National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh has revealed that Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State had begged several times to be a member of the PDP but the party rejected him. Metuh said the governor promised to decamp to the PDP once the party accepted his willingness to join.
In a statement on Wednesday, Metuh asked Governor Oshiomhole to be courageous enough to tell Nigerians how many times he begged to join the PDP but was turned down. According to Metuh, the same PDP which the governor has continued to castigate at every given opportunity is the same party he “went on all fours begging to join on several occasions.”
He accused the governor of calling the PDP a party of rogues, wondering if Oshiomhole would make such an insulting statement if he had been allowed to join the party. Metuh said the governor made the utterance because of his desperation to justify the massive rigging and democratic aberration that characterised the recent local government elections in Edo State.
“In 2007, Adams begged to be given an opportunity under the Umbrella but we considered his governorship aspiration an assault on the existing zoning formula in the state and quietly turned him down. Again in 2012, Adams once more came cap in hand and our great party again rejected him,” he added.
Metuh said the real rogues are within the leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and wondered if Oshiomhole was just realizing how bad the PDP is despite his continued plea to become a member of the party.
“First is that Oshiomhole is Governor primarily because of the unflinching commitment of the PDP to the rule of law and credible elections. No amount of falsehood by the ACN can obliterate this.
“Governor Oshiomhole therefore carries a huge moral burden when as the largest beneficiary of these democratic values guaranteed by the PDP led Federal Government, he went ahead without scruples to deny his people the opportunity to elect the leaders of their choice.
“And when Oshiomhole referred to the PDP as corrupt, it is very needful to remind him that corruption is home to the states under the ACN,” the statement claimed adding that “without guessing the disquieting cases of corruption in Edo State, we wish to ask Governor Oshiomhole to explain how less than a 7-kilometre Benin Airport Road fraudulently awarded at N6bn is yet to be completed after four years and how N600m was used to change the roof and repaint the walls of Idia College in Benin.”
The PDP statement also reminded the governor of the N2bn building project at the Central Hospital in Benin, which collapsed while still under construction saying the collapse was as a result of corruption. Metuh also accused the governor of corruption in the printing of the ballot papers for the election which he said was substandard.
The party had few days ago called the Edo State Governor a rampaging evil over allegations that the Local Government elections in the state were fraught with irregularities sponsored by the governor to favour the ACN in some parts of the state.
Oshiomhole is yet to respond to the grave allegation that he has been desperate to join the PDP.
