Edo: Obaseki and the epic battle ahead
…Will the Ambode pill also demobilise Edo governor?
With the insistence by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the timetable for the off-season gubernatorial election in Edo slated for September 19, 2020 remains sacrosanct, stakeholders have increased the quantum of consultation. Alignment and realignment of forces are on a very high scale.
The Edo gubernatorial election promises to be interesting and at the same time tense given the crisis that has rocked the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), for close to a year now.
The battle is expected to be joined by outside influence based on utterances and body language in some quarters.
For a very long time now, Governor Godwin Obaseki and his political godfather and predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole, have not been the best of friends. Their differences seem to be irreconcilable as several peace parleys initiated by important personalities within and outside the state felled on their faces.
Obaseki is a first term governor seeking re-election. Oshiomhole on the other hand is the National chairman of the ruling party.
Recall that the state chapter of the broom party had split into two factions, each loyal to either of the two power blocs.
On the merit of re- election, Obaseki is said to have acquitted himself well in terms of living up to his campaign promises. This much has been said by Anselm Ojezua, who chairs the mainstream faction of the party in the state.
The other day, Ojezua said that the governor’s remarkable achievements in the past three years in office, will guarantee him victory in the forthcoming election.
“I think he has introduced innovation in governance and he has introduced reforms to a point where we are producing human capacity development which is the biggest reform any entity can have,” he said.
According to the state APC chairman, “I will score him excellent in his first term and, certainly, his achievements so far will earn him the second term.”
Speaking in tandem, John OdigieOyegun, a former national chairman of the party, in a full page advertorial published in national newspaper on Thursday, May 21, 2020, said: “He (Obaseki) has not offended against any aspect of the APC’S constitution nor has he, in any way, brought the party to disrepute.”
Among other reasons he pushes for the governor’s re- election, Odigie-oyegun said: “He has performed in an exemplary manner. In his time, there has been peace and freedom for the ordinary Edo man and woman from harassment by official thugs. In addition to improving all aspects of infrastructure in the more rural areas of the state, he has significantly impacted on job creation by opening up opportunities for our youths in the rapidly expanding high-tech industry. Also, since the crisis, the governor’s popularity has grown tremendously, for obvious reasons, and across party lines.”
According to the chieftain of the party, “Through him (Obaseki), Edo State must prove that our democracy can only survive if we do not create a situation where an individual or a small group can make or unmake our governors or other elected officials at will.”
Alleged sins of Obaseki
It was gathered that the major plank for the impasse between Oshiomhole and Obaseki has to do with the latter’s decision to block avenues of revenue leakages which the former allegedly allowed during his own dispensation.
There was the allegation that there used to be wrong pricing in procurements and even in the award of contracts in the old order, resulting in loss of huge revenues. Obaseki believes that was so much inefficiency in the system, which made the state to suffer huge financial losses. Moreover, there was also the issue of “stepping on toes”.
“Some people who felt they were owners of the state empowered some boys who were going about collecting all manner of levies. They made life very difficult for market women and indigenes doing small businesses to eke out a living. Even in Government Reserved Areas (GRAS), they were very powerful; wielding so much power, extorting people all over the state. Some of them were said to have their counting machines in their homes. They impoverished the state by their activities,” a politician from the state said, craving anonymity.
The politician also said that the state had drastically cut the cost of building roads.
“We can build three roads now with even less cost than they used to build one road in the past. If there is no economic growth, we get stuck. Oil has run out. We must do things that could help us create wealth. As you cannot make an omelet without breaking an egg, there is no way we can build a new Edo without dismantling those negative things that hampered the progress of the state in the past. There are entrenched interests that are being dislodged and they are fighting back.
Don’t forget that our governor is a private sector person, he cannot help but see that Edo is run and run very well,” an official of the state government, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
“There was this thinking in some quarters that those boys were the backbone of government, and Governor Obaseki said no; it is not possible. He told them that they have created non-state actors and that they have become a threat to democracy. So, he decided to dismantle such illegal structures and the masters began to cry out. I must tell you that the well being of our people were threatened by the activities of these boys. If you want to change an old, negative order, you have to fight. To get peace, you have to go to war. That is the story of Nigeria today and that is what is playing out in Edo today,” the official further said.
Concern mounts over primary
Odigie-oyegun is concerned about the quality and transparency of the primary election that will produce the candidate.
He pointed out that “transparency must start with the guidelines as to how the primary elections will be conducted. This is yet to be issued, even though dates have been announced. The nature of the primary election in Edo State will determine the shape and survival of APC as a political party. It will show Nigerians and, indeed, the world whether APC is a party of truth, change and progress, driven by the principles of fairness, social justice and equity, or if it has become a party that believes and promotes business as usual!”
The immediate past National Chairman of APC also made a passionate request he believes could give legitimacy to the outcome of the primary.
“He said: “Given the widelyknown peculiarities of Edo State, if a consensus cannot be built behind the incumbent, everything must be done to ensure that the persons in leadership of the party at the centre who are part of the contrived crisis in Edo State must not even remotely be allowed to plan, participate or supervise the primary be seen even by the blind man, to be free and fair, otherwise, there would be political consequences. Allowing any member(s) of the national leadership who have been involved in the contrived crisis in Edo State would equate making such person or persons a judge or judges in their own case. This is contrary to the principle of natural justice and will be naturally resisted.”
