The much-hyped defection of Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) may not come on a platter of gold after all as the party has given the embattled governor stringent conditions for him to scale the hurdles.
The Crest can confirm that PDP members including former President Goodluck Jonathan and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar are rooting for Obaseki to cross over to the party.
Indications emerged on Saturday that the leadership of the PDP has given conditions to the governor to fly the party’s flag in the state’s September 19 governorship election.
The offers came following Friday’s disqualification of Obaseki from the June 22 gubernatorial primary of the All Progressives Congress by the party’s screening committee for the election. The governor had, however, vowed not to appeal the decision.
While several PDP governors and leaders are willing to welcome Obaseki as member a few others are resisting the offer on the grounds that it would not help party discipline.
Some old members are said to be angry at what they see as preferential treatment for Obaseki in the race for the governorship ticket.
They are worried that the allegations which cost Obaseki the APC ticket may work against the PDP in the event that he emerges as the party’s candidate.
Some governors want those allegations sorted out before any concession is made.
Although the governor is yet to make a formal statement on where he is headed after rejecting the offer to appeal his disqualification by the APC, reports from his camp indicate that his political future lies in the PDP.
Chief among the conditions was the directive that he (Obaseki) should meet with the three PDP aspirants screened by the party’s screening committee for the primary.
The three screened PDP aspirants were Gideon Ikhine, Ogbeide Ihama and Kenneth Imansuangbon. But one of the aspirants insisted that he would not step down for the governor.
Though the party had yet to release the screening result, it was learnt that the three aspirants were likely to be cleared for the primary.
It was further learnt that the governor was also directed to meet with the party leadership in the state to seek their support and understanding.
The source said there was no way the national PDP would support the governor without the approval of its officials in the state, including the aspirants.
