This is a requiem for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State and a welcome for our new members. In the past few years, I have reeled out several treatise pontificating  the  demise of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State. My message has been anchored on the people-centred development efforts of the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole-led All Progressives Congress  (APC)  government in Edo State.
My position could also  be located in the maxim that “failure is an orphan and Success has many children and sibblings.” The PDP failed Edo people for over ten years that it held sway in government and when compared to what the APC has done under Oshiomhole, it was a matter of time, the party would literarily fizzle out. More so, when under the rabble rousing leadership of Dan Osi Orbih  the PDP  failed  again as an opposition party. Instead of playing a credible opposition role in the state, the PDP led by Dan Orbih became a one man show. A party where its chairman usurped the role of the publicity secretary and other officials with brazen impudence. Almost on a daily basis, he  holds  press conferences to market lies and slander a sitting and performing governor and made mockery of opposition in the state. People boo him when he starts telling his many lies.
It was therefore  not a surprise recently when the rank of the PDP in Edo was heavily  depleted, as a former Deputy Governor of the State, Mr. Lucky Imasuen, State Deputy Chairman of the Party, Chief Christopher Adesotu, a former member of House of Representatives and Deputy Governorship candidate of the party in the 2012 Governorship election, Johnson Abolagba, all dumped the party for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Their ditching of the PDP did not come to many Edo people as a shocker.  It was expected. At a well attended  defection ceremony which held at the Urokpota Hall, over 5,000 other PDP stalwarts also accompanied  their leaders to the APC.
Interestingly,  Imasuen who spoke on behalf of others at the ceremony, said it was no longer news that the Peoples Democratic Party has fallen apart. The implication of his comment was that the centre of the PDP can never hold again.
Imasuen eloquently said: “Many people have asked me why do you want to join the Comrade Governor? If you wrestle with somebody for so long and you are not able to defeat the person, won’t you join the person? I passed Airport Road, my mother is at Ogida market, I attended Agbado Primary School; Adolo College is in my neighbourhood, I pass Akpakpava road everyday and I see the work the governor has done there.
“Have you been to Edo central and Edo North? My message to my few brothers and sisters left in the PDP; this train will not miss us. The first one is taking off today at the Kings Square and I am joining it with my friends and brothers and I appeal to you that in the next few months the remaining ones that are viable will join this train to help build a formidable APC that the Comrade Governor has built.
Earlier in July, 2015, Barrister Kenneth Imasuagbon had abandoned the PDP and returned to the fold of the APC after  his sojourn to the party for some years and his experience undoubtedly  wasn’t a palatable one. The PDP remains a party of a few for the few and by a few.  At a big ceremony to receive him in Ubiaja, it was also glorious for  Kenneth Imasuagbon and the APC. The chant of ‘Rice man’, ‘Rice Man’ reverberated across the five local councils in Edo Central senatorial district of Edo State, as the lawyer and  educationist, formally dumped the PDP at Ubiaja, Esan South East Local Government Area of the state.
The event which was like a carnival of some sorts  commenced at his Ewohimi ward, where he was welcomed into the APC  by the leader of the APC in the area, Mr Victor Eboigbe and the APC chairman in the Local Government Area, Barr. Chris Aghughu.
Eboigbe  at the colourful ceremony said: “I was surprised that Imasuagbon left the house he built for others to inhabit. But we thank God that he is back to the house he built. He joined even before the elections and he worked for the party. So we call on elders of Ewohimi to pray for him so that he will not lose track again. He is a great son of Esanland and it is our belief that with his coming into the party, he will add value and with his energy, we will all come together to extinguish the presence of PDP in Esan Land”.
On his part, the Edo Speaker described Imasuagbon as a dogged fighter, asserting that “there is no doubt that with you now in APC, PDP is dead in Esan land and Edo state. I want to beg the leaders of APC in Esan land to work with Imasuagbon because there are lots of people waiting to see celebration of this kind for them to join the party because PDP is not only in pieces, it is dead and we are ready to bury it. There was a time I was in darkness and that was when I was in the PDP.”
As a party, the APC will do everything to integrate all those leaving the PDP in droves into the party structures and ensure that, like other members of the APC, they all  get what is due to them. It is also expected that the defectors would join hands with other folks in the APC to ensure continuous good governance in Edo State under the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and also give fillip to the change blowing across the country led by  the President  Muhammadu Buhari. As a party, we whole heartedly welcome Chief Lucky Imasuen, Barrister Ken Imasuagbon, Barrister Johnson Abolagba, Hon. Christopher Adesotu and the over 5,000 leaders and supporters of the party to the APC fold. In Swahili, we say Karibu!
As we pull closer to the Edo Governorship election year 2016, the broom revolution has become a tsunami of some sort in the world of the PDP. The broom insignia of our party  has become more compelling; in the words of Adams Oshiomhole, “the broom will now be deployed to sweep away any of the other remains and bring change and the benefit of change will accrue to all our people all over the state and to all of you who are members of APC.”
It is obvious  that in Edo State, the PDP is dead and buried. Dan Orbih and his cohorts are the next set of persons expected to defect to the APC ahead of the 2016 Governorship election in the state any moment from now. We look forward to receiving them.
Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State.

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