APC crisis heightens as Gov. Obaseki rejects Senator Lawan-led reconciliatory committee

The Ahmed Lawan-led reconciliation committee set up by the All Progressives Congress to resolve the lingering crisis rocking the party in Edo State has been rejected by the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led government.

The Edo State government rejected the committee on the ground that some of its members are people of “interests in the crisis rocking the ruling party.”

The Senate President was appointed to head 9 other members of the reconciliation committee on Wednesday.

However, in a statement signed by the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Paul Ohonbamu, and the spokesperson to the state governor, Crusoe Osagie, and made available to reporters on Friday, the State Government said both the Senate President and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Wase, were part of the crisis rocking the state chapter of the party.

The statement added, “We believe the committee does not only fall-short of the most basic of integrity tests, but is also a disservice to genuine efforts to bring a lasting solution to the crisis rocking different chapters of the APC across the country.

“To the specifics, Senator Lawan and Ahmed Wase in the Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively, presided over the plenary sessions where the motions to take over the Edo State House of Assembly were deliberated.

“They are also parties in the court case, in which the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt ruled that the National Assembly cannot take over the functions of the Edo State Assembly.

“The NWC, which constituted the reconciliatory committee, is presided over by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who is a key actor in the crisis in Edo State. With this move, it amounts to him also being the judge in his own case.

“State governors in APC-controlled states who are critical stakeholders in the organs of the party were not carried along in the composition of the reconciliation committee, contrary to insinuations that there was wide consultation before the setting up of the committee.

“Any genuine attempt to reconcile aggrieved parties cannot ignore such important stakeholders in the party.”

The Obaseki-government urged President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the crisis, while insisting that the National Chairman has been suspended by the party in his ward and local government.