April 07, (THEWILL) – The crisis that engulfed the Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is over, according to Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.
Ortom, who doubles as chairman of the committee set up by the National Executive Committee of the PDP to look into the matter, disclosed this to newsmen on Wednesday, at the end of the meeting with the warring parties held at Benue State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.
The PDP in the state has been engulfed in crisis since 2020, when the governor defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the party.
Governor Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, defected to the PDP in the build-up to the 2020 Edo governorship election, after which they clinched the party’s ticket and won the election.
On March 7, Shaibu had asked the PDP national leadership to “integrate” supporters of Obaseki, who had joined the PDP from the APC.
The deputy governor had added that Obaseki’s supporters may leave the party, if they continued to feel like outsiders.
Three days later, Iyorchia Ayu, PDP national chairman, at an event in Edo, said Obaseki would not dump the party.
Some days later, Shaibu’s comment snowballed into an exchange of words between Obaseki and his counterpart in Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.
Wike described the Edo deputy governor as an “ingrate” for threatening the party, but in response, Obaseki had told Wike that the PDP is not his personal property.
Speaking further on the development, the Rivers governor had tackled Obaseki, accusing the latter of “serial betrayal.”
The PDP had on March 16th, 2022, at its 95th NEC meeting, constituted a three-member reconciliation committee to resolve the crisis in the Edo State chapter of the party.
The committee has Governor Ortom as chairman, while Governors Ifeanyi Okowa, Bala Mohammed and Dairus Ishaku of Delta, Bauchi and Taraba states respectively are members.
But on Wednesday, Ortom said: “As you are aware, the National Executive Committee of our party put us together to resolve the issues in Edo State.
“By the grace of God, we have resolved all the issues and are going back to Edo State as one PDP party. No more factions, no more disagreement. And by the grace of God, we are sure that it shall be well in Edo State.”
The meeting was attended by Governor Godwin Obaseki, his deputy, Philip Shuaibu; national vice chairman of PDP, South-South, Chief Dan Orbih; senators and members of House of Representatives from Edo State as well as the Edo State PDP chairman, Tony Aziegbemi.
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