Comrade Adams Eric Oshiomhole is one individual many people react to in many different ways. In Edo state, his presence always create profound effect on his audience whether on his side or otherwise. He is a nightmare to his political foes but a knight in shinning armour in the heart of his supporters and admirers. He is an enigma before the apolitical. Following from this varied perception, while his admirers would sing ‘Halleluyah’ any time and everywhere possible, his opponents, they are in legions, would never hesitate in painting him as a monster given the slightest opportunity, just as those on the fence would chose not to be bothered by the hoopla.       For instance, since he emerged governor almost seven years ago, his political opponents  never cease to see him as a nightmare for obvious reasons. After securing his popular mandate through the court, a feat his opponent wished would last only for a tenure, he waxed his way into the ordinary citizen’s heart by making them realize that beyond partisan promises, government can produce self evident, people oriented development projects that littered every nook and cranny of the state but not before witnessed in the history of democratic governance in the state. The feat was doubly remarkable more because he proved to them that the old song that the state had no money for development was a huge lie. Putting it mildly, he became the people’s darling, little the Moniker, Comrade Governor, became a singsong that alienated the opposition from their hearts. The result is that as payment for his achievements, they delivered the entire state to him via popular vote when he sought to be re-elected a little over two years ago.
But the opposition has not been sleeping since then even though the Comrade Governor’s rapport with the people was hovering around the stratosphere. Somehow, it clogged and crawled its way back to the fore, more by preaching the lets-align-with-the-centre-drop-opposition-toga to the people with the selling point being the need to place the state on the same political pedestal as the centre. Inflamed with an admixture of pure falsehood and half truths, their efforts yielded unimaginable dividends when the vote from the state indicated, during the March 28 presidential election, that he was no longer the ‘Mighty Caesar’ he has been. Virtually all contestable and elective positions, from Edo south through central, except north, went the way of the opposition. Its members went to town, wild in euphoric ecstacy, convinced that the end had come for the ruling party.
Barely two weeks later however, the governor made it clear that he was still very much in charge. In the house of assembly election that followed, he proved the point beyond all reasonable doubt as his party, the All Progressive Congress, APC, swept virtually every available seat, from south, through central, to the north senatorial districts, leaving crumbs for the opposition to lick. It was a reversal of fortune that left the other side tasting the bitter political bile in greater intensity. While supporters of the opposition reeled in disgust, the governor and supporters of his party found their voices one more time and sang hallaluyah to high heavens. The icing on their cake played out on Monday, April 13, when the governor made what could be described as a triumphant entry into Benin City, from his home town where he had gone to cast his vote. Amidst party supporters and faithfuls who sang, danced and cheered ceaselessly  from Ramat Park, where they had gathered earlier to way for him, he did a 10 kilometre road show which snaked through Ewa road, Gani Fawehinmi layout, Guobadia street, New Lagos and Mission roads and terminated at the Kings Square where he addressed the crowd.
While thanking the people for their support, Oshiomhole made the point that he has succeeded in retiring his political foes. It could not have been a better time for him to sing a dirge for an opposition that appears headed for political oblivion.
Signs that events would turn the way it did for either the Comrade Governor or his party were difficult to see over the days leading up to the governorship and house of assembly elections. If anything at all, indications pointed in the direction that the state was, most probably, heading back the old direction it exited a few years ago. The point was unmistable when, during the presidential election, the people thumbed the ballot in favour of incumbent president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, induced by a combination of money, the sermon to align with the centre and of course, Niger Delta loyalty and so could hardly differentiate between the president from contestants for other offices under the PDP platform. In what could be described as bandwagon ballot, both the president and everyone else under the umbrella got a yes vote, making observers to begin nursing the belief that an ironical change had come to roost in the state. But a few diehards, among them the governor, remained hopeful that the victory recorded by APC’s presidential candidate, rtd General Muhammadu Buhari, would turn things around. It did afterwards as they hoped, a possible reason that along with other party faithfuls, he almost reached cloud nine immediately it became clear that ‘Hurricane Change’ had swept incumbent president and his transformation matra out of office. The victory party the state organized a day after the announcement told the full story. Indeed, his party’s victory at governorship and state houses of assemblys was the needed confirmation of its firm hold. The turn of event was also a call on everyone to celebrate the symbol party’s symbol of victory in the state-the Comrade Governor.
Celebrating the victory as he did while returning to the state capital from Iyamho, his home town, the Comrade Governor made the point that the example he set by remaining hopeful even in the face of debilitating defeat is something all APC supporters and faithfuls must imbibe. Rather than rue endlessly the loss, like most them did, he held on to the belief that the outcome was just a test of his faith in his people and their electoral dynamism. After all, it is possible that they still have not expunged the conviction that the president deserved their vote as he advised them in 2011. Not bouyed unnecessarily by the change at the centre which made the battle in the state less formidable, he rallied and mobilized available resources toward ensuring that his party turned the table around. He did it the Oshiomhole way and it paid off handsomely. The rest, as the axiom has it, is now history as the Comrade Governor and his party are now firmly back in the saddle while the future of the bruised and battered PDP remains an unspiring subject for future symbosium discussion. His words capture the entirety of the new reality. Hear him.
“Everybody here, all Edo men and women have again spoken. You have reaffirmed your confidence and trust in my stewardship. You have renewed the vigor, your commitment to change and last Saturday, you completed the first chapter in this journey. You know I told you some few years back that we terminated godfatherism when we voted again and again to bury the godfather but as we bury them, Abuja puts them on oxygen mask. They have been on oxygen for so many years. I told my friend and brother, President Goodluck Jonathan, why are you putting these godfathers on oxygen?
You remember the President came to Edo and said Edo will fall in 2015 and 2016. I said in the name of God our creator, He will not abandon us and I said Jonathan will fall. Has he not fallen?
I said the godfather will fall? Has he not also fallen?
Where are they today?
From Edo Central to Edo South, all the godfathers have finally perished. We now have a completely new energetic, imaginative, rugged and dogged political leadership. I am proud of Edo people and I want to thank you so very much for being there for me and I promise that I will be there for all of you. I will give my all for the Edo people”.