By Taiwo Adeleye.
There was high spirited argument almost 4yrs ago between two political ideological camps : those who supported Obaseki that was gunning for second term in office as governor and the other group sympathetic to Oshiomole, who felt he was dishonored by Obaseki, his political godson, who enjoyed a great deal of his good will, support and influence before he could become the governor of Edo State in his first term .But when they parted ways and Obaseki could not get the APC thicket for his second term governorship bid, he crossed carpeted to PDP that gave him the platform to contest for the election.
Obaseki’s Mantra during the election was ‘Edo No Be Lagos’ which was used to cajole and deceive people to cruise back to power. It was a succinct catchy phrase sloganized to cause damage and inflict reputational injury on Oshiomole, his cohorts and his candidate during the 2020 electionairing campaigns. He said the era of godfatherism was gone and that power must go back to the people who must have a free choice of their political representatives.
By then, I refused to give in to such a blinking motivational entreaty and political niceties devoid of sincerity, and indepth ideological convictions. And I concluded it was a mere verbal gyration; a deceptive conceptual deposition born out of the spurs of election fever, lacking in good intentions.
In my view, I posited that any politician who is against godfatherism should be ready to go solo and not use the structure of a godfather, his money, support and sponsorship to attain power .He must not sign any hidden agreement of any kind with him with draconian terms and conditions and neither should there be any oath taken in any secret grooves. Such politician should be ready to go the whole hug like Tinubu, who recently boasted that he had no godfather and nobody can dictate to him. He said he didn’t collect money from anybody, but used his money to fund his presidential election.
Now that the baton of governance is to change in Edo State, can we still believe that the era of godfatherism has gone in the State? Is Obaseki now playing godmotherism , godsisterism or just mere brotherhood in support of his chosen candidate by the manner of desperation he has been exhibiting so far ? Well, your guess and conjectural conclusion is as good as mine .
Both Asue Ighodalo, the candidate of PDP and Monday Okpebholo of APC are now enjoying the support of their father- figure gladiators. No doubt !
Obaseki, for long, has been showing the sharpness of his fangs, the penetrating effect of his claws and has been beating the deafening sound of war drums for those who have ears to listen, that he would not accept or condone opposition to his anointed candidate and that those who would not fall in line to support him must be ready to contend with the sting of his imperiality. And when Shuaibu dared and signified his intention to run for governor, he received the warning salvos: first, his office was quickly changed to a less dignified arena as a sign of rejection to his proposed ambition by the governor.This was followed by a change and reduction of his official Aids . When these initial warning signs and subtle red signals were not heeded, and he was recalcitrant, unyielding and uncooperative, as he refused to read the body language and the handwritings on the wall, then a red line was drawn between him and his boss. It was a period of war fought with words and wits; a war of brawl and brain fought without armistice, truce or respite, full of victims and casualties with countless instances of caustic vituperations against each other .
In consequence of his refusal to heed this caveat warning of reasoning, Shuaibu was eventually impeached as Deputy governor by the Edo State House of Assembly, with trump up charges, through a process wrought and fraught with fraud .If not for the quick judicial intervention that reinstated him, his political career would have nose dived by the damaging injury the impeachment would have caused his future political career, thereby making him ungarlanded in Edo political history.
From the events leading to this governorship election, it was save and apt to conclude that it would take divine intervention for PDP to coast to victory in view of the negative convincing developments that took place prior to the election.
Firstly, Obaseki’s ingratitude and insensitivity, which Oshiomole has been complaining about was one of his early undoings ,and this quickly manifested at the early stage of his re-election.
Just immediately after decamping from APC to PDP in the year 2020 when the race for Edo government house was at a fevered- pitch, the PDP governorship thicket that had already been won was collected from the thicket holder and handed over to Obaseki. He was given a waiver, as new entrant to the party to make him eligible to contest, and all the existing party structures were collapsed in support of him while they pleaded with the party candidate who had already been given the party thicket to give him maximum cooperation.
