Why is Oshiomhole so desperate? – Ishola-Williams

 Major-Gen Ola Ishola-Williams has asked why is the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole so desperate?

Ishola-Williams in an interview, reacting to the disqualification of the governor Edo State Godwin Obaseki by the APC screening committee from contesting in the upcoming June 22 APC governorship primaries said Oshiomhole is afraid because he doesn’t want to get exposed.

The screening committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday disqualified Gov. Godwin Obaseki and two other aspirants, Mr Matthew Iduoriyekemwe and Mr Chris Ogiemwonyi, in a methodology and evidence-based screening from participating in the June 22 Edo governorship primaries.

Ishola-Williams lamented the Edo state former governor wants to install somebody that will cover his track”,

He said: “Look at what is going on in Edo state, an individual wants to decide who becomes the governor of the state, and the reason for that is that he wants to ensure that he installs his own candidate because he wants to protect his personal interests. I’m talking about Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the APC national chairman. Having served his own term, he should allow Governor Godwin Obaseki to be. Why is Oshiomhole so desperate?  Oshiomhole is afraid because he doesn’t want to get exposed. He wants to install somebody that will cover his track”, the retired

He also said  ‘it is time that people that are under the age of 50 take over the nation’s political landscape. Politicians that are over 60 should go and sit down. They should quit the stage for younger elements. All these people including Atiku, Tinubu that are over 60 should quit politics for younger elements. They should stop strategizing for 2023.

‘They should go and rest. If independent candidates are allowed in 2023, then I will support one of them for Presidency What does Tinubu, Atiku, and other old politicians have to offer in 2023? They should vacate the stage for younger elements.’

Recall that the seven-member screening committee, headed by Prof. Jonathan Ayuba, cleared three aspirants: Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Hon. Osaro Obaze and Dr Pius Odubu to contest the primaries, but refused to clear Gov. Godwin Obaseki, Mr Matthew Iduoriyekemwe and Mr Chris Ogiemwonyi

Ayuba while presenting the committee’s report to the party’s National Chairman, at the APC national secretariat in Abuja said: “The methodology we used is clear. It was evidence-based. All we did was an interaction.
“We screened six aspirants, three were eligible to contest and three were deemed ineligible to participate,”

Further the committee chairman, said that the committee disqualified Obaseki due to what he called the defect in his Higher School Certificate (HSC).
Ayuba added that Obaseki’s name, written in his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate, was issued in error by the NYSC authority.

Though, His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki, in his nomination form claimed to have obtained a Higher School Certificate (HSC) from an Institute of Continuing Education, Benin, it was observed, however, that no educational certificate such as HSC is known in Nigerian educational system.

“Even then, the same HSC was never presented in the course of the screening exercise. The aspirant admitted that he has never collected it.

“The attestation from the Institute of Continuing Education, Benin, from where the alleged HSC, which was indicated in the field of attendance, is of no consequence.”
According to him, it only attests that Obaseki was a student of the institute.

“So what we had was like an attendance; it was not a result.
“Although, the committee received a petition on his University of Ibadan Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Classics certificate, which he submitted to INEC in 2016, when he first contested as governor, it, on further probing, was presented with original certificate, issued by the university and the original was sighted.
“On the NYSC certificate, dated 6th August, 1980, the committee observed that he bears the name “Obasek” Godwin.

“While this may be an error on the part of the issuing authority, we observed, however, that the aspirant has not taken any step to have the anomaly corrected by the issuing authority.

“In our interaction with the issues raised, we concluded that HSC was defective and the NYSC certificate, and based on the party’s constitution, this has made us to recommend that the above candidate, Obaseki, is not eligible to participate in the election,”