By Concerned Citizens of Edo State
At about the time when an Edo State governor of Esan extraction is being birthed, when a state wide consensus is being engineered, a Judas has suddenly showed up, and true to character, betrayed the trust, thrust upon him as leader of APC Esan Central Senatorial Caucus.
Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have bothered to dignify this careworn senatorial leader of a response, but we deem it necessary to dissect his rumbustious statement, not only for the benefit of Edo people, but for fall those who subscribe to the principles of power rotation in Nigerian politics to know that Major General Cecil Esekhaigbe (rtd.) is an unstable character, is pretensions, and is known to have a commercialized approach to politics and cannot be taken seriously. It is important for us to let the world know the kind of person he is, so that they won’t fall for his fakery and purchased opinions in this highly charged political season.
Having been criticized, lambasted, cursed, abused, reprimanded, deserted and currently orphaned by well-meaning political leaders in Edo State, for the despicable manner in which he conducted himself by unilaterally disqualifying aspirants from contesting, a power he does not have, and instead of hibernating, General Cecil Esekhaigbe (rtd.), a phony politician, known for making poor judgements, has gone on to insult the sensibilities of well-meaning Esan sons and daughters and indeed all Edolites, with his latest attempt at face saving and justifying the unjustifiable sacrilege he committed by disqualifying the two most qualified aspirants, who on their own right by accomplishments, are the front runners in the Edo State governorship race, without prejudice to aspirants in any political party.
Major General Cecil Esekhaigbe (rtd.) authored a diatribe titled `That Our People May Not Perish for Lack of Knowledge`, ironically, it’s the author that exhibited poor knowledge, and not only did he perish figuratively, but buried whatever was left of his inglorious political career and the last strung of his personal dignity.
While we understand the desperate place the General is on right now, the reality of the political Siberia he is in now, we will address the issues as canvassed by him, expose his weak arguments and baseless logics and ask him some relevant questions, so as to present to Edo People, an opportunity to know his true character, as a phony politician, that has a price to everything.
As a retired military officer, one would have thought Major General Cecil Esekhaigbe, would possess a near average knowledge of ‘strategy’, a concept associated with the military tactics and applicable to politics, but no, he no sufficient knowledge of political strategy. One may ask, has it ever occurred where aspirants talk to themselves with the bid to stepping down for a few after peer-reviewing their strengths and weaknesses as alluded by this General. Why place such an unnecessary burden on mortals?
How laughable, this shows how poor a strategist our embattled General is, and how naïve he is as a politician and his failure as a leader. He should know that the first characteristics of a politician is ego, and no politician will de-market himself by voluntarily stepping down for another without a contest, or even at that, a fair contest, not the monetized charade presided by him.
General Cecil also exhibited his poor knowledge of contemporary legal issues regarding latest court decisions on the eligibility of Senator (Prof.) Oserheimen Osunbor, to contest for the governorship of Edo State. He tried to throw a shade on the erudite Professor, by alluding to an unfounded constitutional limitation of tenure. Is he not aware of the most recent court pronouncement that made APC’s candidate eligible for the Bayelsa State gubernatorial election? Indeed, this General has perished for lack of knowledge.
General Cecil Esekhaigbe in his diatribe, was not bold enough and was cowardly not to mention the name of the person he claimed was happy when he made the first short list of six and didn’t complain of the exercise and that the exercise only became toxic when he didn’t make the second list of three. We will not be cowardly as General Cecil, we will help him process the rationale of his assumptions for us all to see if there is any logic behind his assertions.
Recall, after the first screening in Abuja, General Cecil having first denied the shortlist, weeks later revealed the names of Rt. Hon. Festus Ebea, Senator Monday Okphebholo, Col. David Imuse Rtd., Hon. Festus Ebea, Hon. Victor Eboigbe, Rt. Hon. Thomas Okosun and Senator (Prof.) Oserheimen Osunbor.
At the second meeting in Benin, General Cecil’s second list eliminated, Hon. Victor Eboigbe, Rt. Hon. Thomas Okosun and Senator (Prof.) Oserheimen Osunbor.
For the purpose of exposing this Judas, we will use his own criteria to access the six aspirants on the first short list and see what qualifies them ahead of those who didn’t make his second list. The criteria given by him are as follows, Electability, Geopolitics, Contributions to Party, Financial capacity and Plan for the Development of the State.
1) On Electability of the aspirants, we make bold to say:
• Rt. Hon. Festus Ebea only known political antecedent was the despicable role played as an anti-democratic force in the crisis that engulfed the Edo State House of Assembly when he paraded himself as factional speaker during the governorship tenure of Comrade of Adams Oshiomhole. Is this enough to get him elected?
• Senator Monday Okphebholo is a political neophyte, he no name recognition, no state wide appeal, he came into limelight as a consensus option in the APC senatorial primary, and rode on the “no third time mantra” and massive PDP G5 support to win, which is commendable. But does that make him eligible to be elected state wide? Can anyone fathom what public impact the senator has made in the past decade or past five years? It is a public fact that so far, he’s had a lackluster and below par performance at the senate, hardly can make any sensible contribution on the floor of the senate, and besides the inconsistencies of his educational qualifications, the school he claims to have attended are not believable and may come under intense scrutiny if made the candidate of the party. We ask Gen. Cecil, on what score did this Senator pass the electability test?
