Senator Matthew Urhoghide says his heart is bleeding over the irreconcilable differences between governor Godwin Obasaki and Chief Dan Orbih, calling on the leaders and critical stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP in the state to find a common ground for the peaceful and amicable resolution of the issue.
Urhoghide who made the during a chat with journalists in Benin on Tuesday also berated some leaders of the party in the state who he accused of fueling the crisis for their personal gain. He said he is particularly pained by the development because the two people in the centre of the crisis are too dear to him.
According to the Senator representing Edo South District,” the governor not just the leader of the party in the State, he is my childhood friend and Dan Orbih is my close friend and he has been my political ally.
“We joined hands in rebuilding the PDP in the state, so all these situations that exists today I am not happy about it because the seeming misunderstanding between the governor and Dan Orbih is resolvable, let us sit down and have a discussion.
“I think we the principal actors should come together sit down and discuss so that there will be peace. Edo is too strategic for the PDP in the South-south, too strategic for them to loose, it took us 12 years to win governorship back in the State and some people want to take us back there.
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I want to tell you the problem really today in PDP, people will say Dan Orbih is not respecting the governor and his position as the governor of the state and leader of the party in the state, which I will described as a misconception.
“Dan Orbih will have to sit down with the governor, the governor cannot say come to the table, it is not only the governor and himself that will sit down, there are leaders who will also sit down and let us look at this matter dispassionately and get it treated but there are some leaders in between who believe they are benefitting from the crisis and once the issue is resolved they are out of bussiness
“A right minded leader in the party should be finding ways of correcting this not abusing this, abusing that, without respect for culture”. he said.
Urhoghide also stated that “without iota of doubt, it is very clear that the Governor is zealous about putting enduring legacies in place when it comes to development and he is equally mindful of the development of the party that is why this membership drive he is doing he is very serious about it.
“Edo State is standing out as one state that has the largest membership of PDP over 500,000 (five hundred thousand) as at now it’s about 590,000 real members not fake. Every Local Government now they are falling on one another to be able to excel in conscripting new members into the party.
“Dan Orbih too is zealous about the party, he has been there pushing the party all these years so, I don’t see any difference in their objectives or in what each of them wants to do and I believe more of what Dan is doing for the fact that the government that the Governor is putting in place should have more PDP involvement, it is possible.
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The governor is precious to us, Dan Orbih is precious to us, Ogbeide Ihama is also precious to us and I have told them, all these places of suspension let us remove them, I knew it was in the heat of anger and annoyance and all of that, let us remove them let’s sit down in one week this whole thing is gone.
The State Chairman that is there now he is caught between, he is working with the governor so at the end of the day what is going to happen?.
“Our Father Esama has tried to come into this matter, the day we took the governor there with fomer Governor Lucky Igbinedion to discuss the matter, we called Dan Orbih, Dan Orbih was not around he was in Abuja, we tried to fix a time the governor sat down wanted to resolve this issue and this was long before the convention, but I still appeal to the Governor that please let us follow that road.
I also appeal to Dan Orbih, my brother that this thing is really horrible and Senator Ogbesia has been making a lot of efforts in this direction and I am still appealing to everyone especially the critical stakeholders, let us come together and resolve this matter
When Dan Orbih is talking I can hear, when Ogbeide Ihama is talking I can listen because these are people who are critical stakeholders who have invested their time and resources not any other person, I don’t have anybody but I invested my time, I invested my resources and these leaders who are now playing spoilers game, telling lies here and there for what they are gaining should not be giving any chance to have their way.
“These so-called leaders are playing selfish roles they don’t care if we lose the governorship, like I have earlier said, they don’t know what we sacrificed to make this governorship including what Dan Orbih and Ogbeide Ihama sacrificed, including what Riceman sacrificed, what Gideon Ikhile sacrificed and all those of us, Pascal Ugbomeh who sacrificed time and resources coordinating Edo north.
Senator Clifford Odiah sacrificed time and resources coordinating Edo Central, I coordinated Edo South I sacrificed time and resources ask the governor he did not give me money to play those roles but there are some people who believe they are wiser they are the ones fueling these things, they tell lies here, they tell lies there all in what they can get for themselves.
“My appeal now is, we have no option now but to close ranks, the way it is going, if the Governor and Dan Orbih are able to reconcile, these are two different positions, the governor is the leader of the party in the State, Dan Orbih is the Chairman of the party at the Zonal level what is the problem, I don’t think there is any problem” he declared