In another advertorial by Concerned Edo State APC Stakeholders, titled, ‘Oshiomhole’s unforced losses and fate of APC in Edo 2020 gubernatorial election,’ the group called the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari to “the endless, unprovoked battles Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has continued to wage against the Edo State chapter of the APC.”
The group alleged that the party’s losses in Taraba, Zamfara, Rivers and Bayelsa States were orchestrated by Oshiomhole as a result of his leadership style. They said that there was a similarity in the pattern that led to the party’s poor outing in the above-listed states, urging the President to intervene in Edo’s case before APC loses it to the opposition. Ten members of the said group penned their signature on the full-page advert.
The observations came on the day Senator Lawal Shuaibu, deputy national chairman, North, alleged that the party was increasingly resorting to “illegalities” by Oshiomhole. Shuaibu described the party at the moment as a nest of lawlessness.
He raised the alarm that the national chairman’s behavior may cost the party the gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo States if the situation is not immediately addressed.
Factional group replies OdigieOyegun
But in a swift response to OdigieOyegun’s observations and propositions, a faction of the party in the state sympathetic to Oshiomhole, said that nobody promised Governor Obaseki an automatic ticket as part of reconciliation in the state chapter of the party.
Publicity Secretary of the faction, Chris Azebamwan, said, “we are constrained to respond to statements credited to Chief John Odigie-oyegun at page 8 of The Nation newspaper of today, 21st May, 2020 and his full-page advert on the same subject at page 10.
“It is not in our character, upbringing or culture to take an elder to task. Especially an elder with the towering stature and credentials of Pa John Odigie-oyegun who retired as a Federal Super-permanent Secretary, has been a State Governor and served as National Chairman of a major political party. He celebrated his 80th birthday recently, and we wish him many more years of service to the nation.
“Against this background, one is at loss to understand why Chief Odigie-oyegun would make utterances that portray him as a mouthpiece or hireling of Godwin Obaseki. That the forthcoming primaries in Edo State would be credible is not in doubt.”
According to Azebamwan, “the more worrisome part of Pa OdigieOyegun’s outburst is his claim that as part of the reconciliation process, an automatic ticket was promised to Godwin Obaseki. To the best of my knowledge, Chief Odigie-oyegun was not at the meeting where reconciliation was discussed. He is no longer a principal officer of the APC, and is in no position, therefore, to lay claims to the inner workings of the party.”
Ambode’s pill for Obaseki?
Political watchers are saying that the powers that be in the party at the national level may be plotting to administer the same pill that demobilised Governor Akinwunmi Ambode during the primaries in Lagos State last year. Obaseki and his supporters are said to be unaware of the alleged plot. It was alleged that Bola Ahmed Tinubu, national leader of the party, is interested in Edo State and had pointedly told Obaseki that he (the governor) would not come back.
“I must tell you that Governor Obaseki is in for an epic battle. Don’t forget that the judiciary has been compromised that once a result is announced, that becomes the end of the primary. The best bet for Obaseki is to begin now to make sufficient noise and ensure that direct method of voting at the primary that promotes eye service is not approved,” Thompson Adams, a political affairs commentator, said.
According to Adams, “Obaseki should capitalise on the crack among members of the National Working Committee (NWC) to get some of them on his side, so that they could resist any untoward decision aimed at shoving aside the governor. I am not also sure Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo State, will also get fairness when it comes to the primary. Both of them must work very hard to return.”
Another analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity said that this is not the time to seek reconciliation with Oshiomhole, as whatever is done now would be seen from the prism of just wanting to win election.
“It is past the time for reconciliation. The battle must be eyeball to eyeball. No pretense. We all saw what happened to Ambode. He tried everything to please Jagaban, even to the point of ridiculing himself in public. But they had already made up their mind on him. The primary for me is war. Obaseki must not shy away from it,” the pundit said.
Government should consider drafting out the military, not just the Army, but the Navy, the Air Force, should be moved out to enforce total lockdown of the country for one week, then the influx of people moving from one state to another
Leader of Yoruba World Congress (YWC) has said that with membership of Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO), Yoruba nation has got a stronger voice through international support, to protect its territory. What is your view about that?
Nigeria is a member of the United Nations. Which nation is being talked about? How do they intend to enforce it? Are they going to invite the United Nations? Nigeria is an independent nation. We should not deceive the people to believe that it is possible. We are a part of a nation and no United Nation member can interfere in the internal affairs of an independent state. You have to fight your battle within the state. They established Amotekun and the government has given them approval for that. I saw Governor Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State inspecting a trailer to ensure the trailers carrying food were not carrying smuggled passengers under the food they were supposed to deliver. He inspected the vehicles personally in the North, because he was afraid of Almajiris coming into his state, since a lot of the Almajiris are already inflicted by the virus. So, if they are coming into the South and they can get in from Kogi, Ilorin, Ogbomoso, Ondo area and then to Lagos, and they were not stopped, then something is wrong somewhere. There must be an organised gang that is smuggling these Almajiris to the South; this group is what should be dismantled. Those arrested in Ibadan few days ago said that they were coming from Zamfara State, and they got caught in Ibadan. If we are all on the alert, they would not get to the South before we catch them. The implementation of Amotekun by all the South West states is creating problem. Once members of House of Assembly have passed the law, implementation should be swift. Only Ekiti State has established the board, the rest probably have concentrated more on the Covid-19 than the security of their states. I think both of them should be going ‘pari passu’, containing the pandemic and taking care of security at the same time.
