Intrigues as Edo APC, PDP gov candidates emerge

ALEXANDER OKERE highlights the controversies and issues that will shape today’s governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party scheduled for Monday in Edo State

When the Independent National Electoral Commission announced the dates for the primaries and the governorship election in Edo State, the major political parties in the state immediately got to work. The political atmosphere became charged.

While 2,394 delegates of the ruling All Progressives Congress will file out to elect the party’s governorship candidate in today’s primary, those of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party will elect theirs on Monday, June 20.

From all indications, the APC primary will go down in the political history of the state as the most controversial because of the many issues surrounding the exercise. So far, no fewer than 12 aspirants have indicated interests in the party’s ticket.

The aspirants are the incumbent Deputy Governor, Dr. Pius Odubu; the head of the state economic team, Godwin Obaseki; former governor of the state, Prof. Oserhiemen Osunbor; former Minister of State for Works, Chris Ogiemwonyi, Maj-Gen Charles Airhiavber (retd.) and Austin Emuan. Others are former President of the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Peter Esele; Ken Imasuagbon, Tina Agbarha, Blessing Agbomere, Emmanuel Arigbe-Osula and Prof. Ebegue Amadasun.

The controversy began with the agitation by some stakeholders in Edo Central Senatorial District that the governorship position should be zoned to the district. They claimed that Edo South and Edo North had produced state governors in the past. The incumbent governor, Adams Oshiomhole, whose eight-year tenure ends on November 12, hails from Edo North.

Part of the group’s argument was that while Edo South produced Chief Lucky Igbinedion who ruled between 1999 and 2007, that of the Edo Central was cut short by a court ruling which upturned the election of Osunbor in 2008.

But the APC thought otherwise. Although the party did not overtly zone the ticket to any of the districts, it was keen on retaining power in the state by securing majority votes from Edo South, which has the highest number of registered voters. This, however, did not go down well with some interest groups within the party.

One of the groups, Committee of Concerned Elders Council, asked the national secretariat of the APC to stop six of the aspirants from Edo South from taking part in the primary over what they described as the disregard for Section 20 (2) (iii) of the party’s constitution which uphold the “principle of federal character, gender equality, geographical spread and rotation of office to as much as possible to ensure balance within the constituency covered.”

Odubu, Obaseki, Ogiemwonyi, Airhiavbere, Amadasun, Arigbe-Osula hail from Edo South, while Esele, Osunbor, Imasuagbon and Agbarha are from Edo Central.

The group’s communiqué, which was sent to the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, was signed by representatives from the three senatorial districts. They included Elder Collins Omoruyi (Edo South), Elder Steve Okougbo (Edo Central) and Elder Musa Friday (Edo North).

There was a controversy over the alleged endorsement of Obaseki by Oshiomhole. The endorsement strained the relationship between the governor and his deputy. The disagreement between the governor and his deputy made the party to send a reconciliation committee led by a former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, to resolve the internal crisis within the state chapter ahead of today’s primary. But the intervention of the committee did not seem to nip the crisis in the bud as some of the aggrieved aspirants like Don Pedro Obaseki and Casely Omon-Irabor withdrew from the race, citing alleged complicity on the part of the party.

Apparently concerned about the development and the implication it might have on the credibility of the primary, the state Publicity Secretary of the APC, Godwin Erhahon, issued a statement urging the delegates to guard their permanent voter cards jealously and report any form of intimidation to relevant security agencies.

Meanwhile political pundits believe that today’s contest will zero in on four of the aspirants based on their leadership experience, financial ability to fund political campaigns, political affinity with the governor and followership. The four aspirants are Odubu, Obaseki, Ogiemwonyi and Airhiavbere.

Odubu is seen as a major player in Edo State politics. His governorship ambition was said to have been responsible for the sack of three commissioners under the Oshiomhole administration. His campaign organisation had in May also attributed the alleged attempt to assassinate him to the plot by some persons who were threatened by his popularity and wanted him out of the race.

Prior to his emergence as an aspirant, Obaseki was considered as the economic architect of the state and a key member of the current administration, who was responsible for the planning and management of the state’s economy. The political ambition of the founder of Afrinvest West Africa Limited gained an unprecedented boost when the incumbent Commissioner for Works, Osarodion Ogie, withdrew from the race and was appointed as the Director-General of the Godwin Obaseki Campaign Organisation.

Ogiemwonyi was a former Minister of State for Works in the administration of the late President Musa Yar’Adua. The 65-year-old defected to the APC prior to the 2015 general elections and is seen as a close associate of Oshiomhole.

