A former political adviser to one-time governor Adams Oshiomhole, Hon. Charles Idahosa, has asked the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to honour the agreement it reached with a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, in the build-up to the party’s primaries in 2020.
Idahosa, now a chieftain of the PDP said he had to speak out because he was instrumental to Ogbeide-Ihama’s withdrawal from the 2020 gubernatorial race to pave the way for Governor Godwin Obaseki, who had been shut out of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the time.
In a statement he issued yesterday, which was made available to LEADERSHIP in Abuja, Idahosa the PDP made some promises to Ogbeide-Ihama after pleading with him to yield his ticket to Obaseki, adding that the time to fulfill the promise and reward party loyalty is now.
He said so far, the national leadership of the party had been trying to resolve the issues in the party and cautioned that the PDP leaders should not create problems it won’t recover from.
Idahosa said, “They (party leaders) should give it (primaries) their best; handle it with care because I am afraid if they don’t handle it with care, it will affect the PDP.”
The PDP chieftain said the governors and the leaders of the PDP knew what led to the said agreement with Ogbeide-Ihama.
According to him, “They know the kind of agreement they reached, that was breached and that brought us to where we are today. They should work harder because the reality is very clear. It is crystal clear. It is like daylight.
“The truth of the matter is that the national leaders should do what is right; all those who took part in the agreement and settlement with Ogbeide-Ihama who was already the candidate of the PDP before we forced him down, are still alive, even if they are no more governors, they are still relevant, they should say the agreement they reached at that time and they should tell us who fulfilled his own or who did not because if by any error of omission or commission, they deny Ogbeide-Ihama the governorship ticket which he is supposed to get because of what they arranged for Obaseki to come in, who was given a waiver by the same national, PDP is finished in Edo State.”
He admonished the PDP leaders to be careful so as not to repeat the mistakes made by the APC when it chased away Obaseki from its midst in 2020.
Idahosa said, “Ogbeide-Ihama was already the candidate of PDP, it was already clear, nobody was going to stop him. I invited him to my house. He and Osaro Idah, because we are related. Here in my sitting room. I pleaded with him and he stepped down.
“I told Obaseki, you go and discuss with them. That was how they went to Port Harcourt. He left here in my house in the night with one of his uncles, his mother’s immediate younger brother, a retired director in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. He is alive today. It is like after reading 48 Laws of Power, where they told you to destroy those who made you and that is what he is doing,” he added.
He also said that as a result of developments within the party in Edo State, the party was already becoming unpopular, adding that only the choice of the right candidate would save the PDP from imminent collapse.
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