The atmosphere in the political circle in Edo State has become charged as some members of the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state have become jittery over Governor Godwin Obaseki’s plan to announce the list of his commissioners and other aides.
The current anxiety among APC members in Edo, it was learnt, is as a result of the fears being entertained by party leaders, who are no longer comfortable because of their inability to ascertain whether their loyalists eventually made the governor’s list.
Investigation by our correspondent revealed that when Obaseki assumed office in November 2016, he made it clear to the APC leaders that he was going to separate governance from the party structure, a position said to be very strange and novel to the politics and people of Edo State.
A dependable source, who spoke on condition of anonymity with our correspondent, disclosed that, “The governor has exclusive right to vet and restructure the lists earlier submitted by Chief Osaro Idah if the committee could not meet the modalities and objectives set as criteria for recruiting credible qualified candidates.
“It amazes me when I hear some of the party members are fighting themselves dirty and washing their dirty linens in the public. This was almost on the verge of detracting the screening committees. For instance, in some feuding local government areas, there were cases of two or three different lists so sent to the appointed committee, resulting in delays in appointing political functionaries to form the state executive council. This is sequel to the inability of the APC leaders to put their house in order.”
Our correspondent further gathered that the inability of the party leaders in the 18 local government areas in the state to forward lists of their consensus candidates to the screening committee, made Governor Obaseki to intervene to placate the warring party members.
“In order to ensure credible qualified persons are saddled with public political appointments, coupled with equitable distribution of jobs to all the 192 wards in the state, the governor had to set up another committee, headed by Prof. Dennis Agbonlahor, to further look into the first screening exercise done by the Osaro Idah committee headed by Chief Osaro Idah,” a source said.