Airhiavbere was the candidate of the PDP in the 2012 governorship election but lost to the incumbent governor. The retired Army General was a former director of the then Army Finance and Accounts (now Corps of Army Finance and Account) and is said to be an ally of President Muhammadu Buhari and a “personal” friend of the governor. The Executive Director of the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, Revd David Ugolor, urged the delegates not to sell their conscience. He also urged the APC national leaders to ensure the success of today’s exercise by remaining impartial.

Ugolor said, “I have read in the newspaper about allegation that some people are buying the delegates’ cards. I don’t have the confirmation, but if that is really true, it portends danger for democracy in Nigeria.

“Then it means that the election in Edo State is slipping into the same narrative as those of Rivers, Bayelsa and other states across Nigeria. That will not be good for the credibility of the ruling party, which has change as its mantra.

“That is something that the national leadership of the APC must rise to confirm whether it (sale of PVCs) is true or not because it is not good for the credibility of the party, the president and Oshiomhole.

“Oshiomhole’s image is beyond the APC; he is a man from the labour movement and his name represents progressive ideals in this country. Now, to see that the primary in his own political party is associated with buying of voter cards is not good for the credibility of the political party and himself. I hope they will do something quickly to disabuse the minds of the people.”

PDP

The PDP has been playing the role of opposition since it lost power to Oshiomhole in 2008. Although the PDP won two seats in the Senate and three in the House of Representatives during the 2015 general elections, the party performed poorly in the state House of Assembly poll. It won four of the 24 seats in the state Assembly election.

With the support of the PDP governors in five out of the six states in the South-South, the state chapter of the party has vowed to ensure that its most saleable candidate emerges in Monday’s primary.

The battle for the PDP governorship ticket is a three-horse race among three aspirants who have purchased the N16m nomination and expression of interest forms. They were screened on Wednesday by a panel set up by the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee. At least, 800 delegates from the 192 wards are expected to elect the party’s candidate.

The aspirants, all of whom hail from Edo South, are a former Secretary to the State Government, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu; the governorship candidate of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, Solomon Edebiri; and a former House of Assembly lawmaker and commissioner with the Niger Delta Development Commission, Matthew Iduoriyekemwen.

Ize-Iyamu is, perhaps, the most popular among the other aspirants in the PDP, going by his followership across the 18 local government areas of the state. He was the state coordinator of former President Goodluck Jonathan campaign during the 2015 presidential election. Ize-Iyamu was a former South-South National Vice-Chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria and served as Oshiomhole’s governorship campaign director in 2012. He has been a major critic of Oshiomhole.

Edebiri was the candidate of the defunct ANPP governorship election in the state, with the third highest number of votes. He was the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the ANPP from 2013 to 2014. He is also the President of the Nigerian Institute of Welding.

Iduoriyekemwen represented Ikpoba Okha in the Edo State House of Assembly from 1999 to 2003 and was instrumental to the establishment of the Edo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission.

He later served as a commissioner with the Niger Delta Development Commission. Iduoriyekemwen is said to have received the backing of some key members of the party and has made his over 11-year membership in the PDP one of the strategies of his political campaign.

While there have not been reports on the mopping up of delegates’ PVCs in the PDP, the state chapter has been at the receiving end of the leadership crisis rocking the party at the national level. The crisis was considered responsible for the delay in the sale of the nomination and expression of interest forms and the delegates’ election.

With the takeover of the national secretariat of the PDP by the ousted acting National Chairman, Senator Alli Modu Sheriff, who nullified the activities of the Makarfi leadership, speculation is rife that the party may not have a candidate recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission before the publication of the list of nominated candidates on August 11.

But the state chapter of the party was quick to reject the former Bornu State governor as its national chairman. It also affirmed that it would go ahead with the primary as directed by the caretaker committee.

“We don’t have any concern over the statement of Sheriff; we even had our screening today (Wednesday). It was headed by a former Minister of Education, Prof. (Tunde) Adeniran; also on the panel is a former Minister of Transport, George Sekibo,” the State Publicity Secretary, Chris Nehikhare, told Saturday PUNCH on Wednesday.

Nehikhare added, “Sheriff is not our chairman. He is not in our party. We are ignoring Sheriff; Sheriff is not someone anybody that is in his right senses should take seriously. Have you seen anyone who said that he is the chairman of the party when everybody has rejected him?”

While the candidates of the APC and the PDP will be the choices of the delegates, commentators ask the leadership of the two parties to use the primaries to further deepen democratic practice in the country.

Ugolor said, “Unfortunately, the political system is designed in a way that majority of the delegates live on rents. Unfortunately, if a man’s survival depends on rent, it is difficult for the man to be independent.

“This is one basic problem we are all facing in the country today. So, to be able to come out of this situation, it requires a radical rethinking of the democratic process.”