Senator\u00a0Ehigie Uzamere, in an interview\u00a0he\u00a0granted to the Punch newspaper on February, 28, 2014, justified why he decamped\u00a0from the APC to the PDP.\u00a0 Read him: \u201cThe first responsibility of a leader is to define reality; and the reality of today in Edo State is that despite all the razzmatazz and media visibility, it is an unfortunate situation that we find ourselves in the present party (APC) and government in the state. I make bold to say that the people of Edo South are actually a people in bondage. And this is unacceptable. Many people see through the entire fa\u00e7ade but lack the courage to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n
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This has become an established pattern by which\u00a0the Senator who represented Edo South in the Upper Leguosative Chamber of the National Assembly from 2007 to 2015 on the platforms of\u00a0the PDP and APC respectively\u00a0plays\u00a0with the sensibility of Edo South people who are principally of the Benin ethnic stock\u00a0when switching parties to further his personal interest as could be observed in his recent decamping from the PDP back to the APC.<\/p>\n
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In\u00a0an\u00a0interview with the Vanguard newspaper\u00a0on August 14, 2016, he had this to say:\u00a0\u201cI have nothing against the PDP except one. The structure of the PDP did not help Benin people and I asked one question which I am still expecting them to answer. How many appointments that were given from 1999-2015 went to the people of Edo South?\u201d<\/p>\n
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It is apparent that in pursuit of his personal aggrandisement, Uzamere has always played and championed the ethnic card as if the redemption of the Benin\u00a0people begins and ends with him: a self-arrogated assumption, which he has not been able to discharge in spite of having had the opportunity to represent them at the Senate\u00a0for eight years.\u00a0The excuse for his failure has always been hinged on\u00a0either the\u00a0machinations of fellow Edo South leaders or leaders of the other two senatorial zones.<\/p>\n
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This\u00a0is what he said of\u00a0Governor\u00a0Oshiomhole\u00a0in\u00a02014\u00a0when he was parting ways with the APC: \u201cNumber one is the issue of godfatherism. We have now discovered that it is a cankerworm in all the parties and that certain people blew that of the PDP out of proportion for their political aims. Soon after acquiring power, they slide into\u00a0that very whirlpool that they criticised so bitterly in the past and upon which they shored up their support base and popularity.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He also said\u00a0in reference to the APC and Adams Oshiomhole: \u201cI believe that a party organised around a sole administrator, who overturns and overturns, depending on his mood, desires, whims and\u00a0caprices,\u00a0cannot dispense justice, equity and fairness in a heterogeneous polity. The people of Edo South Senatorial District have been criminally short-changed by the current party (APC) and government in Edo State…. how\u00a0many positions of critical importance are occupied by Edo South indigenes? \u00a0In the location of projects, how many projects are sited and executed in Edo South considering the population, landmass and resources of the district?\u201d<\/p>\n
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The relevant question to ask the distinguished senator, who has penchant for fair weather cruises, is: what has changed in the APC between\u00a0February 2014 and July 2016 besides becoming\u00a0the ruling party at the federal level\u00a0and an Edo South man being\u00a0its national chairman\u00a0–\u00a0two\u00a0reasons he put forward as accounting for his latest defection? \u00a0So far, how have these developments conduced to the emancipation of Edo South people from the stranglehold of Governor Adams Oshiomhole with his Edo North agenda as Uzamere had alleged in the past?<\/p>\n
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Since Chief John Odigie Oyegun became the national chairman of the APC, in what way has Edo South benefitted? How many quality appointments\u00a0has he been able to get Oshiomhole\u00a0to give to Edo South people as a departure from the past?\u00a0 When it came to the issue of appointing an APC minister, why could Oyegun or the Edo South structure in Edo APC not influence the Edo South nominee, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, to be made a senior minister instead of a Minister of State, Health? What role did Oshiomhole play in the appointment\u00a0of the minister\u00a0of state?\u00a0Granted that the APC primary produced an Edo South man as the party\u2019s candidate for the 2016 governorship election, could we say he represents the choice of Edo South people in a free and fair contest? The protests which came before and after the primary attest to the contrary.<\/p>\n
