From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The stage is set for the September 21, Edo State gubernatorial election. In the run-up to the poll, the PDP, as well as the outgoing governor, Godwin Obaseki, have their eyes on retaining the governorship seat. Nevertheless, the dream of the PDP to win the state in the forthcoming election is threatened by a crisis within its fold.
Edo State started off as a PDP state at the inception of the present democratic dispensation in 1999. However, the opposition party which governed the state for nine years and six months, beginning from May 29,1999, with Chief Lucky Igbinedion, as governor, was displaced by the defunct Action Congress ( AC) on November 12, 2008.
The Court of Appeal had nullified the election of Senator Osariemen Osunbor as the governor of the state in the 2007 general elections and declared former NLC President, Adams Oshiomhole, who contested the poll on the platform of AC as winner of the disputed election.
Nevertheless, the opposition took the reins of power in the state again, in the 2019 off season gubernatorial contest, with the election of Obaseki for a second term on the PDP platform. The Edo governor, who was first elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) had defected to the PDP, after the ruling party denied him a second ticket.
Ironically, since Obaseki’s second term,
the Edo PDP has been enmeshed in crisis. For instance, shortly after the commencement of his second term, the governor fell out with the PDP National Vice Chairman, South South, Chief Dan Orbih over the control of party structure. The tussle between both men polarised the Edo PDP.
Also, recently, Obaseki also fell out with his deputy, Philip Shaibu, allegedly over succession politics. The Obaseki/ Shaibu feud has kept the Edo PDP on the edge, as it has affected the cohesion of the party in the state.
Analysts say the endless wrangling in the Edo PDP was responsible for the abysmal performance of the party in the 2023 presidential and National Assembly polls in the state. The PDP, not only lost the state in the presidential contest but three Senatorial seats to the APC and Labour Party. It only won two out of the nine nine federal Constituency seats. Nevertheless, the PDP won the 24 seats in the Edo Assembly.
Therefore, pundits say the forthcoming gubernatorial election provides a fresh opportunity for the PDP to retain the governorship seat and from there seek to fully regain its place in Edo politics.
Last December, the national leadership of the party met with stakeholders in the Edo PDP over the crisis in the state chapter, so that they can go into the governorship contest as a united house. After the meeting, which was attended by Obaseki, Shaibu, Igbinedion and other critical stakeholders, PDP acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, told journalists that the Edo Stakeholders have agreed to work together as a family.
According to him, “We have agreed to work together as one family and we will go further to break the meeting into smaller committees; so that at the end of the day, we will come out with a better solution. But in conclusion, Edo PDP now is one family.”
Hurdles before PDP, Obaseki
PDP’s optimism not withstanding, it is contending with a fresh wave of internal wrangling, in the aftermath of the nomination of its gubernatorial candidate. The schism in the Edo PDP had deepened prior to the opposition party’s primary to choose its candidate for the September 21 contest.
The party had cleared a total of 10 aspirants, including Shaibu to participate in the gubernatorial primary. The other aspirants were Asue Ighodalo, Anselm Ojezua, Felix Akhabue, Martin Uhomoibhi, Umoru Hadizat, Osaro Onaiwu, Arthur Esene and Omoregie Ihama and Omosede Igbinedion.
However, the conduct of ward congresses to elect 3-man ward delegate, who in turn chose the party’s candidate was marred by controversy.
Indications that all was not well emerged a day before the ward Congresses, after Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, declined his appointment to chair the screening panel for sundry reasons.
However, the Enugu governor, Peter Mbah promptly filled the position and conducted the ward congresses. Nevertheless, nine of the aspirants, apart from Ighodolo, who is perceived to be Governor Obaseki’s man, boycotted the exercise.
Ojezua, who briefed journalists on behalf of the aggrieved as aspirants, had stated: “we want to put it on record that this is perhaps one of the worst attempts that PDP has made to organise primaries in this country. We found that contrary to the list the party sent to INEC, another list was flying around with a prominent list of government officials from the Edo State government to perform very sensitive assignments in relation to this process.”
