Feelers from the Edo State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have revealed that a few individuals within the party are severely threatened by the governor’s high approval ratings ahead of the party primaries and the 2020 governorship elections in the state.
It was learnt that a local research group that was engaged by the group placed the governor’s popularity among the ordinary electorate at between 80 and 90 percent in a recent poll, leading to severe crisis within this group and the consequent early barrage of attacks in the media with the hope that they can drive down Obaseki’s acceptance level before the primaries.
A source within this group that claimed the governor neglected them and focused on development projects, who pleaded anonymity disclosed that the thinking among the group of politicians is that if Obaseki is allowed to focus on governance till November when his administration will be three years in office, any move to challenge him in the primaries by any other candidate will be completely unsuccessful.
“We have to put pressure on him now and distract him in any way possible because if he continues to build so many roads and other infrastructure and do all these things, we will be unable to shake him off and the hunger some of us political leaders are suffering will continue. We are fighting for our own survival,” the source said.
He added that the group was taken by surprise that the governor is so popular among the people, noting, “You know he does not make noise, so we assumed that people did not know much of what he was doing but the research we commissioned opened our eyes and so we must fight him from now to force the people to hate him.”
Recall that pockets of media publications have been sponsored to punctuate the governor’s chances as the APC’s candidate in the 2020 gubernatorial elections, released by a few politicians in the party, with the allegation that the governor was alienating politicians and eroding the party’s fortunes.
