It’s no news that Edo State executive council has been dissolved. This was in a statement on Wednesday signed by Crusoe Osagie, special adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on media projects.
Also sacked were coterie of aides like special assistants (SAs) and senior special assistants (SSAs).
Though no reason was given for the dissolution, Infopowerng gathered that the governor’s action was propelled by political exigency. He said it was to strategically reposition the government and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the next phase of politicking in the state ahead of next year’s governorship election that would produce Obaseki’s successor. The governor’s tenure ends November 11, 2024.
According to the source who is a member of the governor’s inner circle, “You know the governor is handing over next year and we want to bring in seasoned politicians who can win elections”.
In reference to the factionalisation of the PDP in the state, the source posited that “We also want to extend our hand of fellowship to our brothers and sisters on the other side of the divide. We want to bring everybody on board except those who are not willing to come.
“Next year’s election is going to be very tough because we are going to face a hostile federal government and we want to put our house in order so that we can put up a united front to fight the battle. We can’t prosecute that battle with all these commissioners and other aides many of who could not win their units and wards during the just-concluded election”.
Recall that there had been no love lost between Governor Obaseki and the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, fallout of the 2020 governorship election in Edo State during which the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, urged Edo people not to vote for Obaseki.