Nyesom Wike practically relocated to Benin during the campaigns and on the day of the election, as a sign of solidarity, to ensure that his re-election was not compromised. Shuaibu, his deputy, to further demonstrate his loyalty to his boss, seized all available opportunities to insult, denigrate and poured all sorts of invectiveness on Oshiomole, who brought him up politically, to the consternation of all the observers of political events in the state. It was a no holds – barr session of acidic commentaries and demeaning insults, in an attempt to win, and curry favour and to gain political advantage .
How, then ,did Obaseki pay back his band of loyalists and teaming benefactors ? He paid with Ingratitude !
Obaseki refused to concede an inch of the political positions to the groups that gave him thicket and collapsed their structures that gave him the victory at the polls. Instead, he sidelined them and worked with those that decamped with him from APC to PDP .
Secondly, despite the level of support he enjoyed from Wike during his perceived persecution by Oshiomole in APC, when he was politically hemorrhaging and in dire need of transfusion for political resuscitation and sustainability ; when it was pay back time, Wike got the greatest disappointment of his life from Obaseki.
When Wike signified his Presidential ambition, he thought he had seen in Obaseki, a good friend , with whom he was well pleased .He believed that one good turn deserves another., that a friend in need is a friend in deed. Alas, the reverse was the case because when Wike solicited for his support ; instead of supporting him, Obaseki spited him , rallied round Atiku, and instructed all Edo delegates to vote for Atiku and ensured that he won the PDP presidential primary.
What a stab ! A chilling height of ingratitude !
Also, fresh in the people’s memory was the denial of the majority of the House of Assembly Members , who are Oshiomole supporters, from taking their seats as representatives of their constituencies for almost four years, despite repeated calls for political solutions to the imbroglio, but which the governor blatant refused to oblige.
As if that was not enough, he desecrated and denigrated Edo’s symbol of customary, cultural and traditional institution , by taking the revered Oba of Benin and his chiefs to court, just because he wanted the recently returned stolen Artifacts of Benin Kingdom, by the British, to be kept in the private Museum he built ,which the Omonoba vehemently opposed. This happened towards the election and the Edo people considered this sacrilegious and a sour taste too acidic to swallow ; as they could not condone this infraction from a man who did not realize that without the right value, success is brief, they waited patiently for a pay back time.
Not only did the governor embark on pulling down the houses and properties of opposition figures, under the pretext of chanelization of drainage blockages, as vendetta and punishment against his political detractors , bullying and physical attacks was rife in the events leading to the election as this was employed as instrument of coercion to intimidate political opponents and force people to submission so as to snatch victory at the polls .A case in point was the attack and assassination attempt on Monday Okepebholo, the APC governorship candidate, whose Security Aid was killed at the Benin Airport.
Given the above scenario, and the atmosphere of chaos and crisis created by the governor before the election, and the unfitting garment of pride and pomposity he adorned himself with when the election was approaching ; his mien and carriage during the campaigns , as well as his demeaning and undignified treatment of the Oba of Benin and the profanity of the sacredness of Benin traditional institution , it was clear they were all documented in the thoughts and feelings of Edo people, and they waited for the governorship election as a pay back time . Unfortunately, the governor did not realize that this political neophytic behaviour and character deficit will cost him a great prize.
To even think of victory, having created so much political enmities, and by refusing to build alignments and democratic bridges among his early supporters, in and outside the state, but preferred to build walls of separation and throw away the ladder of elevation through which he bounced to political reckoning, is to embark on wishful thinking.
Obaseki should have known that operating in the cocoon of his deceptive praises, the accolade of his boothlickers and the chants of his ‘Ijala’ ( hunters praise songs) singers were not enough political incentives for votes.
A governor who denied people their paliatives’ requests should not expect people’s support and votes at the polls.
Given the trajectory of political events in Edo, an independent observer and a political keen watchers would have seen that , all political indices didn’t favour the emergence of Obaseki’s candidate to be victorious at the polls. Due to desperation , Obaseki, in the course of his strategy confused rivals for enemies and paid dearly for it. He could not realise that emotions are poor substitute for reason.
To think ortherwise is to contend with a fading influence ; a shadow chasing that will lead to abysmal failure ; such was the result of the just concluded Edo governorship Election. And by the time he was trying to find Concord in discord it was too late.
What a great lesson in ingratitude !
