With the governorship election in Edo state just two months away, Governor Godwin Obaseki last three weeks started what is seen as the process of clearing the impediments for his re-election as governor of the state by moving from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); few days after he was disqualified by the Screening Committee for the Edo State governorship election.

Obaseki’s disqualification, climaxed what is seen as a long-run battle between the governor and the former National Chairman of APC and a former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole.

Obaseki’s disqualification was occasioned by discrepancies in the certificates presented and also the difference in the names contained in his National Youth Service Service Corps (NYSC) certificate dated 6th August 1980. The committee observed that he bears the name “Obasek” Godwin, different from Obaseki, a factor the committee believes could compromise its chances in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo.

Such errors have cost the APC some states in the past and no serious political party would risk the potential implications of such grave error in an attempt to please its members.

Although Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu believe his disqualification from the contest is a witch-hunt by what they often describe as godfatherism orchestrated by Comrade Oshiomole, it is clear that the APC was not ready to take any chance and allow itself to be a willing tool to win the election for an another party, bearing in mind its experience in Zamfa and Bayelsa states.

“In our interaction with issues raised, we concluded that HSLC was defective, the NYSC certificate and based on the party’s Constitution, this has made us to recommend that the above candidate therefore, Obaseki, is not eligible to participate in the election,” chairman of the committee, Prof. Jonathan Ayuba stated in defence of the action.

Governor Obaseki’s spokesman, Crusoe Osagie described the outcome of the screening as a mockery of democratic process, which he claims Comrade Oshiomhole is administering and superintending over in APC. “It has been an unfortunate, disheartening and dreadful spectacle,” Osagie said. While Osagie sees Obaseki’s disqualification as open show of shame, illegality and travesty of justice, he failed to see the obvious.

When Obaseki was disqualified by the APC screening committee for the governorship election and he eventually moved to the PDP, not a few people said it was clear Obaseki is in for a serious trouble because without Oshiomhole and the APC that brought him to office in 2016, he is one of the most unpopular candidates in the coming elections.

For watchers of political events in Edo state between 2007 when Oshiomhole was first elected as governor of the state and the role he played in the election of Obaseki in 2016, they believe that winning the governorship election is one of the unlikely objectives for Obaseki. He faces grave hurdles that are most likely to stop him from coming back as governor of the state in September.

Speaking on his movement to PDP, Andrew Etokhana an APC member opposed to Obaseki’s second term said “Pitching tent with the PDP offers him some semblance of stability to succeed in the coming election. But in the real sense of it, Obaseki’s candidature is like a thing built on nothing. Beyond the fact that making Obaseki their candidate has emerged as an albatross for the PDP, Obaseki is currently like a general without command. He has no political structure to drive his ambition”.

“Mr. Obaseki has and still facing stiff opposition within his new party, the PDP. Many PDP members are averse to his emergence as the party’s flag bearer in the coming governorship election.

“Except for the intervention of top interests from within and outside of Edo state, picking the ticket of the party would been a shadow chase, largely due to the fact that he was not proactive enough to build friendship across party lines, like his predecessor. Many still see his coming into the party as an imposition by those who want to takeover leadership of the state at all cost”.

A staunch member of the PDP and former Commissioner of Information in Edo state, Kassim Afegbua is among those in the PDP who are opposed to Obaseki’s adoption in the state head the election. Like Afegbua who has vowed to join forces with the APC to ensure the defeat of Obaseki in the September 19 governorship election, many PDP members are not happy over his coming into their party. That number is huge in the state. Obaseki will need to work harder to convince such opposing voices, to be able to get their votes at the polls.

Those who belong to that group wonder – rightly how Obaseki it once branded a failure, suddenly merited the ticket so much that all three aspirants stepped down for him.

“We will join hands collectively with the APC candidate to ensure that Godwin Obaseki does not return. I am PDP member, but I will vote APC. A man with the humility of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is better than a governor who fights everyone who disagrees with him,” Afebgua is a politician that can wished away with the wave of hand.

Speaking further, Etokhana “On the flip side, without Oshiomhole’s support, Obaseki is standing on an empty stage without followership or congregation to call his own. That’s the truth. Not a few people would agree that Obaseki now faces his toughest battle in his political career”.

