News that Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki wants to take full control of the structure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has generated a lot of heat in recent times with the party membership in the state believed to have been split into three different camps namely those who agree with him on the issue; those who disagree and those who are showing indifference by sitting on the fence.
Party insiders, especially those that have been members of the party for years before the emergence of the governor, his deputy, Philip Shaibu and others from the All Progressives Congress (APC) are said to be the most disturbed about the plans by the governor to rejig the party leadership structure from ward to state level so that the new entrants into the party can be assigned leadership position in his plans to have a strong hold of the party’s structure in readiness for future elections and other political carrots.
Worrisome in some older party members camp is the issue of who gets the upper hand in the party in readiness for the 2023 senatorial polls and also the 2024 governorship poll. For instance, in Edo South Senatorial District, the sympathisers of Reps member Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama are said to still be smarting from the sudden change in the mathematics of who emerged as the party’s guber flagbearer in the last poll when all attention was focused on the House of Representatives member as the likely person to become the party’s choice before Governor Obaseki’s N15 billion freebie changed the equation in his favour at the last minute.
Now, the national assembly member’s sympathisers are of the opinion that any new arrangement in the party that concentrates the party’s structure in the control of Governor Obaseki may spell disaster for their camp. That for the sake of justice and fairplay Ogbeide-Ihama should be given the option of first choice for the Edo South Senatorial ticket in 2023 been one of the three top aspirants who were gunning for the party’s gubernatorial ticket in the last governorship election before the sudden emergence of the incumbent governor led to their been forced to step down.
There are others who feel the incumbent senator representing the zone, Senator Mathew Urhoghide, has done so much for the district such that he deserves another shot at the position in 2023.
A similar permutation is believed could puncture the plans of the other old members of the party who hitherto were gunning for consideration for other ‘juicy’ political/elective positions at the different levels.
As Governor Obaseki’s plan to fix his loyalists in strategic positions may seriously affect Edo South so does it have the tendency to impact adversely on the two other districts namely Edo North and Central. The signs to this started emerging when he announced his retention of Barrister Osarodion Ogie as the Secretary to the State Government(SSG) in his first appointment after the dissolution of his first tenure exco.
For instance in Edo Central, the calculation is that having lost a chance to produce a governor since a son of the soil, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor left the Government House in 2008, by the principle of rotation in the party it is their turn to occupy the edifice after Obaseki’s tenure in 2024.
“Anything other than that is a pure call on the Esan people (from Edo Central) to start preparing to opt out of the state and clamour for a new state to be carved out for them as they are not recognised as critical stakeholders in the state,” said a source from Edo Central District who preferred anonymity.
Presently, the three frontliners from Esan land eyeing the Osadebey Avenue(Edo State Government House) Benin are Barrister Kenneth Imansuangbon(aka Riceman), proprietor of Pacesetters Academy, Abuja; Engineer Gideon Ikhine and Architect Mike Onolememen, former Minister of Works.
There are also fears in certain quarters that the deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, a man reputed to be very ambitious, may be interested in succeeding his boss in 2023 which may further alter the political permutation in the state.
Similar fears greet the alleged planned change of guards at other levels of the party to pave way for Governor Obaseki’s loyalists to smoothen the way for his choice candidates in future elections.
In a brief chat, Owere Dickson Imasogie, a top chieftain of the party in the state, said that the governor knows better than to want to stir confusion in the party so early in the day, “I know the governor is a wiseman that will not do anything of such(blanket dissolution of party exco members) at this point in time.”
In a telephone conversation with Popular News, Chief Dan Orbih, Vice Chairman of the PDP in the South South geopolitical region, refused talking about the issue which he termed speculations.
“As far as I am concerned it is all in the realm of speculations. Was there a statement from the governor about all this? If there was none then you should know that it is mere speculations and I don’t speak on speculations. Thank you,” he stated.
Attempts to get the response of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike on the issue did not yield any result as he refused to pick calls to his hotline and also refused to respond to a text message sent to him.
