Onazena Abbey, Benin
Iyamhole, the sleepy country home of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole, in Etsako West Local Government, has had its own share of the crisis currently rocking Edo State. It is a crisis brought about by the face-off between Oshiomhole, the current godfather of Edo politics, and his godson, Governor Godwin Obaseki.
On Saturday, November 2, the convoy of Governor Obaseki, which also had the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, and the Pro-Chancellor of Edo University, Iyamho, Prof. T.O.K Audu, was attacked while snaking its way across the town, heading to the country home of the former governor of the state.
The governor and the others were guests at the maiden convocation of the Edo University and were heading to Oshiomhole’s house to honour the APC chairman’s invitation for lunch after the ceremony at the university.
The fracas was allegedly ignited when some youths allegedly sighted a man, who was accused of leading an attack on Oshiomhole’s home in Benin City some weeks before, lending credence to the insinuation that it was a revenge attack.
In the ensuing melee, several vehicles were smashed by thugs, while the security personnel in the governor’s convoy had to intervene to prevent what could have been a bloodbath.
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But more importantly, the skirmish signposted the dangerous twist in the current political rivalry between the godfather, the godson and their supporters.
The two camps have been trading blame over the attack. Supporters of Oshiomhole pointed accusing fingers at the state deputy governor, Phillips Shaibu. He was said to have invaded the university community with over 200 thugs, not only to boo the former governor, but to also portray him as somebody who was no longer popular among his people.
“We want to say that the people, who unleashed mayhem on the vehicles were thugs who invaded the university community allegedly on the orders of the deputy governor, Philips Shaibu,” the Oshiomhole group said.
Obaseki himself described the incident as unfortunate and said he would not have been so badly treated if he had visited the home of the opposition party, a statement that could be interpreted, as a signal to the governor’s future direction.
“It is really unfortunate that we can’t feel safe in the house of the National Chairman. I am not sure if I went to the house of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, they would attack me the way they did in the house of our chairman,” a bemused Obasaki had said.
The deputy governor, Oshiomhole’s kinsman from Uzairue, in the same Etsako West Local Government, who had found a friend that is closer than a brother in Obaseki in the scramble for a second term in office, equally denied sponsoring the thugs.
He said: “The simple truth is that the National Chairman felt offended and intimidated by the huge crowd of party youths that came out in solidarity with the governor.”
While the dust of the Iyamhole attack was yet to settle, APC leaders from the 18 local government areas of the state, who converged on Osadebey Avenue (Government House) on Tuesday last week in solidarity with the governor, unanimously endorsed him as the party’s consensus candidate in 2020.
The Iyamho attack is a clear indication that there may not be any let up in the crisis, rocking the APC as the 2020 governorship race draws nearer. It is also a pointer to the fact that rather than abating, the crisis keeps on degenerating everyday with no solution in sight. Political development in the state in the last few weeks portends that the party is heading for the worst in the days ahead with ominous signals.
Oshiomhole, it would be recalled, single handedly picked Obaseki as his successor. As such, the current battle between the two combatants is still a mystery to many political observers in the state. This is because Oshiomhole was quoted to have described the governor as “his engine room, his plug spanner that can spark anytime, his battery, his financial wizard and his brain box”, while selling him to party leaders prior to the 2016 election that brought him to power.
In fact, an APC leader, who served as the political adviser to Oshiomhole when he was governor, Charles Idahosa described Obaseki as “a creation of Adams Oshiomhole.” Idahosa also said that what led to the disagreement between Obaseki and Oshiomhole has not been brought to the fore.
But the current crisis is sure to derail the second term ambition of the governor. The storm is already gathering and there is the fear that Oshiomhole, as the APC national chairman could deploy his immense power to torpedo the governor’s ambition.
The alleged invasion of the Benin GRA residence of Oshiomhole some weeks back and another attack on the Chief of Staff to Governor Obaseki, Taiwo Akerele by suspected party thugs, further exacerbated the crisis.
In the wake of the siege on his Benin residence, the APC national chairman did not only pointed accusing fingers at Governor Obaseki, he posited that the governor was jealous of his soaring profile, adding that Obaseki has been harassing and intimidating APC members across the state, including sacking those who are indisposed to his second term bid.
But the governor, in his response, maintained that there was no attack on Comrade Oshiomhole, even as he accused the national chairman of undermining the security of the state.
The crisis has not only polarised the party along the Oshiomhole/Obaseki dichotomy, it has spilled to the eighteen Local Government Areas of the state.
In Ikpoba Okha Local Government where the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie hails from, members of the pro-Oshiomhole group were alleged to have unlashed terror on the supporters of the governor at the party’s LGA secretariat.
