₦airaland Forum

Godwin Obaseki, the embattled governor of Edo state, had his moment not too long ago and almost brought down Adam Oshiomhole, the National Chairman of the All Progressives (APC).

Mr Obaseki, other APC governors, and some ministers from the South-South had put in all their political might in a plot to remove Mr Oshiomhole before the commencement of the party governorship primaries.

And, of course, that appeared to be the safest route for Mr Obaseki to easily pick the APC ticket to run for a second term as Edo governor after a once-promising relationship between him and Mr Oshiomhole became horribly sour.

Back home in his Edo State where he had served before as governor, Mr Oshiomhole had been suspended by the local chapters of the APC and thoroughly discredited in the state, obviously through the prompting of Governor Obaseki.

Time was ticking against Mr Oshiomhole.

In a matter of days, he would be kicked out of office as the APC chairman, most people had concluded.

And just in the nick of time, Bola Tinubu, the man that is highly regarded as the party’s national leader, stepped in. He said those who were plotting Mr Oshiomhole’s removal saw the national chairman as the obstacle to their 2023 political ambition.

“The Chairman has been a tireless campaigner and mobilizer for the party. He has steered the party through difficult elections. His contributions should not be undervalued now that the bulk of elections are behind us,” Mr Tinubu said in a statement in March.

Mr Tinubu said it would, therefore, be “an act of ingratitude” to remove the APC chairman.

“It is no secret that the Chairman and Edo Governor Obaseki are in dispute. This is unfortunate. However, the party has moved through proper procedures within the proper organs of the party to hopefully resolve this spat,” he added.

The sea became calm, quiet, and safe for the APC chairman, after Mr Tinubu’s statement.

Nigerian politicians share a common belief – if you do not “finish” your political enemy, if you give him a breather, he is likely to come for you with every strength he could muster, and with every ‘weapon’ he could lay hands on. And also when the fight gets dirtier, you could actually be fighting under the rule that there is no rule.

Mr Oshiomhole survived the plot, gathered some strength, and, with Mr Obaseki’s disqualification on Friday from contesting the forthcoming APC governorship primary in Edo State, it seems he has now taken his pound of flesh from his erstwhile protégé.

Oshiomhole-Obaseki political fight has been on for several months. In fact, it became an open secret in June 2019 that the two leaders were at war against each other.

The fight divided the APC in Edo state and crippled the Edo House of Assembly, where 14 elected lawmakers, out of 24, are yet to be inaugurated several months after their elections. The 14 members are loyalists of Mr Oshiomhole.

Governor Obaseki, in order to take complete charge of Edo politics, kicked Mr Oshiomhole’s loyalists, one after the other, out of political office.

But in the latter days, when it became clearer that Mr Oshiomhole and his supporters were closing in on Mr Obaseki, some of the governor’s aides, including his chief of staff, resigned from the administration.

What is Tinubu saying?

Mr Obaseki and other APC governors met with Mr Tinubu recently to seek a possible resolution of the Oshiomhole-Obaseki rift.

“Though I cannot quote exactly what he (Tinubu) said because I was not there, but essentially he took side with Oshiomhole, by insisting that they should go and do direct primary with this COVID-19 challenge that we are faced with,” Mr Obaseki’s spokesperson, Crusoe Osagie, told PREMIUM TIMES, Friday evening.

Shortly after Mr Obaseki’s meeting with Mr Tinubu in Lagos, Joe Igbokwe, an APC chieftain in Lagos and a strong supporter of Mr Tinubu wrote on Facebook, “But they said Edo is not Lagos,” apparently mocking those who had boasted that Mr Obaseki was going to trounce Mr Oshiomhole, unlike the former Lagos governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, who failed to secure a second term because of his disagreement with Mr Tinubu.

“Please fear PMB, Jagaban and Oshiomhole. These are not small boys,” Mr Igbokwe added in his Facebook post.

