The jostle for the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State has started in earnest as governorship aspirants throw their hats in the ring ahead of July 2012 election
In the past few weeks, the tempo of political activities in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State has revved up. The biggest challenge confronting the erstwhile ruling party in the state is regaining the political paradise it lost November 11, 2008 to the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, the present tenants of Denis Osadebe Avenue, the seat of power in the state. The once deeply polarised party has been busy putting its house in order to put it on a firm footing to confront a formidable and seemingly invincible political rival, the ACN.
Since he came into office through the judicial process which sacked the former PDP governor, Oserhiemen Osunbor, a two-term senator, Adams Oshiomhole has embarked on a systematic decimation of the once influential party and succeeded in reducing it to a mere bag of wind. Over time, his own party's political machinery has proved impregnable for the PDP after about four by-elections and the recent April 2011 presidential and National/House of Assembly elections in which it was routed.
As part of its political re-engineering and re-positioning, the PDP a few weeks ago held its state congress to elect a new executive that would pilot the affairs of the state and prepare it for the great political battle ahead. Unlike in the past, the congress was rancour-free. Shuaibu Oyedokun, the chairman of the five-man electoral panel from the national secretariat of the party, underscored the import of the special congress. He explained that the timing of the congress "which appears ahead of many others, arises from the exigencies of the situation on ground which you all know. Your governorship election will come earlier. You therefore need a state executive that will be virile enough to face the challenges ahead."
Oyedokun has every cause to be anxious given the streak of electoral misfortunes that had befallen the ruling party in the country since 2007. Oyedokun regretted that "we are in a sort of fix around the South-west up to Edo." According to him, "When the onslaught started, our political adversaries started from Lagos State. They took Lagos, came to Edo and stumbled into governance here and they cannot gather any moss. Gradually, they took Ondo, took Osun, took Ekiti and Ogun. So, this is a general trend. Therefore, what we are doing here today is going to make history in two ways" one of which is "to form an executive that will be formidable and virile enough, by the grace of God, to recover this state, Edo."
At the end of the congress, which was done by voice-vote, Dan Orbih and Felix Utubor were returned as chairman and secretary respectively while some new blood was injected into the executive. Christopher Adesotu, a former member of the State House of Assembly, emerged the deputy chairman; Lucky Imasuen, a former deputy governor in the Lucky Igbinedion administration, replaced a more elderly Sunny Uyigue as vice chairman, Edo South senatorial district; while Matthew Urhoghide, a pharmacist and former Edo South senatorial aspirant on the platform of ACN, was elected the publicity secretary.
Orbih set the tone for the congress when in his welcome address he said that "there is no doubt that today's event is put together by the party so that for once we will put to rest those who are singing from the state government house that there is division in PDP in Edo State. This is one congress that I stand before you and I am proud to let you know that there is no other PDP Congress holding anywhere in Edo State. So, we are going to come out of this congress united with a resolve to win back the government of Edo State." Tony Anenih, a national leader of the party and former chairman, Board of Trustees, charged the new executive to be "up and doing, day and night until the government of Edo State is repossessed by PDP." He advised the new executive of the party to work together as a team "until the ACN government is removed from office through the ballot paper in July next year."
And in pursuit of this ambitious task, no fewer than four members of the party have filed out to jostle for the party's ticket to do battle with Oshiomhole who happens to be the sole candidate of his party following his recent adoption. The PDP line-up includes Charles Airhiavbere, a retired Major-General and former Commander, Corps of Army Finance and Accounts; an old timer, Kenneth Imasuagbon, an Abuja-based educationist; and Osunbor, the immediate past governor of the state whose tenure was aborted by the appeal court judgement. Though he has not formally declared his aspiration, former presidential aide and professor of political science, Julius Ihonvbere, is also believed to still have his eyes on the governorship of the state. Ihonvbere had in 2007 lost the party's governorship ticket to Osunbor. Political pundits however believe that Ihonvbere, though eminently qualified for the position, may be on another wild goose chase should he decide to take yet another plunge given the ethnic factor that is likely to be at play in the choice of a candidate. Considering the fact that Oshiomhole, the ACN candidate, is from the same Edo North senatorial district as Ihonvbere, analysts believe that it would smack of political naivety for the PDP to also pick its candidate from that area.
