Days after the Oba of Benin brokered a truce between their camps, Governor Godwin Obaseki and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on Saturday resumed their war of words.
Addressing the PDP faithful in Wards 8 and 10, Egor Local Government Area, Edo State yesterday, Obaseki, according to his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie said Oshiomhole, the immediate past national chairman of the All progressives Congress (APC), was fighting him and his re-election bid because he (Obaseki) reversed the sale of Edaiken Market at Uselu, Benin, which he alleged that Oshiomhole sold to his friends.
The governor also threatened to bury Oshiomhole, the governor’s predecessor and benefactor, politically in Edo State.
Oshiomhole on his part described the governor as the most dangerous politician he had ever seen whose life thrives on propaganda and lies.
Addressing a crowd in Egor LGA, Obaseki said the battle for the Edo State governorship seat on September 19 was between him and Oshiomhole, and not between him and the flag bearer of APC, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Obaseki threatened that with their votes for the PDP, Edo people would render the ex-national chairman of APC irrelevant, politically bury him and end godfatherism in the state on September 19.
He alleged that the former governor of Edo State sold Edaiken Market to his friends, who he said charged rates that were beyond the reach of traders who needed the lock-up shops.
Obaseki said: “I reversed the sale of Edaiken Market and brought the rates down to the level that our people could afford. That pitted me against the godfather. He said that I could not be a governor. Is he God? Are we fools?”
Obaseki assured that the governorship election in less than a fortnight would put an end to godfatherism in Edo State, urging the electorate to come out en masse to vote for the PDP, to enable him to consolidate on his achievements in the first term.
He said: “A child that was born 22 years ago since Nigeria’s democracy in 1999, is that child not old enough to be a man by now? This democracy will continue and even beyond us, by the grace of God.
“If you come, do your own, and if another person comes, allow him to play his own part and leave. That man (Oshiomhole) is very dangerous.
“See the party (APC) that they put under his watch, he has destroyed it. This fight is between Oshiomhole and me; the fight is not between me and Ize-Iyamu.
“We will bury Oshiomhole politically. We have retired him and on September 19, 2020, we will bury him politically.”
Contacted for reaction on behalf of his boss, Oshiomhole’s media aide, Victor Oshioke, said he had not got a clearance from the former Edo State governor.
An ally of Oshiomhole, Washington Osifo, however described Obaseki as the most dangerous politician he had ever seen, declaring that the Edo governor thrives in lies and propaganda and describing the governor as a stranger to Edo politics.
Osifo, a current member of the Edo State House of Assembly and a former Commissioner for Education in the state, urged discerning minds to ignore the falsehoods being peddled by “the drowning Edo governor”, who, according to him, would be defeated on September 19 by a more experienced and very popular Ize-Iyamu, to ensure good governance in the Southsouth state.
He said: “What do you expect from Obaseki, a stranger in Edo politics and a drowning man who thrives in deception, lies, trivialities and propaganda?
“I know Obaseki very well. He likes to take Edo people for granted and he enjoys falsehood.”Obaseki misrepresented the APC. That is why he was disqualified by members of the screening committee of the governing party (APC).
“He is becoming desperate, knowing full well that he can never defeat Pastor Ize-Iyamu on September 19, 2020.
“Obaseki is the most dangerous politician that I have ever seen. He lies a lot.”
The Oshiomhole ally also maintained that the former national chairman of APC never sold Edaiken Market to his friends, describing the allegation as senseless, mischievous, vexatious and misleading, and would naturally be ignored by right-thinking members of the public.

By Bisi Olaniyi