messages from his close friends and associates that he was not in the good books of the governor for openly declaring his loyalty to Oshiomhole.

“I can allude to the fact that all those in the seat of power today at Osadebey Avenue are all products of Oshiomhole, including the governor as chairman of the economic team under Oshiomhole’s government,” he said.

Okaeben said he was reliably informed that the state government had recruited 15 social media activists to defame him and 25 members of the Eiye Confraternity to eliminate him.

Meanwhile, Nigerian Students and Youth Association (NISAYA), Edo State council, has given Obaseki 72 hours to address its members on the challenges facing the state-owned tertiary institutions.

The students also want the government to set up a committee that would look into the challenges and proffer solutions.

Edo NISAYA, in a press conference addressed by its chairman, Osamudiamen Ogbidi, yesterday in Benin City, called on the government to repeal the law establishing Tayo Akpata University of Education.

“If the government is interested in a degree-awarding institution, the College of Education, Ekiadolor, should be upgraded to a dual mode status or affiliated to a state-owned university like Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, to be able to award degrees,” the suggested.