When the national leadership of the APC announced that the party would use direct primary (against the indirect primary canvassed by Obaseki) to choose their governorship candidate in Edo it became obvious that Mr Tinubu and others, probably including President Muhammadu Buhari, had turned their back against the Edo governor.

The disqualification may just be a confirmation that Mr Obaseki has been abandoned to face his fate.

On June 12, a few hours after Mr Obaseki’s disqualification, Mr Igbokwe again took to Facebook to celebrate the development. “Please know that APC is not PDP. Men in APC are not boys. Sometimes they take hard decisions to send some strong signals out there,” he wrote on the social media site.

PREMIUM TIMES asked Mr Obaseki’s spokesperson if the governor felt betrayed by Mr Tinubu. “I wouldn’t know, let me not react to that,” he responded.

Is Obaseki leaving APC?

Mr Obaseki’s initial statement, through his spokesperson, Mr Osagie, appeared as though he had given up on Mr Oshiomhole and APC.

“We have 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,” the governor’s spokesperson, Mr Osagie said in the statement.

“We wish Oshiomhole well 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,” he added.

But when PREMIUM TIMES contacted Mr Osagie, Friday evening, to ask him specifically if Mr Obaseki was leaving APC, he said the governor had not said so.

Mr Obaseki has told his supporters to remain calm and wait for a further directive, Mr Osagie said.

Mr Obaseki, as it is now, has the option of heading to court to challenge his disqualification. He could also get the ticket from another party to contest for his re-election.

The chairman of APC in Edo State, Anselm Ojezua, a loyalist of the governor, gave an induction that may be Mr Obaseki’s direction.

In a statement late Friday, he said the APC only stopped the governor from using its platform not from contesting the election. He vowed Mr Obaseki will contest and win.

Nigerian politicians share another common belief that 24 hours before any election is enough time for any political maneuvering to take place and that anything can happen within such available time.

The governorship election in Edo is in September, about three months from now. Mr Obaseki still has enough time to pull out all his cards against Mr Oshiomhole.

Ezennwa:
hmm!

Tinubu is just overhyped, he get mouth for only Lagos, no other state takes him serious.

Yoruba people are just worshipping him for nothing.

oz4real83:
Instead of Tinubu to unite all members, he is creating more and more enemies for himself. 2023 will be shocking to Tinubu, he will see the powerfulness of those people he thought were powerless. All his "allies" will bring out their true colours. This is Nigerian politics where white will not remain white forever or black remain black forever. Colours change as interests change.

Ezennwa:
hmm!

Tinubu is just overhyped, he get mouth for only Lagos, no other state takes him serious.

Yoruba people are just worshipping him for nothing.

Ezennwa:
hmm!

Tinubu is just overhyped, he get mouth for only Lagos, no other state takes him serious.

Yoruba people are just worshipping him for nothing.

udemzyudex:
He rescued Oshiomole cos he needs him for his 2023 ambition, that's all.

Asgard13:
For the record

Tinubu never did rescue Oshiomole... it was abba kyari that negotiated peace between both

Abba kyari sent Tinubu on self exile to London...

While the Yoruba press was praising Tinubu Oshiomole was busy kneeling and begging kyari..

IMO state governor was even the man that did confront the coup plotters.. Oshiomole gave him Supreme Court judgement through abba kyari

Tinubu was officially sidelined by the cabals till kyari’s dead and never has any particular influence on the government ..immediately after 2019 elections
Kyari at same time did relegate osibanjo

Oshiomole is acting because kyari is dead ... he broke the arrangement he made with kyari

Question
Will Oshiomole be this headstrong if abba kyari was to be alive today? NO!

Governors that still plot the coup are still plotting and Tinubu no reach to stop them...
Even him is not sure of Lagos 2023 tank more of presidency

Tinubu is only god in the west....

Overhyped by Yoruba media.

Asgard13:
For the record

Tinubu never did rescue Oshiomole... it was abba kyari that negotiated peace between both

Abba kyari sent Tinubu on self exile to London...

