Anenih’s state burial not cause of Obaseki, Oshiomhole rift

The Media Director of the Edo All Progressives Congress Campaign Council, Kassim Afegbua, has faulted the claim by Governor Godwin Obaseki that he fell out with a former governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole, over the state burial given to the late Tony Anenih.

Obaseki said on Friday during the Peoples Democratic Party campaign for the September 21 governorship election in the state that one of the problems his administration had with Oshiomhole was that it organised a state burial for the deceased PDP leader.

Speaking to party supporters at Okpujie Demonstration Primary School in Uromi, Obaseki said Oshiomhole questioned the rationale behind his organising a state burial for Anenih.

He said, “When Chief Tony Anenih died, I gave him a state burial while I was still in the All Progressives Congres, and this is one of the things that caused problems between Oshiomhole and me.

“He said the late Anenih was not an elected official, so why would I give him a state burial? I said the man has done more than many governors, so he deserved it.”

However, Afegbua, who was a commissioner under Oshiomhole, said in a statement on Sunday that Obaseki was playing cheap politics with the claim.

He said, “I just read what was attributed to Governor Obaseki as the reason he gave for falling out from Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, and I wondered why an executive governor could make such a bogus claim just to score a cheap political point.

“It is terrible character indices for Governor Obaseki to raise such devious reason as the rationale for his breaking apart from Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

“Governor Obaseki is not even smart at all. Chief Tony Anenih, of blessed memory, died on the 28th of October 2018, at the age of 85, but Governor Obaseki’s political squabbles with Comrade Oshiomhole started in late 2017, by February 2018, it had become so visible and almost irreconcilable.

“I remember vividly that I met with Governor Obaseki at his residence on Commercial Avenue on the 18th of May 2018 in an attempt to bring the two of them together after a series of failed reconciliations by Alhaji Aliko Dangote and a couple of other governors.

“At the 18th May 2018 meeting, I confronted Governor Obaseki about the reason why he fell out with Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, his benefactor. He pointedly told me that he just wanted to be his own man. He showed an aspect of his ethnic chauvinism when he rendered the following words; “that short man from that little village of Iyamho cannot run the show”.

“I remember asking him at what time he suddenly realised that his benefactor was a ‘short man’ and from ‘that little village’ because I recalled he was always carrying Oshiomhole’s bag each time they were travelling. At that point, his countenance changed.”

Afegbua said he insisted that he put together a team of 10 mutual friends to meet and resolve the issue, and the governor obliged him that evening before he left for Abuja the following day.

He added, “When I got to Abuja, I met with Comrade Oshiomhole and related to him my encounter with Governor Obaseki. He was willing to attend such a meeting but doubted if the governor was genuine in his affirmation. But on the evening of May 19, Governor Obaseki called me to inform me that he would no longer subscribe to the meeting and that I should call it off.

“When I called Comrade Oshiomhole to inform him of the governor’s disposition against the meeting, he told me he would have been surprised if the governor would have been available for the meeting. That was how I put off the meeting.

“Chief Tony Anenih died on October 28, 2018, almost a year after the political differences started. So, it is the height of ungodliness and devilish intentions for Governor Obaseki to make reference to the state burial for Chief Anenih as the cause of his differences with Comrade Oshiomhole.

“He wants to profit from the death of Chief Anenih for political reasons. I am ashamed to hear this and to read this. Imagine the height of desperation to implant a godson when he once quarrelled with the idea of a godfather. What manner of a leader is Governor Obaseki? Profiteering from the dead?”