NEWS ANALYSIS
Edo 2020: Will Obaseki fly on PDP wing?
By Dapo Falade
It is now apparently clear that Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State will have to look elsewhere if he truly wants to fulfil his second term ambition.
His party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has finally shut its door against him.
Even before the door was finally shut against him, there were increased speculations making the rounds that the now embattled governor may look the way of the main opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as a possible fulfilment of his ambition.
Living up to public expectations, Obaseki was given the now famous Akinwunmi Ambode treatment as he, like the former Lagos State governor, was declared ‘unfit’ to fly the APC ticket for the September governorship election in Edo State.
After several weeks of brickbats, name-callings, accusations and counter-accusations, the APC leadership, on Friday, finally nailed the political coffin of Obaseki and put paid to his ambition to fly the party flagat the forthcoming governorship election.
Despite the clean bill of health given to him by the authorities of the University of Ibadan over alleged certificate scandal, the APC Screening Committee for Edo State governorship election found him unworthy to get a second term ticket.
The committee declared Governor Obaseki unqualified due to some alleged discrepancies in his educational certificates and the National Youth Service Youth (NYSC).
Others disqualified along with the governor were Honourable Matthew Iduoroyekemwen and Engineer Chris Ogiemwonyi.
Suprisingly, the screening committee cleared the immediate past chairman of the PDP in the state, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, former deputy governor Pius Odubu and Honourable Osaro Obazee.
While the clearance of Ize-Iyamu gave a further indication of his alliance with the APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, the disqualification of Obaseki also fueled the rumor that he is on his way to the PDP camp.
The governor has been variously reported to have been romancing the PDP leadership in the state as his next possible political nest, having fallen out of favour with his erstwhile political godfather, Oshiomhole.
While the Edo PDP leadership has never been categorical about Obaseki picking the party’s sole ticket for the governorship election, it has also not wavered in declaring that the PDP door was open to the embattled governor, if he so wished to join the party.
More so, while the governor was yet to openly declare his intention to seek for a renewal of his mandate through the PDP platform, his body language clearly indicated that he was on his way out of the APC, even before the red card was issued to him by the party.
Indication that Obaseki is in a hot romance with the Edo PDP, being the only virile opposition party in the state, can clearly be gleaned from the statement he issued shortly after he was screened out of contention in the APC.
Knowing that it would be an effort in futility should he seek to contest the decision of the APC screening committee, the out-of-favour governor, in the statement by his media aide, Crusoe Osagie, said it was needless to file an appeal when his main traducer, Oshiomhole, “had carefully orchestrated the move from the beginning.”
Calling on his supporters to wait for further directives from him, a realist Obaseki said: “We have watched the mockery of democratic process which Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is administering and superintending over in our great party, the APC. It has been an unfortunate, disheartening and dreadful spectacle.
“We had initially asserted that going by the open display and enthronement of illegality by one man in the party that comprises several organs and eminent personalities, there is no way that Governor Godwin Obaseki would get a fair assessment in the run-up to the nomination of candidates to fly the flag of the party in the forthcoming Edo governorship election.
“It is unfortunate that this open show of shame, illegality and travesty of justice is the brand of democracy which Comrade Oshiomhole has reduced the APC into. The situation is quite saddening because this is a party supposedly reputed for change, equity and social justice.
“We have therefore decided that it would be effort in futility to appeal whatever the unjust outcome of the evaluation and screening process of the APC will be, especially when Comrade Oshiomhole has declared that he is the Supreme Court and ultimate determiner of the fate and future of our great party.
“We wish Oshiomhole luck in his maladministration of the party and trust that the Almighty will help our country to find the path to true liberty, freedom and justice. We call on all party members and the teeming supporters of Governor Obaseki to remain calm and await further directives.”
The hours draw nearer, and the people await what would be the possible outcome of the political abracadabra playing out in the state, ahead the governorship election coming up in the state later in the year.
It is indeed a battle of wits between a godfather and his estranged godson.
As the war rages, the question remains: Will Obaseki come out of the storm unscathed against the rampaging Oshiomhole or, like Ambode in Lagos, cave in and be subsumed in the murky waters of Edo politics State?”
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