• Colonel David Imuse, Rtd has never contested an election, not even the position he is currently occupying, he is seen as a usurper taking advantage of his office as Chairman to ride on to become party candidate. Already a divisive figure as a result of his refusal to relinquish the chairmanship and focus on his gubernatorial bid. Not seen as a democrat, can be very autocratic and abusive if things don’t go his way. Will Edo want to elect a retired military officer as governor?
• Hon. Victor Eboigbe, apart from his current position as a Commissioner at the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission(RMFAC), and being known as a far distant relation of the former Comrade Governor, what else can be recorded except the deceit propagated of riding to the governorship on Comrade’s back.
• Rt. Hon. Thomas Okosun, a former speaker EDHA, a consummate politician with extensive statewide political network, a Lawyer and currently a Judge at the Consumer and Competition Tribunal. Verifiable and non-controversial educational qualifications and schools attended. To General Cecil, this competent and cerebral man fails his electability test. What a joke.
• Senator (Prof.) Oserheimen Osunbor, a very big elephant, a former governor, Lawyer, reputable academic, author, an authority in Law, with immense statewide political network, national recognition and international appeal and besides a former Senator is not deemed as electable by General Cecil. This General must be high on some cheap stuff.
2) On Geopolitics, we assert that General Cecil does not know the meaning of geopolitics, we recommend further learning for him.
• In terms of geo politics as criteria, Rt. Hon. Thomas Okosun, and Senator (Prof.) Oserheimen Osunbor, ought to score top points, as geo-politics within Esanland favours them far beyond other aspirants. We concede that General Cecil does not know the political meaning of geo politics or is outrightly being mischievous.
3) On Contributions to Party:
• On this criterion, how can General Cecil justify in all honesty and in good conscience that Senator Monday Okphebholo has contributed more to the APC than Rt. Hon. Thomas Okosun, and Senator (Prof.) Oserheimen Osunbor combined. Except of course, contribution to the party would mean contribution to General Cecil personal fortune, funding his lifestyle, picking his bills and paying him political tax. Gen. Cecil must go take a crash course or read up on the formation of APC, the role Okosun played to ensure Oshiohmhole’s first victory as opposition, and the personal sacrifices Okosun has made to the party. He must also learn about the many critical assignments undertaken by Professor Osunbor on behalf of the APC. The intellectual contributions made by the Professor, and representations he has made for and on behalf of the party. If I may ask, what has Senator Okpebholo contributed to APC ditto for Rt. Hon, Ebea and Col Imuse? Senator Okpebholo’s failed on his first task of showing loyalty to the party and the President by voting for Senator Yari for Senate President in defiance of the Party’s choice. This is the only notable contribution of Senator Okpebholo, yet General Cecil scored him high against Rt. Hon. Thomas Okosun, and Senator (Prof.) Oserheimen Osunbor. What a shame.
4) Financial capacity
An aspirant was alleged to have tendered his bank balance in excess of four billion naira and that aspirant made Cecil’s preferred list. What a coincidence. Is the governorship of Edo State for sale? if for sale. General Cecil, please tell Edolites how much and save us your lame innuendoes, you have presented youself as a beggarly person out to milk aspirants for financial gains. It has been alleged that your inability to extort and place huge rent on Rt. Hon. Thomas Okosun, and Senator (Prof.) Oserheimen Osunbor informs your jaundiced opinion of their financial capacity. These are men who live within their means and pay their own bills, unlike you that rely on aspirants’ tax to fund your false lifestyle. These men have verifiable means of income, and apart from politics have second addresses, unlike you that has no second address and rely on hands out. Besides, the next Edo governor does not have to be a billionaire, or spend personal fortunes to become governor, because we know such a person, if unfortunately elected will first want to recoup funds spent on election rather than developing our state. With the modest contributions of Edo People, funding will not be a problematic issue for either Rt. Hon. Thomas Okosun, or Senator (Prof.) Oserheimen Osunbor. Except of course, the funding is meant to appease General Cecil insatiable thirst for money.
5) Plan for the development of the state
• Have you heard of any aspirant that would not commit to development of the state? Does General know what development is all about in order to score any aspirant on development? Can General Cecil be associated with any knowledge-based activity?
Based on our preliminary analysis of the six aspirant’s vis-a-vis General Cecil’s five criteria, it is clear to all that Cecil’s committee did a hatchet job for his paymaster(s) to derail Esan governorship aspiration. The Judas in him manifested, he betrayed the people he claims he loves. For shekels of Siver? Oh Judas!
General Cecil, may we ask, given the brief analysis of the six aspirants we presented, what methodology did you use to arrive at you conclusion? On what criteria did your preferred trio trump above the more competent and experienced duo of Rt. Hon. Thomas Okosun, and Senator (Prof.) Oserheimen Osunbor?
In concluding, we want to leave you some soul-searching question and suppositions.
i. It is rumored that you collected money from your preferred aspirants, we do not allege, but we will want you to categorically deny that you did not collect money from any of the aspirant (s)
ii. That you have never benefitted financially or any member of your family have never benefitted financially from any of the aspirant(s), that none of the aspirants have been funding your lifestyle? We urge you to deny this allegation.
iii. We also want you to deny the rumor and make a categorical statement that you won’t be offering yourself for consideration/nomination for the APC governorship primary, as it has been alleged, you’re promoting the weakest aspirants from Edo Central as APC Esan preferred aspirant, in other for the party to reject such as person because of obvious minuses and thus position yourself for consideration as deputy governor to a candidate from other zone.
Finally, these are weighty allegations, and for a man that hasn’t sold his soul and betrayed a generational quest , they are worrying and ought to elicit immediate response.
Edo 2024: The Judas amongst us!
