The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared that embattled governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has not joined its fold.
The opposition party’s declaration came on the heels of Obaseki’s disqualification ahead of the June 22 governorship primary of the APC to produce its candidate for the September election and speculations that he had moved to the opposition party.
The APC’s seven-man screening committee led by Professor Jonathan Ayuba has disqualified Obaseki from the process on the grounds of its inability to verify the authenticity of the governor’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate and what it called the governor’s defective Higher School Certificate (HSC).
But reacting to speculations that Governor Obaseki has joined the PDP to prosecute his ambition to contest the coming election, the PDP said that Obaseki has not joined its fold.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, said speculations that Obaseki had joined the party were not true.
“The PDP has principles, processes and procedure. Joining our party is a procedural issue. He [Obaseki] has to join the party at the ward level. As we speak, there is no information at the national secretariat that he has joined the party at the ward level. He has not,” Ologbondiyan said.
However, competent sources told Saturday tribune that Obaseki had been under pressure to join the PDP in the wake of the cold war between the governor and his estranged godfather, a former governor of the state and currently the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.
“He has, however, been insisting on fighting it out in the APC,” the source said while wondering how Obaseki could think he would defeat “the principalities in the APC.”
