A chieftain of the faction of the All Progressives Congress loyal to Adams Oshiomhole, Mr Francis Inegbeneki, in this interview with SOLA SHITTU accuses Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, of been behind the violence in the state
How did you receive the news of the bombing of your house in Benin?
I was shocked when I heard the news. In fact, my first concern was my wife and son who were in the house when the incident happened. But I thank God because none of them was hurt. It was only the car parked outside that was seriously damaged. Really it would have been more than that if the two bombs had exploded, but it was only one that caused such a huge damage.
My guard told me that the attackers threw the bomb over the fence into the premises and that when they threw the first one and heard nothing, it was then they threw the second one which exploded and caused the damage. The guard also said he saw them when they came in a Toyota Hilux pickup around 3 am. He said they (the attackers) probably couldn’t initially recognise the house. So, they drove off and then came back later to throw the bomb.
How would you react to the allegation that Oshiomole is the one sponsoring the attack just to blackmail the government and create a state of lawlessness?
That’s arrant nonsense. Let me tell you something. Oshiomhole, even when he was contesting against the PDP as governor, never introduced violence into his politics. When people like Philip Shaibu tried to introduce students’ union politics, Oshiomhole was the one who cautioned him and asked them never to engage in violence. There was no violence throughout the eight years that he was governor. The tactics of the Godwin Obaseki/Philip Shaibu camp is to try and subdue the main APC members because of the general rejection of Obaseki’s second term ambition. You cannot force the people to support you. What you can do if you are truly a politician is to lobby them. That is what politics is all about. You cannot have your way all the time. You have to consult and negotiate with others. But rather than working for the people of Edo State, Obaseki has abandoned governance and is busy chasing people.
You were accused of violating government order banning rallies in the state. Why?
Let me tell you, that order in itself is illegal. On the issue of rally, a political party is only required to only write to the police to provide security for a rally. It doesn’t mean political parties should seek permission from police before the rallies are held.
The state government has no power to do that. Are you saying if the PDP wants to have a rally, Obaseki will not allow it? What of himself, did he not hold a rally at Ehor? So what do they mean? He held a rally at Ehor and he has been holding meetings with PDP chieftains in Edo. Did anybody stop him? He had been holding rallies and meetings all over the state even with PDP members and we are not complaining. So, he has no right to stop any rally in Edo State. We are aware that his plan is to destroy the APC in the state. He wanted to create the Zamfara situation in Edo State and that is why you see them in different courts trying to get orders to sack the national chairman or make sure we don’t have the State Working Committee in Edo State. But the NWC is the one handling primary and we know the genuine members of the party in the state.
Obaseki has accused Oshiomhole of sponsoring violence in the state with the hope that the Federal Government will use that to declare state of emergency. How do you react to this?
Of course you know the allegation is not true. How can Oshiomhole be the one sponsoring violence against himself? Does that make sense at all? To any right-thinking person, it is absurd and we wonder if they think rationally at all. Oshiomhole is the national chairman of the party. His dream is to ensure that the party wins election in every state of the federation. How can the same Oshiomhole be the one sponsoring violence in his own state? What does he stands to gain from that? Besides, Oshiomhole is in Abuja and Obaseki is in Edo as the governor of the state. Is it not the duty of the governor to ensure peace in the state? How can Oshiomole, who is in Abuja, be the one breeding violence when it is on record that when Oshiomhole came to Edo to receive a former PDP governorship candidate, Pastor Ize Iyamu, to the APC, the governor sent thugs after him. They set bonfires on airport road and vowed that Oshiomhole would not enter Benin. They took over everywhere and therefore made it difficult for Oshiomole to get to his house. We understand that people were shot and about 15 of them were hospitalised.
Let me tell you something, Obaseki is a neophyte in politics and that is the truth. If he knows his onion, he should know by now that he cannot get anything with violence. He said Akinwunmi Ambode, the former governor of Lagos was removed because he did not fight and that Edo is not Lagos. What we understand he is planning is that he is instigating violence so as to instill fears in the hearts of the people so they can give him the second term ticket.
If at this stage there is so much violence in the state, do you think the primary can hold?
Why not, of course it will hold. Edo is just one state in Nigeria. We have had issues like that before. For instance before the primary in Kogi State, everybody thought it was going to be tough but at the end what happened, it was very peaceful.
The Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, submitted a petition to the Inspector General of Police and the Department of State Services seeking the arrest of Oshiomhole. What’s your take on this?
That’s laughable because I don’t know the reason why they are calling for Oshiomole’s arrest. Obaseki and Shaibu are the ones setting fire on Edo State, chasing our party members about, shooting and threatening them with guns.