He disclosed this while appearing on Channel 4 Television’s Politics Today programme on Friday.
According to him, he thought the LP were more serious and expected more from the party. Obaseki said, "Well, there are several venues in Benin for rallies; I heard that they [the Labor Party] applied on Wednesday night to hold a rally at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium on Friday morning, giving us one day’s notice."
"The tracks in that stadium are still under warranty." The pitch must be kept in a specific mode. So it is not just another facility you can go into and use without preparing. If they knew they had a rally on Friday morning, why couldn't they give us more time and notice so we could give them the conditions under which they could use the pitch? Meanwhile, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Obaseki’s party, had used the stadium for a rally on October 22.
"The same thing we did to the PDP when they wanted to use the pitch." And the only reason we allowed the PDP rally was because it was used as an opportunity to commission that facility. "The majority of other rallies are held in other large grounds throughout the city," explained Obaseki. "I expected more from the Labour Party. I thought they were more serious; you can't plan a rally on a Friday and give less than two days notice.
"I spoke to my friend Peter Obi the night before he told me he was coming to the state, and we offered him all the courtesy, including security and some logistics, but I did not know they were coming for rallies. "For me, the issues did not even come up." "The people at the sports commission knew what to do, and they did it professionally."
