The governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said there is no rift between himself and the national Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as is being projected by people.

The governor made the statement in a chat with reporters on Saturday in Abuja at the annual convention of the Usagbe Club of Nigeria.

He said: “I don’t have any feud with the national Chairman. There are political issues in Edo which are being resolved. As far as we are concerned, we have a House of Assembly which has not been inaugurated, the key members have not accepted to be inaugurated, so when they go get inaugurated, the issue there will be settled.”

On the leadership crisis rocking the assembly, the governor said: “These are all issues in court. Let the court adjudicate. I am not an expert in constitutional law.” The governor also explained why he changed members of his cabinet saying “we’re on the last lap as a government, we need to review how we operated in the last two or three years. We need to put our best foot forward and give the final push. So, it is not unusual in the life of governments after a few years.”

While clarifying his statement that he met thugs who masqueraded as role models and took over power in Edo State, Obaseki said: “If you understand what happened in Edo up to 2006, the lone state actors have become empowered by the political class. They were collecting revenues, determining things. They were like an alternative government. They constituted themselves into a vermin that were used for political activities. Part of the crisis we had to deal with was how to remove these thugs from the streets, from collecting revenue and intimidating private businesses.”

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