By Osahon Osahon
A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Wednesday says some members of the party who attended a mock governorship primaries conducted by a faction loyal to the party’s National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, will be quarantined.
The faction said those who allegedly attended the primaries would soon be taken in by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for isolation for reportedly violating the restriction order on large gatherings including political activities in the state.
The state factional Publicly Secretary of Edo APC, Mr. Joseph Osagiede, disclosed this while responding to Edo People’s Movement (EPM)’s paid publication to deny a mock primary that took place in Benin last week.
No fewer than five governorship aspirants on the platform of the party had allegedly attended a mock primaries at the private residence of Lucky Imasuen, a former Deputy Governor of the state, under the directive of the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, to pick a consensus aspirant to wrestle the party’s ticket from incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki.
The mock election tagged ‘family meeting’ however ended in deadlock, with one of the leading members of the party in the state, Barr. Henry Idahagbon, alleging non-transparency on the part of the organisers of the meeting.
But addressing journalists on Wednesday in Benin, Osagiede alleged that the over 50 delegates gathered against the directive of the federal government’s social distancing policy and prohibition of public gatherings of more than 20 persons, to check the spread of Covid-19.
He added that the large congregation of persons which took place at a time when collaborative efforts are being put in place to curtail the spread of Covid-19, contravenes the NCDC’s guidelines.
“The information did not reach us in time that there was such a gathering, by the time the information got to us, they had started fighting within themselves and that was what led to their dispersing.
“We have since informed the NCDC, whose responsibility it is to arrest, quarantine and isolate them to determine if they are safe to be in the society,” he said.
Osagiede described a statement in the said publication that Obaseki has merely scratched the surface and played to the gallery in his effort at fighting Covid-19″, as mischievous, noting that Edo state is the flagship in the fight against the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, EPM members are too blind to see all of these Governor Obaseki’s management of the pandemic, his well-articulated and structured lockdown and curfew management has become a national model,” he added