Though he has been playing the political Santa Claus in the past few years, doling out rice and other gifts to the people of the state for which he expects to be rewarded with overwhelming support at the polls, Imasuagbon would first need to cross the major hurdle of clinching his party's ticket, which seems an uphill task, before the expected payback. Though seen as a political greenhorn having just disengaged from the Nigerian Army after 35 years of unblemished service, Airhiavbere appears to be learning the ropes fast. After several weeks of consultations, networking and building bridges of understanding across the ethnic divides in the state, Airhiavbere finally openly declared his ambition recently.
The retired General who has embarked on sensitisation campaigns to local governments in the state said he decided to join the governorship race in order to correct the wrongs done by the PDP when it was in power in the state. He called on the state government to "stop this continuous campaign that the PDP destroyed the state for 10 years." Lamenting the "insincerity of the ACN-led administration with regards to giving dividends of democracy to the people," the governorship hopeful urged the present administration to "concentrate on how to fix our roads, prioritise projects rather than the window dressing we see everyday in the state."
Before now, he seemed to hold all the aces with the speculation that the PDP had zoned the governorship to the Edo South senatorial district where he hails from. The senatorial district, which boasts of the highest population out of the three in the state, determines who wins an election. Even before his retirement from the army, his name had been bandied about as one man who has the capacity to unseat the sitting governor given the scintillating credentials he has to parade as well as the required financial muscle to match any opponent. His description in a recent analysis by one of the national dailies as having "a deep pocket" did not go down well with Oshiomhole who may become his major opponent in next year's election should he scale the primary election hurdle.
Oshiomhole, speaking during the recent Guild of Editors Conference in Benin, queried, "How can a General be deep in pocket? From the salary of a General? If he has not spent all his salary for 30 years, how deep can his pocket be?" The governor added, "If his pockets are deep, then we need to investigate."
However, the entrance of Osunbor into the governorship race may have altered the initial political calculation of the opposition party and pose a threat to Airhiavbere's ambition. Speculation is rife that the leadership of the party may have decided to give the ticket to the former governor given his impressive record of performance for the 18 months he was in office. Workers, students and pensioners were particularly enamoured with Osunbor's performance.
At a press conference on October 11, 2011, loyalists of the former governor under the aegis of "Restoration Project 2012," said Osunbor "best represents the hope of the party in the onerous quest to regain control of the state in 2012." Nosa Omorodion, the coordinator of the Osunbor project, said "Osunbor is a man known by all and (currently) desired by a vast majority, not for what he has promised to do or what it looks like he could do, but for what he has done before, albeit in a very short time, which has been etched in the memory of the people and is constantly stimulated to remembrance in these times made difficult by the Pharoahic disposition of the ACN Governor Adams Oshiomhole."
Omorodion recalled how Osunbor increased the salaries of civil servants and workers twice and gave civil servants access to loans guaranteed by the state government with which they were either able to buy cars or build their personal houses. Tony Alile, director of media and publicity of the organisation, debunked the speculation that the governorship had been zoned to Edo South senatorial district, stressing that Orbih, the state chairman of the party, had cleared the air on that to the effect that it would be an open contest.
An inside source however hinted the magazine that "the party is working on the possibility of Osunbor and Airhiavbere working together given the rising popularity of the retired General and the political mileage he has gained since he began his campaign." According to the source, "a combination of the duo will certainly put the party in a good stead to dislodge the ACN from office."
Like the ruling party, Edo people are keeping their fingers crossed to see who the PDP would field for the election, come July 2012. Until then, it would be difficult to hazard a guess as to whether Oshiomhiole's return is a fait accompli or it is going to be a tough battle for the soul of the nation's heartbeat.
CULLED FROM THE TELL MAGAZINE.