While the Yoruba press was praising Tinubu Oshiomole was busy kneeling and begging kyari..

IMO state governor was even the man that did confront the coup plotters.. Oshiomole gave him Supreme Court judgement through abba kyari

Tinubu was officially sidelined by the cabals till kyari’s dead and never has any particular influence on the government ..immediately after 2019 elections
Kyari at same time did relegate osibanjo

Oshiomole is acting because kyari is dead ... he broke the arrangement he made with kyari

Question
Will Oshiomole be this headstrong if abba kyari was to be alive today? NO!

Governors that still plot the coup are still plotting and Tinubu no reach to stop them...
Even him is not sure of Lagos 2023 tank more of presidency

Tinubu is only god in the west....

Overhyped by Yoruba media.

myboy2111:



Eat corn and drink water

ORIENTATION101:
rubbish.you can't unite someone that is not willing to accept peace.APC will purge itself from any politician that thinks high of himself.
APC won General elections without Atiku, saraki, kwankaso, Dogara, e.t.c who the fvck is obaseki

Asgard13:
It can be unread...

Yoruba can change this narratives... everything happened this year.. and we all witnessed it..

Cancel til your next generation.. means nothing.

madridguy:
Leave sentiment, who is Abba Kyari in Nigeria political circles? Who knows him before PMB appointed him. Since 1999 till Buhari appointed him, how many times did you hear about him. Who has run to him to win any election?

oz4real83:
There are people u need to get to some positions in life. You may not need them again after getting to that position because it is expected that u would have built your own structure by then. I can assure you with 100% conviction that PMB won't have won in 2015 without those people u mentioned. By 2019, PMB controlled all the institutions all over the country. His party controlled the money and he decides who gets what. By then, he didn't need those people again. This is unlike Tinubu. Tinubu can't control elrufai but PMB can. There are many others that Tinubu needs than that he can't even speak to.

ORIENTATION101:
you people hype el rufai
Like el rufai is not popular in southern kaduna in his own state.
El rufai supported candidate Bago lost house of rep speaker position
El rufai himself lost chairman of NGF to fayemi after yari tenure .
His a good politician but not an influential one.

Asgard13:
For the record

Tinubu never did rescue Oshiomole... it was abba kyari that negotiated peace between both

Abba kyari sent Tinubu on self exile to London...

While the Yoruba press was praising Tinubu Oshiomole was busy kneeling and begging kyari..

IMO state governor was even the man that did confront the coup plotters.. Oshiomole gave him Supreme Court judgement through abba kyari

Tinubu was officially sidelined by the cabals till kyari’s dead and never has any particular influence on the government ..immediately after 2019 elections
Kyari at same time did relegate osibanjo

Oshiomole is acting because kyari is dead ... he broke the arrangement he made with kyari

Question
Will Oshiomole be this headstrong if abba kyari was to be alive today? NO!

Governors that still plot the coup are still plotting and Tinubu no reach to stop them...
Even him is not sure of Lagos 2023 tank more of presidency

Tinubu is only god in the west....

Overhyped by Yoruba media.

Asgard13:
You’re a loyal party man .. I’ve told you.. you no be two faced party man.

But Oga

Agreed kyari is a nobody in Nigeria.. but we all saw how powerful he was ..

Did he cage Tinubu and send him on self exile ..YES!

Did he reposition the Vice President:YES!

Was he the man that saved the day for Oshiomole: Yes!

Did his dead changed everything concerning Obaseki: Yes!

That’s my point..

Media and Yoruba people are now changing narratives before us...

Asgard13:
You’re a loyal party man .. I’ve told you.. you no be two faced party man.

But Oga

Agreed kyari is a nobody in Nigeria.. but we all saw how powerful he was ..

Did he cage Tinubu and send him on self exile ..YES!

Did he reposition the Vice President:YES!

Was he the man that saved the day for Oshiomole: Yes!

Did his dead changed everything concerning Obaseki: Yes!

That’s my point..

Media and Yoruba people are now changing narratives before us...