…..As Owie Asks Oyegun To Choose Between National Leader, Senatorial
Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
The crisis rocking the Edo State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has worsen following disagreements among leaders of the party over who becomes the next state chairman just as Senator Roland Owie asked Chief John Odigie Oyegun to choose between being a national leader and a senatorial leader
Former Senate Chief Whip and member of the ADC National Executive Committee (NEC) Senator Roland Owie told journalists in Benin that the chairmanship of the Edo ADC was zoned to Edo South, which subsequently micro-zoned the position to Oredo Local Government Area.
He explained that following the development, two aspirants, Dr Mike Ehima and Tony Alile, indicated their interest in contesting for the office, warranting a mini primary to be conducted for them.
Senator Owie stated that at the end of the exercise, Dr Ehima polled 75 votes, while his opponent, Tony Alile, scored four votes.
He told journalists that information reaching him and the party indicated that Chief John Odigie-Oyegun was adopting another chairman in place of Dr Ehima at the national office of the party in Abuja.
“Oyegun cannot be a National Leader and Senatorial Leader; he should choose one,” Owie said and called on the NEC of the ADC to call Oyegun to order, adding, “Oyegun should stop playing games.”
On the recently conducted Local Government Congresses of the party in Edo, Senator Owie said the exercise was peaceful and unanimous in some local governments, stressing, “but the State is what we are hammering on now.”
But reacting to Senator Owie’s allegation, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said, “I am not the State Congress officer appointed by the national headquarters, Abuja, to oversee the congress. It is only the congress officer who can speak on that; maybe he will speak tomorrow.
On Kennedy Odion, the former State Chairman of the ADC, who, in a statement, insisted he remained chairman of the party in Edo and that the Local Government Congresses were a sham, Chief Oyegun said, “I don’t know where he got that from; it is between him and Abuja. I don’t know anything about that.
“And you know he is a member of another ADC in Abuja. Maybe that is where he got that from.”