The curve in Lagos may become difficult to control. I don’t pray it would get to epidemic, like in America where thousands of people are dying; I bet it would be worse in Nigeria. This is what government should let the people know. It is not only on radio, television and newspapers, we should carry the message to people at the grassroots, and that is where local government officials are important. We should carry the fight to them; it is not only food they should have, because even when you provide food, they would still complain.
Are you saying the Southwest governors are not doing enough to check the alleged influx of Amajirai into their states?
The most important thing is that everybody should try to guide his borders. If you go to the main point of entry to Lagos, people come in and go out of Lagos at will. There is supposed to be security there. The governor should not leave all that he is doing, and man the borders. People that should do it are not there. If someone can leave Kano, pass all the borders and got opportunity of entering Lagos, then something is wrong somewhere. I pray that someday all of us would not die of Covid-19.
Amidst rising cases of Covid-19, what do you think should be done to flatten the curve, especially in the midst of allegation that some security officers who should enforce lockdown have continued to compromise?
The law enforcement agencies are part of the people causing problems for government, though not all of them. People who are not supposed to be on the road by virtue of the law and guideline by government, are allowed by security officials, after collecting money from them, thereby sabotaging the efforts of government. There is nothing wrong in the guideline issued by government, even outside Africa, the restriction is tougher. In South Africa, the enforcement is not done by police but by military, over 80,000 Army are sent out to enforce it. They involved the military when they discovered the people were not obeying the police. Influential people that should understand Nigeria’s problem seem to be promoting lawlessness. When you talk about Human Rights, there are certain places the human rights start from and end. You cannot say because you have a right, then you go against a law, you don’t respect the law because you feel you have a right as a free citizen. I think that government should tighten enforcement of the guideline. Only few people respect the guideline, of face mask in public, social and physical distancing. Some people reason like illiterates and yet they are educated. While some others believe COVID-19 does not exist.
What do you expect government to do specifically?
The local government chairmen should be involved in the fight against the pandemic. They should get vehicles with loud speakers and sensitise the people in local languages. They should go to the grassroots and sensitise the people in Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and all other local languages. They should continue to announce the guideline every day, emphasising government’s expectation from the people. They should let them understand that the pandemic is real. America has lost over 80,000 citizens; Britain lost more than 30.000 and over 28,000 in France and in Spain over 24,000 of its citizens died. We just hope there would be no epidemic.
We hope that government would rise up to the challenges. I love my governor, Babajide Sanwo-olu, the way he is going about it, but he must be a little tougher. Majority of Lagosians are not respecting the guidelines. Sanwo-olu goes out every day to hold a conference, updating Lagosians about what is going on. What else can he do? I believe it is time for him to leave the enforcement to those who are supposed to do it.
Don’t you think it would be good if government begins to arrest defaulters, especially those people who don’t wear the face masks, or fail to wear them properly?
If you arrest them and fine them, they would still do the same. The most important thing is to influence them. If they see those who should know, obey the guidelines, they too would join. It is for this reason that I said earlier that government should involve local government; they should go out to sensitise the people in their localities. After they have done that they should use the military, and also do a total lockdown for one week, across the states of the federation. I am sure that within the one week, they would be able to identify people with symptoms. The problem with the partial lockdown is that some people who were tested and result returned positive would relocate from their original addresses, switch of their telephone numbers. When they go to their new places, they would infect people there. Many people are accusing Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State of being a bully, but he is achieving result. If everybody would be like Wike, I don’t think we would be experiencing the high rate of new infections.
I pray it does not explode to where we would not be able to cope with it. America that is supposed to have the best medical system failed; Britain, Spain and Italy lost, these are countries that are supposed to have the best medical system in the world, not to talk about Nigeria which perhaps, allocation to health sector is less than eight percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in our annual budget.
Don’t you think mass testing will solve the problem?
There is no resources to do mass testing. The machines and other equipment are not there, so before it gets to that level, we must ensure this pandemic does not explode because if it does, no state government can control it. Look at what is going on in the North. When it was happening in Lagos, they did not behave as if it would get to them. If it can get to America, Japan, Spain, then it would get anywhere. We did not prepare for it and I don’t know if we have the resources to confront this pandemic. Our attitude in this country when people die is unbecoming, when we are not involved, we don’t care. Government should consider drafting out the military, not just the Army, but the Navy, the Air Force, should be moved out to enforce total lockdown of the country for one week, then the influx of people moving from one state to another. The military is not like the police which live among civilians, so they would be able to enforce it. Give Nigerians two days to stock food and then lock down totally for one week. You must use real force to get result.