The raging war has equally recorded political casualties. Governor Obaseki in a bid to carve a political niche for himself, ahead of the party primary to pick candidate for the 2020 governorship election, under the guise of administrative re-organisation, terminated the appointments of political appointees in the 18 local governments, sacked four council chairmen loyal to Oshiomhole few months after some commissioners were shown the way out.
The state executive of the party is also divided. The chairman, Anslem Ojezua is in the camp of the governor, while the secretary, Lawrence Okah is a diehard Oshiomhole loyalist.
To remove a ‘poisonous chalice’ from the hierarchy of the party executive, Okah was suspended in what Ojezua said was part of an ongoing administrative process.
But suspension has further worsened the already divided party in Oredo Local Government chapter, as leaders from Ward 7 where Okah hails from, unanimously condemned the purported suspension, while accusing the governor of playing dictatorial politics.
In Edo North Senatorial District, the ancestral home of the APC national chairman, the leaders of the party in Owan West Local Government Area have vowed never to endorse Governor Obaseki for second term unless he re- issue a proclamation letter for the inauguration of the state House of Assembly.
Amidst tension and stiff opposition trailing his second term ambition, Governor Obaseki has taken the bull by the horn with his recent declaration that his second term is not negotiable.
The governor had earlier restated his unweaving resolve not to bow to intimidation to re-contest on the platform of the party when he played host to Godwin Obaseki Support Group, GOSG.
“We will flush them out. We own the land. We determine who our leader will be. Nobody can come here and impose on us who we don’t want. If a handful of individuals start misbehaving and feel we will leave the party for them; they will be the ones to leave,” he said.
Obaseki, who self-appraised himself with high score mark said having fulfilled most of the electoral promises made before his assumption of office, he needed to consolidate on his achievements, noting that no single individual but God and Edo people will determine who becomes the governor.
“I have said it clearly and I told my cabinet members that second term for me is non-negotiable. I am demanding it because I deserve it and I think I have earned it. We need to have it so we can continue what we are doing today.
“I want to assure you that this is a fight in which we will prevail. We will fight and succeed. If anybody thinks I will back out, he must be day-dreaming because it is not my fight; it is a fight for the right purpose. I am not going to back off because I know victory is sure,” Obaseki said.
Another dimension was recently added when the leadership of party decided to wield the big stick against members of the Edo Peoples Movement, EPM, a group opposed to the governor’s re-election. The group made up of prominent party leaders across the three senatorial districts is hell bent that Obaseki won’t get a second term.
A former gubernatorial candidate, Maj. Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (rtd), who queried the existence of the Obaseki/Shuibu Movement, OSM, in the party, posited that the governor lacks the power to disband EPM.
“So, who is proscribing who? Is it the 4+4, that G.O (Godwin Obaseki) must stay or 3+1 that G.O must go? There must be balance. Nobody has the authority to proscribe any group, let them do their own and let the EPM do their own.
“Obaseki is very vulnerable and if we allow him, the opposition will take over. He has been all over the place trying to cross carpet, trying to look for soft landing but his main asset, that is APC stalwarts, he has left them in disarray.
“I want to assure you that the governor that will come in 2020 must be the governor that has the pain and interest of Edo people at heart,” Airhiavbere said.
Recent outburst by Comrade Oshiomhole that Obaseki would need a miracle to win re-election has left no one in doubt that the governor’s peace move to Iyamhole, the residential home of the godfather on Sallah day, coupled with the efforts of Rt. Rev. Friday Imaekhai, the Archbishop of Bendel Province, Anglican Communion at reconciling the duo were mere political drama.
Oshiomhole accused Obaseki of not only abandoning some of the projects he initiated as governor; he also abandoned party leaders who made him governor on the grounds that ‘politicians wanted him to share the money of the state.’
“My idea of leadership is that when people have worked with me, made all those sacrifices and I was elected, I should not abandon them. I think I have a duty to rehabilitate them and give them a sense of belonging and a sense of ownership of the outcome of the elections.
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“I think the real issue in Edo State is that any one that loves the governor (Obaseki) should do what we tried to do, what those governors tried to do by reminding him that a divided house cannot stand. And the house remains divided if we do not make conscious efforts to bring everybody together.
“But let me say, even if Obaseki thinks of himself as an angel, and he is a candidate of a party that is fragmented, he will need miracles to win. And that is why I still say to him, let’s embrace peace.
“What is simply happening is that there are people who think that their access to bread and butter will end if there is peace and so they encourage the governor wrongly. I have had meetings before where I urged the governor to carry people along. Whether you like it or not if there is one business where one tree cannot make a forest, it is politics,” Oshiomhole said.
Idahosa, who has since pitched tent with Governor Obaseki has warned against plot to deny the governor a second term ticket.
“I have done my checks; the people are with Obaseki. We politicians are angry because Oshiomhole pampered us and this man is not ready to do that. So, is that why we must kill him? When the people who are the majority are with him, why should we be troubled?” he asked.