“He rode on the crest of evidential popularity and enviable goodwill of the APC in Edo state to become the state Governor in 2016. Apart from the overwhelming support for the APC in the state, Obaseki’s access to the government house was also largely aided by the legacies of his predecessor, Oshiomhole who bestrode the state to a higher status, making it one of Nigeria’s fastest growing states – in roads network, education, job creation, economic growth, youth empowerment and security, among others. As it stands, he has swept the legacies of his predecessor under the carpet, while elevating politics far and above governance and provision of the dividends of democracy for the good people of the state”.

“Obaseki is actually walking a tighter rope at the moment. There are indications that he is not even popular among his Benin people like his major rival and candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the coming election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu”.

“Those who describe Obaseki as a political weakling are quick to recall on February 23, 2019, Obaseki lost his ward, LG, federal constituencies and senatorial district in the Presidential/National Assembly elections. On March 18, 2019, Obaseki purportedly suspended Gen. Charles Ehigie Airhiavbere (rid) from APC. That aside, on October 6, 2018, was accused to have allegedly imposed his preferred candidates for National/House of Assembly elections on the party in several LGs of the state”.

Another member of the Edo Peoples Mandate (EPM) said “At the height of his political idiosyncrasy, on July 3, 2019 to be specific, he sacked people he believe were loyal to Oshiomhole, while accusing the state APC leaders of fighting him for access to the state treasury to share Edo money”.

“At the throes of that unwarranted fight with some party stalwarts, Governor Obaseki sacked eight commissioners and special advisers and many Local Government Chairmen believed to be Oshiomhole”s loyalists. On July 4, 2019, Chris Okaeben was suspended from the APC by the Oredo LG chapter of the party. On July 23, 2019. Obaseki was fingered in the fight against the ministerial nomination of Clem Agba by President Muhammadu Buhari. On July 31, the chairman of Etsako West LG, Yakubu Musa, was suspended”.

According to analysts, another factor that will make it harder for Obaseki to win the election in the state is the growing level of unemployment and its resultant effect on insecurity.

Those who spoke with this newspaper lament the rising insecurity, prostitution, internet fraudsters and rituals in the state, a situation they attribute to the governor’s insensitivity to the plight of the people.

Afegbua aptly put it recently in a media engagement when he noted that Edo has become too polarised over avoidable and needless battles. As a solution, he called for a new leadership that will usher in quiet and peace to everyone. The noises from the Obaseki aspiration have become too polluted and cannot be in the best interest of anyone, he said.

Speaking further, Etokhana said “Some aggrieved youths of the state had threatened to withdraw their support for Governor Obaseki’s re-election over failure of the Governor to deliver on his promise to them. Their claim is that women and elders of the party who voted for him have been abandoned”.

“How the Governor hopes to win the people’s confidence in the face of defects in his administration of the state since the last three years remains to be seen. The popular view in the state is that Obaseki has not done significant deals for the state to merit a re-election in September” .

JidennaJason:
The only hurdle before Godwin "Bruno" Obaseki is the corrupt INEC, the demonic APC in collaboration with the "Federal Powers" will manipulate INEC just to favour the cunning pastor.

God willing, I will be one of the Observers in the forthcoming election and any form of electoral malpractice from the two parties especially the demonic APC will be resisted.

God bless the PDP.

uboma:



I doubt Obaseki will surmount these hurdles. The FG will impose it's might befor, during and after the election. This will give them the opportunity to rig the election.

Obaseki is a better candidate though, I wish he will win.

JidennaJason:
The only hurdle before Godwin "Bruno" Obaseki is the corrupt INEC... The demonic APC in collaboration with the "Federal Powers" will manipulate INEC just to favour the cunning pastor.

God willing, I will be one of the Observers in the forthcoming election and any form of electoral malpractice from the two parties especially the demonic APC will be resisted.

God bless the PDP.

Naijabad:
Edo no be Lagos

Jesusloveyou:
is one man one vote and im.becile obaseki can not win one local government in Edo south and Edo north.

Coronavirus84:
Edo state no be Lagos oooooooo. Proudly Obaseki

Jesusloveyou:
Thank God, this corrupt Pastor Ize Iyamu should be sleeping in jail,