Regardless, Obaseki, who spoke on the outcome of the 3-man delegates ward congresses, told journalists that the situation in the Edo PDP does not depict that there is crisis in the party.
“We have three governors involved in the exercise and one withdrawing doesn’t discredit the process. Makinde’s withdrawal doesn’t discredit the process. What makes the process credible is the quality of the participation.
“ I hope that our efforts to unify the party continue and we ensure that the PDP plays its role in the politics of this country. The purported PDP crisis is hyped but on ground it is not as they want us to believe,” the governor reportedly said.
Regardless, the aggrieved aspirants petitioned the PDP Appeal Committee on the ward congresses. But nothing concrete came out of their petition. Eventually, the party held parallel primaries, where Ighodalo and Shaibu emerged as candidates. Nevertheless, the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) has affirmed Ighodalo as the authentic candidate for the September 21 gubernatorial poll.
Analysts say the major hurdles before Obaseki and the opposition party is to engender a genuine reconciliation in the Edo PDP, as well as get critical stakeholders in the party, outside the state to work together ahead of the main contest.
Damagum captures the situation thus: “ It is very easy to win primary, but the most important is to win election…Normally after primaries, there will be disagreements and others, there is no better time to reconcile than now. “
Ironically, the loss of the state by the PDP, in 2007, is traceable to the internal wrangling between the former Governor Igbinedion and former chairman of the PDP BoT, late Tony Anenih. Prior to the contest, Igbinedion and late Anenih were locked in a supremacy battle over the control of the party machinery.
When it become obvious that the camp of the late BoT chairman was having an upper hand in the battle, the Igbinedions formed a splinter group in the Edo PDP. The group, named the Grace Group, with the slogan “no man is God”, was the nucleus of the defunct Action Congress (AC), which sacked the PDP from the Osadebay Avenue, as the Edo Government House is known.
Ighodalo understands this. Last Tuesday, the PDP candidate, after receiving his Certificate of Returns, at the PDP National Secretariat, appealed to all the aggrieved aspirants to bury the hatchet, in the overall interest of the party.
“It is good to contest. But contest is over. Like I have been begging you, I will continue to beg you, that please let us work together as one. It is extremely critical that Edo remains PDP and that will be made easier when we come together as one team and we will by the grace of God; we will work as one team.
“After contestation, sometimes people feel some hurt. I promised you this is for all of us. We will all be together as governor of Edo, “Ighodalo begged.
Ironically, 24 hours after the Ighodalo’s plea, the Edo deputy governor, stormed the PDP National Secretary, Wadata Plaza to demand for the Certificate of Return as the party’s gubernatorial candidate. Shaibu, who insisted that he was the winner of the gubernatorial primary, threatened to take his case to the court, if the party fails to do the “right thing.”
According to him, “when the party’s internal mechanism is not being followed and is obvious that the party is not ready to listen, the next line of action obviously will be the judiciary. But I pray we don’t get there and that is why I came here today; maybe in the coming days, the acting National Chairman and others will adhere to what brought me here, today and when they do so, there will not be need to go to court.
“But if they don’t do what is needful, needful in the sense that I won the primary with the authentic delegates, the certificate should be returned to me; if that is not done, we will not have any choice than to seek interpretation by the court.”
However, analysts say the reconciliation is actually Obaseki’s call and not Ighodalo’s. For the Edo State governor,
the September 21 gubernatorial election is more or less a personal battle; in fact, a tougher battle than reelection four years ago.
Pundits say the only option for the governor is to begin to mend broken fences. Nevertheless, there are fears that this may be an Herculean task, owing to the bad blood that exists between Obaseki and his former allies, within and outside the PDP.
Last week, the PDP set up a Reconciliation Committee to broker peace in the Edo PDP. The Committee, which is headed by Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, is expected to reconcile aggrieved members before the gubernatorial poll.
Observers say whether or not the PDP wins the September 21 Edo governorship poll will be largely determined by its ability to rally all the aspirants and stakeholders together to prosecute the poll.