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To be sure, this is one situation Uzamere says he abhors when referred to the appointment of Gen. Godwin Abbe who served as a Minister of Interior and Defence under the PDP between 2007 and 2011. He said that Abbe\u00a0was not the choice of Edo South leaders. If that were true, what\u00a0difference is there between Godwin Abbe nominated by Chief Tony Anenih, an Esan man, and Godwin Obaseki nominated by Oshiomhole, an Etsako man, or by whoever within or outside Edo State? \u00a0Where is the Edo South input in the Obaseki affair?<\/p>\n
It is most uncharitable of Uzamere to have tried faulting PDP governorship primary held on July 4, 2016.\u00a0\u00a0The primary, from all ramifications, remains\u00a0the fairest and most transparent party primary in the history of Edo State, across party lines. The emergence of Pastor Osagie\u00a0Ize-Iyamu was not a product of imposition by the leaders.\u00a0Ize-Iyamu is the result of sound collective judgment and decision shared by\u00a0leaders\u00a0and members of the PDP\u00a0who\u00a0are genuinely interested in\u00a0taking over power from the APC and thereafter making impact in governance. \u00a0Among the aspirants that contested, given the time and circumstances, it was very evident that Ize-Iyamu possesses the qualities needed. Their collective support led to\u00a0his overwhelming victory at the\u00a0party\u00a0primary.<\/p>\n
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Uzamere who had the ambition of contesting the primary before the 2015 Presidential Election, which the PDP lost, chickened out of the race.\u00a0 He had hoped on getting the support of President\u00a0Goodluck\u00a0Jonathan and his political godfather,\u00a0the late Chief\u00a0Diepriye Alameseigha,\u00a0the former governor of Bayelsa State, to influence the primary\u00a0in his favour. \u00a0Unfortunately, President Jonathan lost the election and Alameiseigha died. Uzamere, who had failed to build\u00a0sufficient goodwill in the party,\u00a0felt\u00a0that\u00a0he stood no chance in the primary.<\/p>\n
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However, in his 2014 Punch interview,\u00a0Uzamere\u00a0reported accurately the new spirit\u00a0 in the PDP that conducted the July 2016 Edo Governorship Primary. He had stated then:\u00a0\u201cYou must have the leader. And we have raised the consciousness of the people to draw\u00a0a thin line between genuine leadership and godfatherism.\u00a0 So, in the past, in the PDP, the way the godfather was perceived as dishing out instructions is not what we have today.\u00a0The PDP leadership has gone through turbulence. I have met with its leaders and we now have an understanding on due process, transparency in the emergence of candidates as well as internal democracy. You can perceive the change of demeanour; lessons have been learnt.\u201d\u00a0 It is this PDP that conducted the Edo Governorship election which produced Pastor Ize-Iyamu as its flag bearer.<\/p>\n
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The conclusion by Uzamere that APC\u2019s Godwin Obaseki will defeat Ize-Iyamu bears no relationship with the reality on ground in Edo State. Like Uzamere Observed, Edo South people and, indeed, all Edo people still have a sense of bondage as nothing has changed.\u00a0They have not only been politically emasculated, they have also been economically frustrated by\u00a0the plethora of obnoxious taxes and anti-labour inclination of the APC administration in Edo State.\u00a0 For them,\u00a0the\u00a0APC represents a continuity of the Oshiomhole highhandedness and economic frustrations.<\/p>\n
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Apart from the people desiring a change of party, the grassroots support Ize-Iyamu enjoys from across the parties has been very infectious.\u00a0 This election will go down in history as a test of the will of the people against a\u00a0government party, which\u00a0leaders have been boasting that they have\u00a0the advantage of controlling all the apparatuses of state that will be engaged in the conduct of the September 10, 2016 election.<\/p>\n
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