…As 12 aspirants jostle for party ticket

From NDUBUISI ORJI, BENIN

THE stage is set for a political showdown amongst leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State. Today, the ruling par­ty would pick the candidate that would fly its flag in the Septem­ber 10 governorship election in the state. In the primaries, at least, 2304 delegates drawn from the 192 wards in the state will decide who will be the party’s candidate in the forthcoming election.

As expected, the outcome would have monumental impact on the APC, hence, the party is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure that it retains the governor­ship seat in the state. Critical ob­servers are in agreement that the way and manner the party’s can­didate emerges after the primaries would, to a great extent, determine whether or not the party will retain its seat in the state after the main election.

But for those who have fol­lowed political events in the state, the contest has generated so much bad blood within the party and among the key gladiators in Edo.

In the build up to the primaries, the governor was quoted as hav­ing said that he gathere that Odubu had contacted some witch doctors to kill him, an allegation the dep­uty governor vehemently denied. Also, last month, Odubu allegedly survived an assassination attempt in Etsako West Local Government area, when gunmen reportedly opened fire on him during a meet­ing with delegates from the area. Etsako West is Oshiomhole’s home local government.

An impeccable source who pleaded anonymity also told Satur­day sun that in the past two weeks, there have been attempts by party leaders to get most of the aspirants to form a common front against one of the major contenders, Godwin Obaseki, who many perceive as Os­hiomhole’s anointed candidate. The source said that some party leaders are also talking seriously with the deputy governor, Pius Odubu to step down for Ogiemwonyi so that they can all rally round the former min­ister. All manner of speculations are going on but the reality of the situa­tion would soon manifest as the del­egates make their choice.

In some quarters, the calculation is that although there are 12 aspi­rants for today’s contest, the prima­ries may likely be a straight fight between Governor Adams Oshiom­hole and his deputy, Dr Pius Odubu. Even though Odubu is believed to have relatively enjoyed a good working relationship with his boss, his governorship ambition has been a sore point in his relationship with the governor. While Odubu has not left any stone unturned in his quest to succeed Oshiomhole as governor, the latter is believed to be behind the governorship bid of Obaseki who is the chairman of the state Economic Management Team. Many insist that all those spearheading Obase­ki’s campaign are known loyalists of the comrade governor.

But apart from Odubu and Obase­ki, other aspirants participating in today’s exercise are two time gov­ernorship aspirant, Kenneth Iman­suagbon, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the 2012 Edo governorship election, Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (rtd), former Minister of Works, Chief Chris Ogiemwonyi.

Others are former President, Trade Union Congress(TUC), Pe­ter Esele, former governor of the state, Senator Oserheimen Osun­bor, former minority leader, House of Representatives, Emmanuel Arigbe- Osula, Chairman, Hospi­tal Management Board, Prof. Eb­egue Amadasun, Mr Austin Emuan, Mr Blessing Agbomhere and the only female aspirant, Tina Agbara. Emuan and Agbomhere are new entrants into the politics of the state.

In the run-up to today’s prima­ries, some of the aspirants made very grave allegations against the APC. While announcing his with­drawal from the gubernatorial con­test, one of the aspirants and a film maker, Don Pedro Obaseki alleged that the primaries has been arranged to produce a pre-determined end. His withdrawal was not uncon­nected with speculations of attempts to skew the nomination process in favour of a particular candidate.

In making known his withdrawal from the contest, Obaseki, who is also a cousin to the chairman of the Edo Economic Team, told journal­ists that the outcome of the primaries had already been pre-determined to favour a particular aspirant.

“I have lost faith in the prima­ries. Unfortunately, I was in Abuja on Thursday and I stumbled into a document that I cannot divulge to the public for security rea­sons that makes it obviously clear that all those who are buying or who have bought their forms to contest the primaries of the APC are wasting their time.

“As an academic and someone who is guided by thesis, antithesis and synthesis, I elected to withdraw my intention to contest the primaries of the APC,” Pedro Obaseki said.

He alleged that there are plans to bribe the delegates with N200,000 each, apparently to achieve the pre-determined aim he talked about.

On Tuesday this week, another aspirant, Casely Omo-Irabor with­drew from the contest and alleged that there were plans by the national leadership of the party to manipulate the primaries in favour of the gover­nor’s preferred candidate. He also accused the Reconciliation Com­mittee set up by the APC to me­diate in the crisis induced by the nomination politics in the party as part of the grand plan to subvert the nomination process. The com­mittee is headed by former gov­ernor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

“…the head of that panel in­formed us point blank that the in­cumbent is the greatest governor Edo State ever had and it would be fool-hardy not to support his choice,” Omo-Irabor stated at a press conference.

Recall that another aspirant, Ogiewonyi had while speaking with journalists in Abuja after submitting his nomination form pointedly accused Obaseki of buying up Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) from delegates in parts of the state.

Supporters of Obaseki denied the allegation. Debunking it, one of Obaseki’s key supporters, Hon Philip Shaaibu, said it is not pos­sible for anybody to buy PVCs for the purpose of the primary elec­tion.

Shuaibu, who is a member of the House of Representatives for Etsako Constituency told journal­ists: “ We are only mobilising del­egates to support and not buying PVCs. Nobody contests primaries with INEC PVC and nobody can buy PVC for the purpose of elec­tion.

A former Commissioner for Transport in the state, Mr Orobosa Omo-Ojo told Saturday sun that it is doubtful if the primaries will be free and fair. He said the events leading to today’s primaries are very worrisome, noting that the state governor’s show of “extreme interest” in a particular candidate has not helped matters.

Omo-Ojo specifically said the collection of PVC from prospec­tive delegates is in bad taste. He said so far, four delegates from his ward had reported to him that their PVCs have been collected by a party chieftain in the state.

The state publicity secretary of the party, Comrade Godwin Erha­hon confirmed to our reporter in a telephone interview that some desperate party chieftains have been collecting PVCs from the prospective delegates. He said the plan of those involved is to clone the cards and issue it to their cro­nies who will come to the venue of the primaries and impersonate the original delegates.

Erhahon said he is aware that some persons started camping delegates in hotels beginning from last Monday for reasons best known to them.

However, the publicity secre­tary, who described the actions of some of the dramatis persona as “ madness”, said the national lead­ership of the party is committed to a free, fair and credible primaries.

He explained that although the PVCs were originally intended to serve as a means of identifica­tion, those who have mopped up PVCs of delegates may just dis­cover, that they wasted their time as the national leadership of the party may come up with another means of identification for the del­egates.

Saturday Sun reports that the stakes, no doubt, are very high in the primaries, particularly for the APC and its key gladiators. In the estimation of observers, whatever happens today will have serious impact on Edo APC and the politi­cal trajectory of the main actors.