The Obaseki factor in PDP

HENDRIX OLIOMOGBE writes on the travails of Governor Godwin Obaseki in the All Progressives Congress (APC) that culminated in his exit from the party, as well as the disquiet in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

 

It was crystal clear to many pundits from the start that the climax of the clash between the acolyte and the master will not be palatable to any of the feuding factions. Whosoever fell by the wayside will be force-fed a bitter pill while on the ground and live with the scars for a very long time to come. So it was on Friday June 12 when the Professor Jonathan. Ayuba-led screening committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Edo State governorship election announced the result of the exercise live on television.

It was unequivocal. One could have a pin drop as he announced the verdict.

The governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki, stood disqualified from partaking in the primaries of APC scheduled for June 22, 2020. From having a vision as broad as the sky in the next four years for the state, his dreams suddenly turned to mere illusion; at least on the platform of the APC.

Professor Ayuba, the chairman of the committee, was not to keep anxious viewers waiting for too long; he reeled the reasons out, insisting that every member of the committee freely signed the paper after a thorough exercise where all the minutiae were taken note of.

He declared: “We want to be judged by what we have done and not by what a third party says or by rumour.

The methodology we used is clear. It was evidence-based. All we did was an interaction. We screened six aspirants, three were eligible to contest and three were deemed ineligible to participate.

Ayuba stressed that the first candidate screened was Mr. Osaro Obazee, stressing that after they were done with him, the committee found him eligible to contest the primaries. He said that on the part of a former Minister of State for Works, Mr Chris Ogiemwonyi, the name on all the certificates he presented were allegedly contradictory. The chairman claimed that it was on the discrepancies and also the difference in the names contained in the sworn affidavit of June 2016, that the committee decided that the ex-minister did not meet the requirement to participate in the primary of the ruling party.

 

Bombshell

Professor Ayuba said that Obaseki in his nomination form claimed to have obtained a Higher School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) from the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), Benin.

Though, the attestation presented by the governor, which was on display at the party secretariat for two days, showed that he offered English, Literature in English, General Paper and Economics for the Higher School Certificate (HSC), Ayuba insisted:

For the trio of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the former South-South zonal chairman of the APC; ex-deputy governor Pius Odubu; and former Oredo Local Government Area chairman, Mr. Osaro Obaze, it was ululation all the way. For Ize-Iyamu, a former Secretary to Edo State Government, the stage for his clean bill of health given by the Ayuba committee started on May 26,  in Abuja when the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2016 election, was adopted as the consensus aspirant out of the six contestants. He was selected through a consensus arrangement ahead of others. In the spirit of the agreement, all the other aspirants were expected to work for the victory of Ize-Iyamu in the primaries.

When the seven aspirants first met on April 30, at the Benin City residence of Imasuen to adopt a consensus aspirant for the forthcoming primaries, the exercise ended in a deadlock and was re-scheduled in Abuja.

Ize-Iyamu was presented by the chairman of the screening committee, Senator Francis Alimikhena (Edo North) after six of the members of the committee reportedly voted for him, with the hope that he would slug it out with Governor Obaseki for the direct primaries of the APC. In their first contest almost four years ago, Obaseki triumphed via a knock-out. Buoyed by his choice as the consensus aspirant, Ize Iyamu had obtained the nomination form of the party the very next day at the national secretariat in Abuja on May 27. In a show of solidarity and restatement of their commitment to work together irrespective of the outcome of the consensus election, he was accompanied by Amadasun, Airhiavbere, Ogiemwonyi, Agbonayinma and Uwuilekhue among other leaders of the party.

 

Baited breadth in PDP

For the PDP with a plethora of aspirants, forcing the door open to let in the beleaguered governor elicited some goose pimples. For long, two time House of Representatives member for Oredo Federal Constituency, Mr. Omotrgie Ogbeide-Ihama, has already given signs of his readiness to come back home from Abuja and be the landlord of Edo State Government House on Dennis Osadebe Avenue. Mr. Ken “Riceman” Imasuagbon has never minced words as regards his heart desire to fly the party’s ticket in the September election ever since he came back “home” from his sojourn in the APC last year. Not for once has he waivered in his quest and has vowed to do anything legally possible to grab the party’s ticket.

Sounding upbeat, Gideon Ikhine has traversed the length and bread of the Heart Beat of the Nation state in his long march to be governor. He has spent his time, resources and energy garnering support in his determination to turn his dream to reality.

 

PDP agenda

Out to grab power from the APC after being in the opposition for almost 12 years, the PDP had, in May, rolled out its timetable for the primary election, which comes up next week on June 23.  The collection of forms had since ended and candidates screened. Ahead the primaries, the party had, on June 9, kick-started its ward congress to elect ad-hoc delegates for the primaries. Governor of Adamawa State, Alhaji Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, the chairman of the committee, had declared that he was optimistic of victory in the September poll and the fact that Edo has always been a PDP state. Other members of the committee are governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Diri Duoye and Senator Sam Ayanwu. Fintiri said with the antecedent of the party in the recent election, there was no need to fear as the party will produce the next governor of the state. He said: “I want to say without mincing words, technically, Edo is a PDP state because in the previous election, you can see our performance. We did very well, we won the presidential election here in Edo. We won two out of the three senatorial seats in Edo, four House of Representatives seats.”

