Governor Obaseki of Edo State has said that his predecessor and National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole has lost his political grip on the state, and now resorts to deploying police operatives from Abuja to allegedly harass his aides.
The Governor, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, added that Oshiomhole’s intent was an “attempt to plunge the state into chaos and cause panic in [his] camp.”
He stated this in response to the arrest of his security adviser, Andrew Momodu, over the weekend by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) with the intent of whisking him to Abuja. Osagie’s statement had alleged that Mr. Momodu was arrested in a gestapo style.
According to him, “When Momodu resisted the unlawful arrest by the security agents, he was taken to the Police Headquarters in Benin, where he was held for an extended period until the Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu intervened.”
“Investigations revealed that the security from Abuja have orders from above to pick up not less than 50 persons loyal to Obaseki, in an attempt to plunge the state into chaos and cause panic in the governor’s camp.
“Those penciled down for arrest, according to sources privy to the policemen’s modus operandi, including Special Adviser (SA) to the Governor on Political Matters, Edo South, Hon. Osaigbovo Iyoha.
“Others on the list are Albert Obazee, Kelly Okungbowa (popularly known as Ebo Stone) and Muktar-Osagie Muntari, who heads the state’s Public Works Volunteers (PUWOV).”
Obaseki and Oshiomhole have been at loggerheads over who controls the structure of the party in the state.