Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

One would have thought that after his very dubious role in Edo Guber election in 2020 when he pitched his tent with Governor Godwin Obaseki of PDP against the candidate of the APC, Kayode Fayemi should by now keep quiet and lick his wounds for such hypocritical role, but when a former Governor of his ilk is out of job, it is often convenient for him to apportion blame recklessly.


Fayemi needs to be reminded that the primary election that threw him up during his second term campaign was marred by inducement, money-politics and serious attacks on the delegates. In case he has forgotten, Google does not. He should visit Google and watch the shameless process that produced him as a candidate.


It is very ridiculous that Kayode Fayemi would wake up to accuse Senator Adams Oshiomhole of interference; without underpining the rationale that led to last week stalemate of the process.


APC is an opposition in the state and it is more realistic to elect a candidate from Edo South with almost 60% of the voters, such a huge demographic, than shopping for a candidate from Edo Central driven by sentiments of turn-by-turn politics that has never flourished in Edo state. Rather than dabble into the Edo state primary process with little or no knowledge, one would have expected Kayode Fayemi to admonish members to conduct the exercise in a rancour free atmosphere, to avoid what happened during his own primary election in Ekiti state when heaven was let loose.


Those who live in glass houses, should not throw stone. Fayemi is the least of persons to accuse anyone of interference when the primaries that threw up his own re-election and that of his successor were marred by irregularities.


At Edo state in 2020, Fayemi pretended to be supporting the APC candidate, when he was relaxedly in bed with Godwin Obaseki, such dual role that exposed his hypocrisy. We knew what happened in 2020. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole delivered all the Local Governments in his Senatorial district, but Kayode Fayemi connived with others to deny the APC candidate the victory that was anxiously desired, especially in Edo South.


Rather than be on the side of the APC candidate, he was hobnobbing with Governor Obaseki, along with other APC Governors who thought they were trying to undo Oshiomhole, but not knowing that they were doing APC serious harm. They were actually the real saboteurs of the process that denied APC the victory in 2020.


Comrade Senator Oshiomhole's popularity in Edo state cannot be diminished by the stroke of Kayode Fayemi, who has literally gone into political oblivion, and trying to clutch at flotsam to remain afloat. We have moved beyond the era of Kayode Fayemi, whose dual role in the 2023 presidential election still haunts him till date.


Oshiomhole's contribution to the sustenance and viability of the APC in Edo state cannot be over-emphasised. We will continue to appreciate him for standing firm to birth a new APC leadership in the state no matter the dubious role of certain individuals to frustrate the labour impresario.