Edo election: Why I won’t support PDP candidate, Ighodalo – Wike

• He also speaks on concerns of the PDP leadership about Anugbum Onuoha being the Edo Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) some days before the election.

Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, has said he won’t be supporting Asue Ighodalo, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the Edo State governorship election.

The Minister disclosed that the State governor, Godwin Obaseki brought the Ighodalo to him, seeking support.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Friday, Wike disclosed that he told Obaseki that he would not support Ighodalo.

Wike stated that his decision to withhold his support stemmed from the treatment that was meted out to him by Obaseki.

He said he supported Obaseki in the past, who, he said, never helped anything but rather insulted him.

He also spoke on concerns of the PDP leadership about Anugbum Onuoha being the Edo Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) some days before the election.

Wike said Onuoha is his first cousin and has been the REC in Edo State for over a year.

This comes after Tony Aziegbemi, Edo PDP chairman, asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to redeploy Onuoha over ties with Wike.

Aziegbemi had expressed a lack of confidence in the REC’s ability to conduct a free and fair election in the state.

It is also gathered that the INEC REC previously served as a special adviser on lands to Wike when he was the governor of Rivers.

He said: “When his governor, Obaseki, came to meet me to support Ighodalo, he (referring to Aziegbemi) was not there. They did not know that the REC is my cousin.

“When Obaseki brought Ighodalo to my house two times to support him, they did not know the REC is my cousin. It is just today that they know that he (Onuoha) is my cousin.

“He was posted to Edo more than one year ago. That is the problem I have with this country.

“I told them (Obaseki and Ighodalo) when they came to see me that I’m not going to support Ighodalo. Neither am I going to support anybody. The one I supported you never helped anything but rather I was insulted.

“For accusing my first cousin, they have made a mistake. You know why? I was thinking I am strong; you are meeting a rock (Onuoha).

“Even the INEC chairman cannot tell him what to do. He is a stubborn man; he will tell him ‘go to hell with your job’.

“You see the problem with Nigeria. For more than one year, he has been there; they never knew he was Wike’s cousin.”