The crisis rocking Edo State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday took a new twist as Governor Godwin Obaseki demanded ‘immediate’ arrest of the National Chairman of his party, Adams Oshiomhole
Obaseki asked the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Adamu and the Director-General, Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi, to arrest Oshiomhole for disobeying police order which banned rallies and for inciting violence in the state.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja through his deputy, Philip Shaibu, Obaseki said a petition to that effect would be submitted to the relevant authorities, arguing that Oshiomhole cannot hold a rally in an APC-controlled state without the consent of the sitting governor.
He said, “In fact, I am in Abuja to meet with the IG. I have a petition to the IG and to the Director of DSS to the effect that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole be arrested by the police and be arrested by the DSS for the breakdown of law and order that he has consistently perpetrated in Edo State.
“We banned rallies, the IG in a letter also suspended rallies. He disobeyed the orders of the state government, he disobeyed the orders of the IG and feels that he is above the law.
“For us, we have officially come now to drop our petition with the IG to the effect that Oshiomhole is not above the law. He should be arrested for violating the state government’s order.
“He was a governor before and he knows that nobody violated his orders as governor, because it is not about him, it is about the state. When everybody disobeys laws, then the country becomes a banana republic, God forbid.
“And that is why we are saying that the IG and the DG of DSS should arrest him and interrogate him for breaching the peace and disobeying government orders and security orders for rallies.
“So, for us, when the suspended national chairman of the party continually disobeys the law, when opposition party chairmen do same, he becomes a reference point, so that is why I am here on behalf of the state government to submit a petition to the IG to the effect that the suspended chairman, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, be arrested and prosecuted for breaching the peace of Edo State.”
Speaking on the allegations that the governor was planning to destroy the APC so that he can leave with his supporters for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Shuaibu said, “To where? We are not leaving APC. The governor and I are not leaving APC.
Contacted via phone, the Chief Press Secretary to Oshiomhole, Simon Ebegbulemu, declined comment.
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