The Governor reportedly returned from his vacation abroad over the weekend to pursue this hardline against his embattled deputy.
Obaseki was said to have declared that he had no business with his deputy, until he proved absolute loyalty to him, and that proof was in his withdrawal from the guber race.
Before arriving Nigeria from his foreign trip, a report had said the Governor had instructed all members of Exco to assemble in Lagos for a two-day meeting with him.
He had insisted that the Deputy Governor should not be invited or informed of the meeting.
The meeting was termed “Exco retreat with Mr. Governor”.
Arrangements were made for those invited to the meeting to arrive Lagos last Saturday.
Members of the State House of Assembly had theirs a fortnight ago in Rwanda.
Before the meeting, Obaseki told members of his kitchen cabinet in Lagos that for him to forgive his deputy, the latter must publicly withdraw from the governorship race.
Obaseki added that if the Deputy dared to participate in the forthcoming primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, his security vote would be stopped and he would be excluded from all government activities, including meetings of the Edo State Executive Council.
As a prelude to making good his threat, the State Executive Council meeting for this week took place in Lagos today, Monday the 25th.
The invitation for the meeting was extended to all exco members with the exception of the Deputy Governor.
To avoid public criticism, the governor told his handlers to fix an Exco seminar a day before the meeting to enable third parties attend, so that it would not be considered a formal but emergency exco meeting.
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Alaghodaro, Asue Ighodalo, who is the Governor’s anointed candidate for next year’s governorship election, was invited to the Exco seminar in Lagos.
“It is expected that the Governor will unveil and introduce his successor to all exco members in Lagos this week” a source attending the seminar said.
It will be recalled that last week, the Deputy Governor of Edo State was locked out from his office in Government House Benin City, on the orders of the Governor.
It was this incident that made the Deputy Governor to publicly apologize to the Governor, who in the last one month had refused to communicate with him.