 

 PDP/Obaseki romance

Before now, as a last resort, Obaseki was said to have been making frantic effort to the PDP, knocking hard on the doors of some of the top leaders, pleading passionately that they open and let him in to contest on its platform. After marathon meetings last weekend in Benin City seemed he still had long road to travel. The dilemma for the governor was said to be how the “owners” of the PDP could bend the rules without breaking them in a last-minute dash to accommodate him. Besides, the leaders were said to be at crossroads, trying to figure out how to persuade some of the long time aspirants to step down without causing an implosion.

A PDP source, who would not want his name in print, had disclosed that another sticking point was the choice of a running mate to the governor. While Obaseki reportedly insisted that his current deputy, Phillip Shaibu should run with him, as the duo have been together in every kind of weather in the crisis, the PDP was said to have demanded that it was either they produced the running mate or no dice. The source added: “The governor cannot take first and still be struggling for second position. It is only logical that if he (Obaseki) takes first, we take second.”

Also, some of the aspirants were said to have threatened to leave the PDP with their teeming supporters if Obaseki was made the candidate of the party without a contest. Another area of sharp disagreement was the reported insistence by the negotiators on the dissolution and reconstitution of the State Executive Council (SEC) to include PDP members so as to reflect the new reality of the situation should he defect.

 

Implications of Obaseki defecting

Should he decide to defect to either the PDP or any of the other political parties, the chances of Speaker Frank Okiye and the other nine members of the House of Assembly, who resumed sitting following the controversial proclamation last year, going with  him appear slim.

Also, some of the commissioners and aides may go with him but there is a likelihood that others who are dye-in-the-wool supporters of APC, will resign while the rest will hang on probably because of the lucre of office, without serious commitments. The 18 Local Government Areas’ chairmen, like the commissioners are under his thumb and so will have no choice but to go wherever he goes. The thorny issue that readily comes to mind will be their level of commitment to the cause.

 

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Nigeria Records 573 New COVID-19 Cases, Total Now 16,658
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 573 confirmed new coronavirus cases in the country on Sunday. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 16,658…Read Full Story

Naira Marley Saga: FG Suspends ExecuJet Indefinitely
The Federal Government has suspended flight operations of ExecuJet for flying a hip-hop artiste, Azeez Fashola, aka Naira Marley, from Lagos to Abuja for a musical concert. The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika announced the suspension at the daily briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19…Read Full Story

UPDATE: APC Governors, NWC Meet With Gambari In Aso Rock •Obaseki not guaranteed victory as incumbent ― Oshiomhole
In an apparent bid to resolve the crisis arising in the run-up to the primaries in Edo and Ondo states, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors Forum and Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu and the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, met with the Chief of Staff…Read Full Story

Lagos Govt Condemns Opening Of Private Schools, Threatens Sanctions On Recalcitrant Schools
The Lagos Government, on Monday, condemned the intentional flouting of rules by some private school owners in the state that have opened their schools to students despite the government’s directives to close schools in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus…Read Full Story

Show Empathy, Lost Lives Not Replaceable, Health Minister Tells Striking Doctors
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, told the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on Monday that they cannot go on strike during a very difficult situation like this, when the country, like other nations of the world, are battling the COVID-19 pandemic…Read Full Story

Ibadan/Oke-Ogun Road: Sure Route For Smugglers, Illegal Immigrants
THE Oke-Ogun region of Oyo state is one of the richest in Nigeria in terms of natural deposits and agricultural production and is acclaimed to have contributed a lot to the development of the state and Nigeria; but for many reasons, it has remained the most undeveloped and marginalised…Read Full Story

NBET Gets New MD As Buhari Approves Amobi’s Removal
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the removal of Dr Marilyn Amobi as Managing Director (MD), Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), to be replaced by Dr Nnaemeka Eweluka. The Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, made the announcement in a statement issued by his media aide, Aaron Artimas on Monday…Read Full Story

EDITORIAL: Tackling Rape Epidemic
This is a season of anomie judging by the spate and frequency of cases of sexual assault, defilement and paedophilic actions in the country lately. These criminal vices are pervasive and have become a daily occurrence. The cases are legion: a 100-level university student was allegedly raped and killed at a religious centre in Benin City, Edo State; a man reportedly raped 40 women in…Read Full Story

NITDA Alerts Nigerians On Fake Websites Pledging FG’s Lockdown Funds
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has drawn the attention of the general public, especially those in the cyberspace, to the existence of fake websites in circulation, trying to capitalise on the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians…Read Full Story

Important WASH Practices To Stay Free Of COVID-19
WASH in the field of environment stands for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. It goes without saying that appropriate WASH practices are key to halt the continued spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). In a presentation made by Professor Mynepalli Sridhar during the recent World Environment Day held at the…Read Full Story

APC And The Price Of Impunity
The All Progressives Congress, APC, is fast becoming a house of commotions, where things seem to have fallen apart and the centre can no longer hold. Or how else do we describe the present situation in Edo and Ondo States, where the ruling party is at loggerheads with itself over its flag bearers for the coming gubernatorial…Read Full Story

PHOTOS: At The Age Of 35, 30, They Are Parents Of 11 Children
A couple who never planned to have any children have revealed they now have a huge brood of eleven, the Daily Mail of UK reported. Joseph Sutton, 35, and wife Nicole, 30, live with their eight daughters and three sons in their three-bedroom home in Aspatria, Cumbria, England…Read Full Story