Edo 2020: We Didn’t Collect N65m To Endorse Obaseki – Coalition

Coalition of Political Parties (CPP) in Edo State has denied collecting N65 million for the endorsement of Governor Godwin Obaseki, a candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 19 governorship election in the state.

The group said Obaseki was chosen after examining the various governorship candidates fielded for the election.

No fewer than 35 political parties in the state including some recently de-registered by INEC had last week endorsed Obaseki as their governorship choice and subsequently collapsed their structure for Obaseki, who is seeking a second term bid on the platform of PDP.

But the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), alleged that the group endorsed Obaseki after receiving money and a promise of N65 million reward.

Chairman of the group, Collins Oreruan, however denied collecting money before the endorsement of Obaseki.

Oreruan who is the Edo state chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), said they are supporting him to enable him complete his projects, rather than supporting a fresher who would start telling stories.

“The endorsement happened after series of meetings of our members to look at the candidates of the two major political parties and decided which of them to support.

“After due consultations, we arrived at Governor Godwin Obaseki of the PDP.

“Our support was based on the good work in education and industrial sectors, institutional reforms among others. There was nothing like inducement.”