…Stop name-calling address the issue, APC responds
The Edo State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has said the celebration of the “defection” of the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku, is not surprising as Agbebaku has been operating as a covert APC loyalist.
Briefing newsmen in Benin on Thursday Tony Azeigbemi, the PDP Caretaker Committee Chairman in Edo State, said the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) found it laughable indeed, and comical that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would roll out the drums to celebrate his (Agbebaku) exit from the party.
According to Azeigbemi, “Tuesday’s stage-managed fanfare in Benin City was not news. It was merely the official coronation of what had become a public secret.”
Read also: PDP hit by another wave of defections as three Reps defects to APC
He added that for months running, Agbebaku, had served the interests of the APC in both conduct and allegiance.
“What played out was nothing more than a desperate spectacle, designed to impress the President and APC national leadership, an illusion worthy of a David Copperfield performance.
“Let it be remembered that under Agbebaku’s leadership, and in collaboration with Monday Okpebholo and the Edo APC, duly elected local government council chairmen overwhelmingly PDP members were illegally suspended”, he stated.
Azeigbemi stated that, despite the expiration of that unconstitutional suspension, Agbebaku refused to reinstate the People’s Democratic Party lawmekers, acting with clear partisan bias. If ever there was evidence of his real political affiliation, this was it.
“While the APC celebrates this, we in the PDP remain unbothered. Men who stand for nothing will always fall for anything. Even more laughable is the APC’s claim that 17 Council chairmen have defected to their party. This is pure fiction”, he added.
Azeigbemi challenged the APC to name a single duly elected PDP chairman who had defected. “The truth is that’s what they parade are political appointees and stooges illegally imposed on the Councils”, he explained.
However, the Edo State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party had challenged Governor Monday Okpebholo to release the names of the Council Chairmen in the PDP that defected.
Read also: Why I dumped PDP for APC — Edo speaker
“We dare Okpebholo to release the names of the Council Chairmen that defected. This charade is part of a broader strategy by the APC to create a false narrative of political dominance in Edo State. But the people of Edo are politically astute and cannot be deceived by such theatrics.”
Reacting to the allegations, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State, through Peter Uwadiae, its Publicity Secretary, said the PDP should have addressed the reasons for the mass exodus from their party.
Peter Uwadiae stated that Aziegbemi had resorted to cheap name-calling and false accusations. “The Speaker’s decision to join the APC is a reflection of his conviction and the growing acceptance of the APC’s message of genuine progress under Senator Monday Okpebholo”, he noted.
On the matter of the suspended Local Government Chairmen, the party said, “it is ironic that the PDP, which oversaw the illegality of appointing Caretaker Committees in flagrant violation of the Constitution, is now crying foul. Their so-called elected chairmen were handpicked cronies foisted on the people without proper elections, in defiance of the will of the electorate and the courts”, the APC Publicity Secretary, added.
