A Former speaker of Edo state house of assembly and former spokesman to Governor Godwin Obaseki, have accused two South West Governors of being behind a survey which seeks to put the blame for the crisis in Edo APC squarely on the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.
Thomas Okosun and John Maiyaki in a joint statement in Abuja on Friday, said that the two South West governors were working in cohort with Governor Obaseki to gather alleged false information that would be used to plot the removal of Oshiomhole as the party’s National Chairman.
They alleged that the two governors, working with Obaseki have provided funds to a group of pseudo-researchers whose assignment was to come up with a survey with a predetermined result.
The statement said: “These researchers have been instructed to find ways to establish the lie, through their fake survey, that Obaseki is the only viable candidate who can win the coming election in Edo State. Besides this, the survey is to accuse Adams Oshiomhole as the primary cause of the conflict ongoing in Edo State.
“The survey is to go ahead and claim that responders have called for the immediate resignation or outright removal of the party’s National Chairman.
“Having cooked up these academic lies, the sponsors of this false information plan to go ahead, using the resources at their disposal, to first send the fake reports to the presidency, before starting an aggressive campaign in the media.
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“The whole purpose of first targeting the presidency is to falsely convince the President and other national leaders, that Oshiomhole is the cause of the crises within the party in Edo State.
“Although the truth proves otherwise, the colluding governors and their paid army of quack researchers are determined in pushing this false narrative, backing it up with the treachery of doctored research presenting invented charts, demographics, and questionnaires.
“The two-legged falsehood is aimed at confusing the presidency and to astonish the public with contrived research analysis. All these are geared towards perfecting the mission Obaseki set out for long, but has failed to achieve.
“The two other governors who are now in bed with Obaseki, have been previously silent and indifferent to the crisis, until recently when the strange and unholy alliance began their ’behind-the-scene’ works.
“The motivation for this new and surprising alliance with Governor Obaseki, is an subject of curiosity and has left conspiracy theorists pointing at the possibilities of exchange of state funds to earn their support.
“Yet, while this theory muddles between truth and myth, one is left to wonder what is there to gain, for the two governors in tarnishing and persecuting a man who has brought massive success and popularity to the APC.”