I never dictated for Obaseki, he’s a failure ― Oshiomhole

Contrary to insinuations in some quarters in Edo State, former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has denied ever dictating for Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.

Oshiomhole who spoke at a campaign rally in Benin yesterday accused the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Governor Obaseki in the September 19 election of hiring a consultant to manage the Central Hospital, Benin at a whopping N720 million yearly.

He said that he actually supported the Edo State governor because he worked with him during his time as governor between 2008 and 2016 and hoped that he will continue with his legacy only for him (Obaseki) to detail.

The former governor who spoke in company of the APC governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, former Edo State deputy governor Lucky Imasuen, former House of Representatives member Patrick Obahiagbon and a host of others, insisted that the five-star hospital which he built and was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari few days before he (Oshiomhole) left office was fully equipped.

Almost four days after the hospital was commissioned, he lamented that it was still largely unused but was seriously worried that Governor Obaseki chose to hire a consultant whom he paid N720 million yearly to run the facility which is inaccessible to ordinary Edo people.

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The immediate past governor said: “I never dictated for Governor Obaseki. I never attempted to play the role of a godfather to him as he is erroneously claiming. My differences with Obaseki has to do with the fact that he didn’t follow my legacy. It is a government of several Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) without anything to show for it.”

At Egor where he met with senior chiefs in the Benin Kingdom, Oshiomhole admitted that Ize-Iyamu was far better than Governor Obaseki in 2016 but had no choice than to aggressively campaign for him since Ize-Iyamu who ran on the ticket of the PDP then had left APC.

He added: “The case of Obaseki and Ize-Iyamu is like that of a marketer of Toyota and Mercedes Benz. In this case, Ize-Iyamu was the Mercedes Benz and Obaseki was the Toyota. There is no way I could have told people to vote for Ize-Iyamu, the Mercedes Benz and far better material than Obaseki, the Toyota. If I had to market the Toyota, it meant nobody would have bought my Toyota. As a salesman, you know what that means. I would have been out of a job.”

He told the high chiefs who were led by Enogie of Egbaen, Egor Local Government Area, His Royal Highness Edomwonyi Iduozee that he was deeply sorry for bringing Obaseki, noting that in life, as a human being, one is bound to make mistakes but was glad that he was alive to rectify whatever may have gone wrong.

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