By Sufuyan Ojeifo
If the governorship election, earlier scheduled for September10, 2016, had
not been shifted to September 28, by now, the good people of Edo State
would have been celebrating the emergence of a brand new Governor; and, I
am not in doubt as to what the verdict would have been. Pastor Osagie
Ize-Iyamu would have become the custodian of the people’s sacred mandate.
As a grassroots politician, Ize-Iyamu has galvanized massive support
across the State. He is seen more as the face of the liberation movement
than the candidate of a political party in the rescheduled election.
Through him, the people would have realised their much-desired freedom
from the shackles of deceptive administration, foisted on them by the
outgoing Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
However, in spite of the poll shift, deliberately orchestrated by the
Governor, in concert with some security agents, when he saw the writing on
the wall, the people’s verdict, according to credible reports and feelers,
remains sacrosanct. They will now declare it on September 28 or any other
time the election is rescheduled to hold. For them, the election provides
a veritable opportunity to reprimand Oshiomhole for the propaganda of the
last four years.
The day of reckoning has finally come. The comrade Governor has
pathetically realised that deception has an expiry date. Governance by
divide and rule has lost its efficacy. He is now faced with a worsening
credibility crisis. The shift in the date of the election, rather than
mitigate what would have been his initial electoral damage, has reportedly
worsened his situation. The postponement has backfired and this is very
obvious. The consequential collateral damage will manifest on September
28.
That I have, so far, refrained from mentioning the names of political
parties in this piece is deliberate. I am convinced that the governorship
election in Edo is not about political parties or party affiliations. It
is a statewide consciousness to test the people’s will against the will of
a man who has transformed from a comrade to the ultimate godfather in his
party and now wants to extend his suzerainty to the entire State by
plotting to install his proxy – Godwin Obaseki – as his successor. His
plan is sardonically self-serving. A vote for Obaseki is already dubbed
as a vote for a neo-godfather.
Indeed, Oshiomhole wants an Obaseki who would cover his odious tracks,
contrary to his claim of continuity of performance. This is discounting
Obaseki’s electoral value and self-worth. The people are now much more
enlightened. They say they do not want a puppeteer who will sustain his
master’s continuity of divide and rule. They easily cite the massive
development in the Governor’s village (Iyamho) at the expense of so many
towns and villages across the State. To a very large extent, the comrade
Governor’s credibility problem is self-inflicted. It is his personal
tragedy that he had chosen to be a clannish and nepotistic Governor.
Annoyingly, he always turns round to point fingers of guilt at elders in
the State who are politically opposed to him, making them butts of abuses
and verbal attacks, blaming them for all imaginable setbacks that the
State has witnessed in the past. It is indisputable that Oshiomhole does
not have respect for elders. He has terribly fouled the air of the
culture of respect in Edo state; and, he has now extended his lack of
respect to the sacred area of tradition by insisting that the governorship
election should be shifted to coincide with some post-coronation
activities of the revered Oba of Benin.
The actual coronation should have been on September 26, 2016. The
election is on September 28. From September 27 after the coronation,
community and village heads in Edo South would have been expected to leave
their domains to visit the Oba of Benin in his palace to pay homage. But
those movements to express royal solidarity would certainly have beeen
affected by the pre-election, election and post-election activities.
Indeed, it was because of Oshiomhole’s obstinacy on the September 28 date
that the Benin Kingdom would now have to wait till October 20 to coronate
the new Oba. The new date is now confirmed. The Governor made fine
tradition to buckle in the face of crude politics.
But, there were reports in the social media, after the postponement, that
the Deputy Governor, Dr Pius Odubu, a true and courageous Benin son, told
Oshiomhole that his decision to have INEC pick September 28 was capable of
undermining age-long traditions. Dr Odubu was reportedly upbraided by
Oshiomhole for talking about tradition when his political fortune was
under real threat. Oshiomhole does not care about tradition, yet he wants
to benefit and make political capital out of royal endorsements by
traditional rulers for his candidate.
Oshiomhole is desperate and ready to go to the extreme to install his
successor. But well-meaning Nigerians should counsel him not to plunge
Edo State into avoidable crisis through his manipulative conduct. Edo
people are peace-loving. It was bad enough that the Governor, through his
schemes, prompted security agencies to dubiously and negatively profile
Edo State as a safe haven for militants and terrorists of the Boko Haram
hue. Is it not curious that the security advice came on the heels of a
hitch-free mega rally, organised for his candidate with President
Muhammadu Buhari in attendance?
In the run-up to the September 28 election, the Governor has resorted to
several questionable antics aimed at subverting the will of the people.
He has allegedly directed that Electoral Officers in the State should be
deployed and replaced with those from some States controlled by his
party. The INEC has reportedly rebutted this insinuation. He has also
been alleged to have made moves to have INEC replace National Youth
Service Corps (NYSC) members already trained for the election with his
party members. The reason for the move is that the Youth Corps members
will pass out on September 26. The electoral body has also said it would
not succumb to the push. These gambits are capable of inflaming
destructive passion.
Perhaps, the real concern is the recruitment and planned deployment of
vicious thugs to disrupt and undermine the integrity of the electoral
process. Leading politicians and opposing political camps have accused
one another of complicity in this. The Governor, who has been in power in
the State for about eight years, has so much explanation to make as
regards the prevalence of thugs on the political turf in the State. His
claim that the other camp had registered 8,000 militants is dubious and
unjustifiable. The simple and logical argument is that with state
machinery at his disposal, Oshiomhole is better positioned to recruit and
fund thugs for political ends. He is said to have sustained a lucrative
recruitment scheme since stepping in the saddle as Governor and has given
official protection to known thugs, including the notorious Osakpanmwan
(alias No Molest) who once assaulted a prince of the Benin monarch.
Further validation: during the Akoko-Edo House of Assembly rerun election
in August 2009, there were media reports that twenty seven thugs wielding
AK-47 rifles, who were allegedly recruited from Kogi by the then Action
Congress (AC), the Governor’s party, were arrested in Igarra by the Deputy
Commissioner of Police in charge of election operations and taken to Abuja
on the instructions of the Inspector General of Police. They were
reportedly paraded with their rifles by the Police and charged to court.
Upon their release to their sureties, Nigerians would want to know why the
matter has since “died.” The thugs and their sureties are still at large
while the exhibits (Ak-47 rifles) are being detained by the Police. It is
all the outcome of the manipulative conduct of a desperate Governor even
as a member of the opposition party. One can, then, imagine the extent he
will go now that his party controls the government at the centre.
This and other pranks are what the Police, in particular, and other
security agencies should work assiduously to avert on September 28. The
Police should be allowed to do their job. Oshiomhole should not use his
position as the Chief Security Officer of the State to manipulate and
coerce the Police to do his bidding. I pray that the INEC will provide a
level play field by conducting the election in accordance with the
guidelines as contained in its books.
Finally, I hope that President Muhammadu Buhari, who is a beneficiary of a
free and fair presidential election in 2015, will not throw partisan bias
into the mix. After a series of inconclusive elections by INEC under his
presidency, this should be an opportunity for the Commission to justify
the postponement of Edo governorship election by making the election a
model worthy of replication in future exercises. This will, no doubt,
enhance the election management profile of Buhari’s government.
Mr Ojeifo, Editor-in-Chief of The Congresswatch magazine, sent this piece
from Abuja.