….says he is guilty of anti-party activities and should be sanctioned by the PDP national leadership
By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – As the date for the Edo 2024 governorship party primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party draws close, a group with the name PDP Students and Youths Alliance has called on the Secretary to the Edo State Government Barrister Osarodion Ogie to turn in his letter of resignation, being one of the aspirants in the guber race. The group made the call during its maiden press conference held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory on Thursday.
In the press statement signed by the National Co-ordinator and General Secretary, Prince Kadiri Braimah and Comrade John Imagbe, respectively, the PDP group said accused Ogie of witch-hunting Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu with social media proxies, because of their competing ambition of succeeding the outgoing Governor, Godwin Obaseki.
The statement reads, “the positive vibes that came from the Deputy Governor’s media parley did not go down well with some of his political opponents, particularly the present Secretary to the Edo State Government Barrister Osarodion Ogie, who from our investigation is behind these media attacks. The reason for these sponsored attacks by Ogie is not difficult to fathom.
In a sudden twist from being the preferred running mate to Barr. Asue Ighodalo; a gubernatorial aspirant the Governor is sponsoring, Osarodion Ogie last week indicated his interest of running for the office of Governor to some of his close associates within the PDP.
This coincided with the same weekend the Deputy Governor had his media parley in Abuja. Rather than work for the Governor’s preferred candidate, Ogie told his close associates that he cannot play second fiddle to someone who has no political base in Edo State.
The statement also noted that “to achieve his ambition, Barr. Ogie is sponsoring one New-PDP aspirant, who is a close associate of the Governor to make it difficult for Asue Ighodalo to have an upper hand in Edo Central during the PDP primaries, which holds February next year. ” The PDP Youth Alliance further said “we hereby call on Barr. Ogie to face his gubernatorial ambition and stop chasing shadows with the name and ambition of the Deputy Governor. Barr. Ogie should not forget in a hurry how in 2016 this same Rt. Hon Philip Shaibu, who he is now sponsoring media attacks against, was the only one in the government of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole that openly supported his gubernatorial ambition.
But, ironically, Barr. Ogie was one of the persons in Obaseki’s Government aiding the Governor to unseat Shaibu as Deputy Governor of Edo State. The PDP group dug into the past of the Edo SSG when in the press statement it said ” it will also interest the Nigerian public to know a little about the man Osarodion Ogie and the evil he represents in the Edo State Government.
Here is a man who ran away from legal practice in Lagos and jumped into casino business, from where he rose to become a casino manager. From being a casino manager under the late Hon. Sam Iredia, he was engaged as one of the supporting lawyers in the legal team of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in 2007. While working for the legal team he collected money from one Comrade Patrick Eholor (Ultimate Equal) to do some legal work, but failed to deliver.
This made Comrade Eholor to detain him in his toilet for one whole day, until a politician from his Local Government, Ikpoba Okha came to bail him. After Oshiomhole became Governor, fortune finally smiled on Ogie when he was appointed Chief of Staff, although he was later demoted to the position of a Civil Commissioner. After Obaseki became Governor in 2016, it was Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who nominated him to serve as Secretary to the Edo State Government (SSG).
To secure his re-appointment as SSG, Ogie had to join forces with Obaseki to unseat Oshiomhole as National Chairman of the APC. Such is the nature of Osarodion Ogie, a man that can easily sell his benefactor for a loaf of bread.” On allegations of official corruption the statement read “all Edo people must know for a fact that if there is monumental fraud in the Edo State Government under Obaseki, one of its levers is personified in Barr. Ogie.
This is a man who collects a percentage of Local Government allocations accruing to Edo State, till date. Here is a man who controls all the funds of the Edo State Oil and Gas Commission. He is the Board of the Commission and the Board of the Commission is him. It is sad to note that Barr. Ogie has finally converted the Edo State 13% oil derivation funds into a casino royale express route for his private business investments in Lagos. From the 13% oil and gas derivation money he has built the biggest primary and secondary school in Gbagada, Lagos, where his wife sits as the shadow proprietress. He recently acquired a property at CBN Quarters, behind Oguola Crescent GRA Benin City.
This is besides the government buildings he bought during the regime of Comrade Oshiomhole.” The PDP group also accused ogie of anti-party activities when it said “in spite of the hundreds of millions Barr. Ogie makes from the Edo State Government on a monthly basis, the PDP woefully lost in his ward and Local Government during the presidential and National Assembly elections.
This is besides the fact that he allocated a quarter of appointments of the SSAs and SAs to people from his Local Government Area, Ikpoba Okha. We have it on good authority that the major political grievance Barr. Ogie has against the Deputy Governor is that he frustrated the move made by him and the Chief of Staff Hon. Osaigbovo Iyoha to make the Governor leave PDP for Labour Party before the PDP primaries last year. It is no longer a secret that both Barr. Ogie and Osaigbovo Iyoha worked against PDP National Assembly candidates during the last general elections.”
The group therefore called on him to take the path of honour by going to the Labour Party to pursue his gubernatorial ambition, as he cannot be allowed to eat his cake and have it.” In the concluding paragraph of the press statement, the PDP Students and Youth Alliance called on Ogie to immediately turn in his letter of resignation as the Secretary to the Edo State Government, as according to them “he cannot be using Local Government Council and public funds meant for the development of oil producing areas to pursue his gubernatorial ambition.”
Also the group called on the national leadership of the PDP to investigate the anti-party activities of Barr. Osarodion Ogie and the Chief of Staff to the Edo State Governor, Hon. Osaigbovo Iyoha. The grouse behind this call according to the PDP Youths Alliance is that both of them used their official positions in government to work against the party in the last Presidential and National Assembly Elections in Edo State.
It would be recalled that the relationship between the Deputy Governor of Edo State and his boss the Governor became frosty early August this year, when the former who was on vacation abroad accused the latter of plotting to impeach him, because of his 2024 gubernatorial ambition. Although the Governor later accepted a public apology from his Deputy, Rt. Hon Philip Shaibu but their working relationship has been anything but cordial. The PDP recently released the timetable and guidelines for its party primaries which will hold on the 22nd of February 2024.