Edo APC youths threaten to withdraw support for Obaseki in 2020

Aggrieved youths of Edo State All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 18 local councils have threatened to withdraw their support for Governor Godwin Obaseki’s re-election in 2020.

They stated this during a press conference at the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and urged National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, to prevail on Obaseki to fulfil his promises to the youths.

Spokesperson of the group, Tony Kabaka, said if their grievances were not addressed, the governor’s re-election bid in 2020 would be a repeat of the just concluded Ekiti State governorship election.

Kabaka, who regretted supporting the governor in 2016, alleged that the youths had been neglected, while others who did not labour for the governor were brought in from abroad.

“If it were the former Deputy Governor, Pius Odubu or Chris Ogiemwonyi we voted for during the election, we would not have been treated this way. Women and elders of the party who voted for him have been abandoned.

“The first employment we got from the governor after the election was imprisonment. Obaseki imprisoned the former women leader and youth leader of the party,” he said.

Kabaka further accused the governor of empowering non-indigenes to the detriment of the youths that supported and voted for him, alleging that projects in the state were being awarded to contractors who are non-indigenes.

He also accused the deputy governor, Philip Shaibu of abandoning and neglecting the youths, a constituency he was supposed to represent.

“During the campaigns, Oshiomhole said Shaibu would be the running mate to Obaseki to represent the youths in the cabinet and that he would empower them.

But now, Oshiomhole should ask the deputy governor how he has empowered the youths since assumption of office two years ago,” he stated.

Reacting to the claims, state chairman of the party, Anselm Ojezua said the aggrieved youths were being misguided and impatient.

He, therefore, advised them to be patient, noting that Obaseki meant well for them and that the state government was not interested in throwing money on the youths but providing empowerment through skills acquisition and technical education.