The political crisis in Edo State took a toll on the cabinet of Governor Godwin Obaseki on Wednesday with the termination of the appointments of all the governor’s special assistants and senior special assistants.
In a statement made available to journalists in Benin, Edo State capital, the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Osarodion Ogie, said fresh appointments would be announced within 30 days.
The development no doubt came as a shock to many watchers of events in the South-south state. Although Ogie said the move was necessitated by the need to reorganise the structure of governance in the state, Sentry gathered the real motive for the reorganization was to rid the Obaseki administration of disloyal aides.
A reliable government source told Sentry that the governor had grown weary of the activities of fifth columnists he believed were reporting the goings on in his camp to that of his estranged godfather and National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
Asked if the sacked aides would not constitute a threat to the governor’s reelection bid in the 2020 governorship poll in the state, the source said it is even more dangerous to keep many of them because “keeping them because of the election will amount to going into war with disloyal soldiers. It is better they plot against the governor from outside than do so from within.
“The governor has been conscious of the rebellious activities of many of them long before now, but because they were appointed with the influence of a party leader in the state he so much respected, there was little he could do about them.
“But the situation is different now. The governor is now his own man, hence he can afford to flex some muscle. Between me and you, the governor is extremely popular in Edo; the only place he has a problem is the party
Source : the nation
