Unarguably, two political parties in Edo state, the ruling All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party have started planning in preparations for the 2016 governorship election. The PDP which is currently led by a loquacious Dan Orbih who has waned into unpopularity because of his blind criticism of the ruling APC government in the state have been boasting around of their intentions to reclaim the state. Edo people have not forgotten that the PDP governed the state for 10 harrowing years before Oshiomhole emerged the governor on the ticket of the former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) now APC.It is also reported in the media that the likes of former PDP Board of Trustees chairman, Chief Tony Anenih; former minister of foreign affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi among others, have vowed to make sure PDP is still very strong in Edo state and must return to power. This, in the consideration of many Edo people is the biggest joke of the decade.A political analyst, one Dr. Francis Edosonwan, in a media report said, the “results of the last elections confirmed that each of the two parties is strong enough to produce the next government of the state after Oshiomhole. But given Oshiomhole’s superlative performance, his party remains the party to beat in 2016.So, if the party wants to continue to occupy the Edo Government House after the Comrade, it must prepare well and be wise and fair when it wants to pick its flag bearer.”Dr. Edosonwan is absolutely out of touch with reality in his warped analysis of the political tempo in the state. PDP is not strong in Edo State and most of the actors during the election have since abandoned the party following the historic defeat at the centre. People allowing themselves to be deceived by the result of the 2015 presidential and national assembly elections in Edo state are sure living in a fool’s paradise. In those elections, PDP won the presidential poll in the state and got two out of the three Senate seats, plus five houses of assembly seats. Edo people know what former president Goodluck Jonathan did with money in them state during the election most of which are being challenged today at the tribunals and in the fullness of time, the tribunal would throw out the impostors and restore victory to the actual victors. The PDP, therefore, should not be carried away or deceived, because even by the State House of Assembly election that followed the Presidential and National Assembly polls, saw a heavily demoralized Jonathan who lost and conceded victory to a superior candidate of the APC, refusing to release same volume of money to Edo State and the PDP came crashing like a pack of cards as has always been their lot since 2007. The APC confirmed its superiority and won landslide in the state Assembly polls.It is a well known fact that Comrade Adams Oshiomole is a grassroots politician and an incredible mobiliser who cannot be dislodged by the PDP in Edo State. There is no doubt that Oshiomhole-led APC government has performed so well that PDP cannot be considered a serious threat to the ruling party’s political fortunes in the 2016 governorship election. Associate editor, the Nations Newspaper, Sam Egburonu, in a report claimed that “the lingering internal crisis in the state chapter of the APC, where some interest groups within the party are piling up on the party’s state chairman, Anselm Ojezua to resign, the party constituted a 17-man reconciliation committee. He further alleged that party members rooting for the chairman’s removal had compiled his anti-party activities and sent it to the state governor, Comrade Oshiomhole. Ojezua was accused of meeting secretly with Chief Tony Anenih and Chief Tom Ikimi to “plot the emergence of an Edo Central Senatorial candidate to succeed Oshiomhole in 2016.”
One wonders where Egburonu got his story from, because, there is no crisis in Edo APC. If anything, the party is waxing stronger. The party in the state is one big family and nobody should input any crisis into its affairs.The party is not having any issue with anybody as to where the successor of Oshiomhole will come from. The APC of today is bigger than tribal and primordial sentiments. The APC represents hope for Nigerians, a new dawn for the nation and Edo people are intrinsically versatile and politically mature people who would not submit to such propaganda. As a party, the APC cannot afford to go and sleep. The party is preparing to go to the election as united as ever and to continue its winning streak. Various groups and levels of the party are meeting and strategizing, leaving no stone unturned. At the end of the day, nobody would want to be in opposition after a hard earned victory to dislodge a corrupt and inept government at the centre. Edo people cannot afford to gamble into such an opposition whose 16 years woeful history is well known.There is no doubt that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has upped the stakes for all those jostling to take over from him at the completion of his tenure given his superlative performance. It is therefore instructive that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole would be a strong determining factor as to who succeeds him. The average Edo people are not too keen on the issue of tribe of the successor as being bandied by some political shenanigans. What people are keen to see is a man with sterling leadership qualities who is commited to serve the people. Edo people want man who would build on the solid foundation laid by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and not those seeking to reap where they did not sow At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Edo State is an APC state and the PDP is not a threat come 2016. Those who understand politics, who want to test their popularity in gubernatorial race have since dumped the PDP for APC and many others are on their way because nobody would want to associate with failure which the PDP has come to represent in Edo state.
Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State.
